Snapped Shot - Fact-checking

RED ALERT: China Faked Spacewalk?

nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:32:00 -0500

Wouldn't be too surprising, seeing how well China fakes building actual merchandise. This tip comes in from Helmut Blankenbehler, and I've got to say, it's pretty darn convincing.

Unless "outer space" has suddenly developed a deep sea, that is.

There's a full write-up of the evidence here, if you're interested.

Update: Lawhawk helpfully points out that I misread "Spacewalk" as "Moonwalk."

Conspiracy!

Bailout or BUYout? Anyone Care? Update

nospam@example.com (captainfish) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:15:00 -0500

**Update below the fold**

From Yahoo News:

A week ago, it totaled just three pages — the White House's request for $700 billion to rescue tottering financial institutions by buying their devalued mortgage-related assets.
...
By Friday, after almost a week of marathon talks between Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and key lawmakers in both parties, the working version was up to 102 pages.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the House Financial Services Committee's chairman, was optimistic Friday that a final agreement could be reached by Sunday.

Typical, a simple nationalization bill to takeover banks and mortgage companies has swelled with the likes of pork and illegal contributions to illegal groups like ACORN. If liberal Sen Lindsay Graham is cautious about this thing, what does that tell you how bad this is?

Continue reading "Bailout or BUYout? Anyone Care? **Update**"

When Democrats Attack IV: Media Edition

nospam@example.com (captainfish) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:15:00 -0500

I was perusing the NewsBusters site while at work today (yeah, not much going on here) and found a few of their articles that I thought I would summarize for all of us Neanderthals and extremists. While I have previously highlighted the attacks that the Democrats (along with Brian showing complicity from their operatives in family, media and PR circles) have undertaken against Gov Palin, I have not really focused on what the media themselves are spewing.

According to Tim Graham in his piece, he found that Newsweek went to ask an ATHIEST about how extreme and how wrong Gov Palin's religion is in this day and age of enlightenment. Here is Newsweek's title: "When Atheists Attack: A noted provocateur rips Sarah Palin—and defends elitism." Does that tell you anything of the bias and Palin-loathing present in the piece? Tim makes this analysis...

The highlighted quote is "The joyful marriage of confidence and ignorance – it’s what’s so unnerving about this pick." That shortens the actual quote, in which Harris claims Palin supporters "celebrate" her ignorance.

It’s hard to escape the idea that Harris is speaking for the vast majority of the Newsweek editorial staff as he ripped Palin as the McCain campaign’s "Rapture-ready extremist" being led around like a "pet pony."

More of the media love-fest follows...
Continue reading "When Democrats Attack IV: Media Edition"

Oh Palin They Love You. Let Us Count The Ways

nospam@example.com (captainfish) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:38:51 -0500

A tip of the hat to Tom Blumer over at Newsbusters and his article on the attacks on Gov Palin by the Media hounds.

Check out this site: Explorations. Site owner, Charlie Martin, has been tracking and debunking all of the attacks and rumors that have been spreading about Gov Palin by the media (and the general idiots on the Left).

Believe it or not, there are over 80 of them. Some, I had no idea ever existed.

7. Yes, she did want authority to have wolves culled from the air, because they were taking too many moose and caribou. Which people hunt for food in the back country in Alaska. No, she isn’t shooting them herself. I mean, not that she couldn’t, but I’m sure she doesn’t have time.

10. No, Willow and Piper aren’t named for witches on TV. Among other things, Willow was born before Buffy came on TV, and Piper was born before Charmed was a popular girls name in 1994. In any case, try to settle on one theory, okay: she can’t both be a witch and be a crazy AoG fundamentalist, can she?

18. No, she’s not anti-semitic. In fact, she has an Israeli flag in her office. (Contrary to popular belief, the usual Evangelical thinks Israel has a right to exist, granted by God.)

30. Yes, her 17 year old daughter is pregnant; no, the baby’s father is not an eighth grader; no, having sex at 16 is not statutory rape in Alaska. And no, there’s no way that a 17 year old can be 5 months pregnant as a result of having sex before she was 16. Learn to count for God’s sakes.

Take a look at his site and peruse the rest of the Hillary hilarity. And yes, Rep Charlie Rangel's attack that Gov Palin is disabled is on there at #89.

[Update:] Yes, I know some of the rumors listed on the site are from joke sites (like #47), but, geesh, the Explorations site is about debunking rumors. Right? Therefore, Gov Palin is not an alien.

If You're White, You're Guilty Of Racism

nospam@example.com (captainfish) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:16:00 -0500

Question: Is this nation still racist?

What do you think? Do you think we as a nation still harbor hatred against anyone who is not white?

Can only white people be racist? Is there no other country that has racism?

If you listen to this nation's liberals, it is only this nation that has hatred of people of color. And, of those, only conservative people, particularly those living in the southern parts of the USA are racist.

And, should a person of color be injured or killed during a fight between people of no-color (we will bypass the irony in this statement for now), then it is automatically considered a crime of hate and racism. Why? Because they say it is. And, if the liberals and the media say that our nation is racist, then white people, especially conservative white people, must submit to reparations and a multicultural diversification program.

Many thanks going to Digger for his find of this site (and his constant dedication to protecting the laws of this land and the rights of its CITIZENS) Save Shenandoah. For a background to the reason for this website, via Digger:

Continue reading "If You're White, You're Guilty Of Racism"

An Entirely Different Kind of Camera Trickery!

nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:13:17 -0500

U.S. Desert Dweller sends along this awesome blog, which aims to point out instances where "mainstream" television news programs use camera trickery to alter the viewers' perception of the news.

In other words, it's just like Snapped Shot, except it's for moving pictures.

Television's a fad, I tell ya!

Going Green Shrinks Men (and manhood)

nospam@example.com (captainfish) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:21:00 -0500

Is Is This Really What We Want?

Can you really drive this car and not be ashamed of yourself? Are you really OK with liberals telling you to drive cars like this?

Meanwhile, Germany is teaming up with Daimler and its electric company for an E-Car test project using the exact same car.

What is not told, despite being able to go up to 70mph (without wind and downhill), is how far it can go before needing to recharge and how much will it cost to purchase and power these cars?

Meanwhile, the Federal Transportation Trust Fund is running out of money fast. Why you ask?
Continue reading "Going Green Shrinks Men (and manhood)"

Stay Classy, the Left [Updated]

nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:12:10 -0500

Augh: This might not be as photoshopped as I thought.

Could it be that we've got a "creative" photographer out there, instead?

They don't call me Brian "Rush to Press" L. for nothing.

Continue reading "Stay Classy, the Left [Updated]"

It's Time To Get Out!

nospam@example.com (captainfish) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:36:38 -0500

We need to get out of the war zone. We went in there under the wrong pretense. We are only killing our children. How many innocent civilians need to die?

The region is nothing but a war zone of death and destruction. The surge of enforcement has failed and our presence is only leading to and causing a civil war! If we were not there, the killers would not be there.

I quote the statistics:

Incidents log indicated that 123 people were shot and killed throughout the city between the start of Memorial Day weekend on May 26, and the end of Labor Day on Sept. 1.

In the same time period, an estimated 245 people were shot and wounded...

See, that area is just violent and we need to get out. That death rate is nearly twice that of even our most dangerous war zone.

You think I am talking about Iraq here? NOPE!!!

At least they provide us a map so that we can know where NOT to live.

This is What Happens to Republican Women

nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 08:12:00 -0500

I mentioned it briefly yesterday, and drew some private comparisons between this incident and what happened to Michelle Malkin a few years back. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to put it into Photoshop until now.

Thanks to a couple of minutes of spare time, I now present you this handy-dandy guide to identifying Republican women:

I hope this identification guide is useful to you Leftists out there.

Oh noes! Michelle Malkin made this the subject of her column this week. I may be a bit late in putting this together, but hopefully it'll be useful to you nonetheless!

Palintography

nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:36:37 -0500

I didn't have time to put it together when this post was originally written, but now, thanks to a few spare minutes in Photoshop, I am proud to present you with:

A Field Guide to Identifying Republican Women

If any of you have seen the photograph of Sarah Palin in a bikini floating around, be aware that it's a total fabrication.

Details here. (h/t Jay@STACLU)

Update: Could all of these smears be an orchestrated effort by the Obama campaign? Jim H. over at Gateway Pundit lays out some convincing evidence about some of them, at least.

SNObama 2008: Start the smears!

Fox-tography

nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:08:00 -0500

Fox News Channel appears to be getting a little bit... testy with their captions in the photo series for Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. (It's visible in this photostream here, but I can't find a way to link directly to the right page.)

That's funny—Alaska looks pretty big on my map.

(Thanks to Jon M. for the tip!)

Google Earthbender!

nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:46:00 -0500

While I'm on the subject of the Art Sciences Research Laboratory, I neglected to pass along earlier this month that they have been involved in a case regarding some strangely errant Google Earth imagery. In yet another testament to their excellent skills in the "Journalistic Arts," the group was in touch with Google immediately, and managed to discover that:

Google representative, Kate Hurowitz, in Global Communications & Public Affairs, told StinkyJournalism that they are concerned and investigating The Netherland’s photoshopped trees image. She said, “We're aware that there seems to be an anomaly in our imagery and are working to determine what happened.” She promised to let us know when they have “more information.”

It is curious to see that satellite imagery of a relatively innocent-looking golf course in the Netherlands appears to have been photoshopped. Usually, when Google imagery is disrupted, it is for reasons of national security. Of course, Google Earth just as often catches things just as interesting, but certainly the engineers there (and at the mapping agencies that provide them with their map and photographic data) don't go around altering maps for personal reasons.

I definitely look forward to hearing what explanation Google provides.

Ok, a post to gain back some respect

nospam@example.com (captainfish) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:59:29 -0500

"ye'es, I vouch perzon'aly for deez imiges. Why wouldz we lie?"

Buffing off my recently tarnished image, I present you with a much relevant and timely post regarding news of the day.

I promise.

Continue reading "Ok, a post to gain back some respect"

Iranian Re-Run Makes Agence France-Presse Wire

nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:53:00 -0500

Arash Kamangir tipped me to this, pointing to a case where an Iranian news daily "accidentally" re-used a photo from November 2006 to illustrate Iran's latest war games. Imagine my surprise when, upon scanning the news wires, I see a photo that's almost exactly the same, served out by the AFP.

Here's a comparison of the two photos. The first is the AFP shot from the 9th of this June, and the second is Iranian news service MEHR's photo (third down from the top) from November 2006:

This is recycled enough to meet Al Gore's standards.

Notice the shape of the dust clouds, the fact that the truck is the same, and how the exhaust from the missiles lines up almost perfectly. Also notice that the AFP caption reads:

In a handout picture released on the news website of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, an Iranian Shahab-3 missile, the longest ranged ballistic missle in Iran's arsenal with a range of 2000 kilometres, rises into the air after being test-fired at an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert on July 9, 2008. Iran today test-fired a missile it said is capable of reaching Israel, angering the United States amid growing fears that the standoff over the contested Iranian nuclear drive could lead to war. (AFP PHOTO/HO/SEPAH NEWS) [Photo via Newscom]

... which means that Sepah News, which was discredited yesterday, is still viewed as a "reliable" news source by the intelligentsia over in gay Paris.

Update: The New York Times has taken notice... sort of:

Snapped Shot: "[C]hosen by New York Times editors?" Boo-yah!

If you're coming here from the Times, and aren't familiar with this site, I'd recommend brushing up on this, this, and this. And do be sure to sound off if you have any thoughts. I always love hearing from new readers!

Iranian Missile Launch (of PEACE)

nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:48:50 -0500

Cool—Greetings again, fellow Michelle Malkin fans! Be sure to click here for the latest updates and dictatorial hilarity!

Who would've thunk it, but many of the pictures released by the Iranian government have now been proven to be complete forgeries. Like this one, for example:

It's dead, Jim.

As Arash Kamangir points out, the photographic evidence presented by at least some reports is years old. Suitably Flip commenter Jono points out that there are only three missiles present in the original picture, and now that you mention it, the middle two missiles appear to be clones of each other, with pretty amateurish cloning to create the launch signature of the third from the left.

An Iranian dictatorship... lying? Impossible.

Many thanks to Charles Johnson for pointing this latest fauxtography out. Even though there's a "Curses, Foiled Again!" thrown in because he beat me to it yet again.

Update: Moved all of the irrelevant data below the fold. Here's what really matters:—Agence France-Presse has retracted the image, and has posted this combo illustrating exactly how the image was modified, which I'm very gladly posting here under license:

Click to zoom in. [Photo via Newscom]

Digitally altered, indeed. In fact, one could say that this is a photoshop... disaster.

Nothing says it like a Patented LGF Throbbing GIF, no?

Pwned!

The Obama campaign just called. Apparently, they'll be announcing that Obama supports opening a channel of diplomacy with the airbrushed rocket, immediately, so we can "better understand" how our Western understanding of ideas like "Truth" and "Accuracy" have hurt its feelings and caused it immense anger towards America.

Update: In a move that will surprise nobody, we discover the the New York Times is claiming full credit for this discovery. Heh, I'm sure that's ethical, right?

(And sorry for filling up your mailbox, Ace. It's what I do the bestest! )

See-Also:

EU Referendum, Pat Dollard, Blackfive, Pirate's Cove, Confederate Yankee, Geenstijl, Ace of Spades, Gateway Pundit, A Blog For All 2, Sweetness & Light, GOP and College, Jihad Watch, CAMERA Snapshots (No relation), Prairie Pundit, What the Crap?, In from the Cold

Continue reading "Iranian Missile Launch (of PEACE)"

What's English wine good for?

nospam@example.com (captainfish) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:45:22 -0500

According to Prince Charles, not much except pouring more money in to getting rid of the stuff.

Prince Charles converted his Aston Martin that he only drives 300 miles a year to burn surplus English wine. The wine is converted into an ethanol mixture.

What's that smell? Oh yeah. ME!

As part of cutting his carbon footprint, the prince has converted the 38-year-old classic car - a 21st birthday present from the Queen - to run on 100 per cent bioethanol fuel distilled from surplus British wine.

This car runs on 100% ethanol?? Isn't that dangerous to the car's metallic or aluminum parts? My question, is this really a "green" alternative? Consider the following:

Continue reading "What's English wine good for?"

My Free Four Words - AP Style

nospam@example.com (captainfish) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:59:29 -0500

From an (cr)AP article, comes this bit of news...

[...] Israel [...] militants [...] attacks [...] blockade ...

Hmm, dang, that didn't come out right. Let me try again...

Gaza militants [...] bruising [...] people ...

Shoot. Nope. That ain't it.

Intense [...] air [...] underscored [...] navy...

Dang it!! I can't seem to get this right. Ok, one more time...

Gaza [...] pulls [...] out [...] Gaza...

[...] militants [...] raid [...] snapped [...] shot...

THAT'S IT!! Yeah, that one got the gist of the article perfectly. I am so glad I can use up to four words now free of charge. I can now perfectly express what the writers of this (cr)AP article were intent on saying and sharing with us their readers. So, AMY TEIBEL, how does it feel to be quoted saying these things? And did you really see militants raid SnappedShot central?

Deconstruction of Obama's Birth Certificate? Update: Nope!

nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:27:43 -0500

Heavy-hitting bloggers have already written this controversy off, but hey, as one of the "little, downtrodden" guys, I am more than happy to pitch this one.

TownHall blogger The Greater Evil has come up with some very compelling evidence that the "Certification of Live Birth" released by Markos "Screw Them" Moulitsas last week is a fraud. And I must say, based on every shred of knowledge I have of the way government agencies deal with certificates and security of physical documents, this does have a very strong ring of truth to it. For instance:

A tale of two texts.

The only possible explanations I can come up with for the discrepancies identified by Polarik are (a) the State of Hawaii has the absolute most insecure public records in the entire nation, or (b) wherever Kos got this document from, it's bogus.

Or (c), I'm missing something. That's a given.

Anyway, would love to hear what y'all think of this whole mess.

Update: Case closed. Based on the evidence I see in this birth certificate, I can comfortably say that Hawaii has some of the least secure documents in the nation.

Thanks to Yishai and KK for sending it in—Comparing the two side-by-side, there's no reason to think that the Kos document is fake, as all of the inconsistencies that've been pointed out can now be attributed to scanning/copying/encoding/transmission artifacts.

And seriously, all I needed was to see it in the traditional format, and it all would've made sense:

Throb, baby, throb!

I know most of the big guys wrote this controversy off right away, but I had some lingering doubts, which admittedly relate to the fact that it was released initially through an extremist like Kos. Now that the evidence has come in, however, I'm satisfied that it's genuine.

Oh, and that Hawaii needs to take a serious look at document security.
Continue reading "Deconstruction of Obama's Birth Certificate? Update: Nope!"

Newsweek Finds Racism

nospam@example.com (captainfish) — Mon, 26 May 2008 20:50:31 -0500

Newsweek has conducted a poll recently to determine if there is racism in the votes surrounding Barack HUSSEIN Obama. They sought to determine if race plays a roll in how WHITE people vote for their presidential candidate. They call their poll, "The Racial Resentment Index". Now, tell me that does not scream bias.

Here is how the poll was conducted:

The Racial Resentment Index is an additive index based on response to 10 specific questions measuring whites’ attitudes towards African-Americans, social welfare programs, and the civil rights movement. See Appendix for more a more [sic] detailed description.

Actually, there were near 30 questions, plus 2 extra that asked for political affiliation but they only used 10 to create their Index.

OK. Now if you as a white person, or a person of the Caucasus (for those in Rio Linda that means Caucasian), and you have rarely met an African-American, or have strong opinions about the social welfare programs of this country, and might even have some unfavorable opinions of the current civil rights movement, then you my friend are a racist.

For me, being a white American, I don't know how I would round out in their "index". I have only met a few true African-Americans in my life. Fortunately, I have lived many years in a college town and have indeed met a few African-Americans. One of my newest good friends is an Indian-American from the Christian part of India. I have had the opportunity to even meet a few Africans who were at the university on student-Visas. I have nothing against these people. They came to America to better their lives and get a GREAT education compared to where they were living.

But, please explain to me how my feelings toward new citizens from Africa could determine my level of racism? What if I hate Asians? What if I hate Muslims? Doesn't Barack HUSSEIN Obama have a muslim heritage? Why wouldn't a person's hatred of muslims factor in to whether or not that person votes for Obama. No, it has to be his perceived race.

Here is one of their questions to determine racism:

If the presidential election were being held TODAY and you HAD TO CHOOSE between… Barack Obama, the Democrat, and John McCain, the Republican (choices rotated) who would you be more likely to vote for?

From what you know about each of these three candidates as people, please tell me whether or not you think they would FIT IN WELL WITH PEOPLE IN YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY.

And, please explain to me how it can be racism to not vote for Obama when his mother was white? Is it still racism when you can only hate half a person??
Continue reading "Newsweek Finds Racism"

Tepublican Caption of the Day

nospam@example.com (Brian C. Ledbetter) — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:39:56 -0500

A slight "oopsie" by the Associated Press:

Anti-war protesters wait outside of St. Albans Gun and Archery in Charleston, W.Va., Friday, May 16, 2008,for the arrival of Tepublican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner)