Fact-Checking | Snapped Shot

Jumping at shadows?

It seems that somewhere, somebody had the audacity to charge Reuters with photoshopping the above photograph. Reuters has officially responded with the all-clear, and doesn't seem to grasp exactly what the complaint is about:

The picture was not altered. Here is a blown up section of the portion you mentioned.

Moreover, I can’t imagine why a news organization would try to change a picture to make it LESS dramatic: GBU Editor

I don't think you need to be reminded, but it was Reuters who got in trouble many moons ago for trying to pass off a MORE dramatic picture as news. (That incident is also what led to the birth of Snapped Shot, but I digress...)

To clarify for the humble GBU Editor, the accusation that is being levied against Reuters is that you are whitewashing the Evil Zionist Oppressors' crimes by photoshopping out their brutal police batons. That you're helping to improve Israel's image in the world.

A charge that if understood in context, would be the greatest comedy act in the history of all time.

Good job on debunking the myth, Reuters. Hopefully, your next act will be to actually balance your stories out for once.

Yes, we must have it. It is the technology to have.  It will lead us to the next Utopia.  It will do everything you dream of.  It will allow you to read anywhere.  It will cook your bacon.  It will clean your house.

What is this amazing item that will deliver our future of technology today? Continue Reading »

Well, we already know that we hate it due to the government can't run a lemonade stand, let alone a health care system like Medicare\Medicaid.  But now they want to run the whole country's care?  With less money?

We know that everywhere this type of health care system has been undertaken, it has failed and is failing.

We know that any Socialist that makes a proposal about control, that control will be Socialism.

And, we now also know that this Health Care bill will also radically alter the Student Loan system.

There's an e-mail floating around the Internet which purports to show Barack Obama getting ready to pray at a mosque in Washington, D.C. It offers this photograph up as conclusive proof that he is, as some have always suspected, a "secret" Muslim.

To nobody's surprise, this is a total lie.

In reality, the photo was released by the White House Press Office, and was released after his visit to Turkey. The mosque in question is the historic Blue Mosque, which seems to be a standard stop for dignitaries visiting that country.

Which illustrates once again why it's such a terrible idea to let our emotions affect what we accept to be true.

From the White House's official flickr feed:

President Barack Obama removes his shoes as he prepares to visit the Blue Mosque April 7, 2009, in Istanbul. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

I'll post the original e-mail below the fold. Thanks to David A. for bringing this to our attention! Continue Reading »

Sanity prevails.  America prevails.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the use of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency, rejecting arguments on Thursday that the phrases violate the separation of church and state.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected two legal challenges by Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow, who claimed the references to God disrespect his religious beliefs.

"The Pledge is constitutional," Judge Carlos Bea wrote for the majority in the 2-1 ruling. "The Pledge of Allegiance serves to unite our vast nation through the proud recitation of some of the ideals upon which our Republic was founded."

And what is more...

In a separate 3-0 ruling Thursday, the appeals court upheld the inscription of the national motto "In God We Trust" on coins and currency, saying that the phrase is ceremonial and patriotic, not religious.

So, what did the anti-American athiest zealot have to say about all of this?

Reached on his cell phone, Newdow said he hadn't been aware that the appeals court had ruled against him Thursday.

"Oh man, what a bummer," he said.

Now, send him the bill for all this harassment and see if he still thinks its just "a bummer"!!

Or maybe the Windmill-tapes?

Seems, Obama's administration got caught being a proxy for the wind energy lobbyists when Obama needed positive news about wind energy and jobs.  Gabriel over at Ace has the story:

The short attack piece they produced under the seal of the Department of Energy (PDF) was then used by the President to keep pretending that green jobs aren't the economic black hole that the Spanish report (and common sense) tells us they are.

According to emails (damn those ever-incriminating emails!) recovered by FOIA request, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a division of Department of Energy, got interested in producing the report because the lobbyists asked them to. For example, from an AWEA email to NREL with the subject "Spanish jobs report":

              "It is critical we respond, this thing won't die and its doing a good job of undermining our green job message."

And from NREL emails:

             "AWEA policy people are quite concerned about a recent report published in Spain (likely the one cited here) and I suspect they are not the only ones." ... "We need to come up with an appropriate response to these criticisms soon. I just spoke to a few people at AWEA about this." ... "The AWEA folks are wondering what we'll do, so if this is our plan, I'll let them know."

Does their deceit know no bounds?  Will they do nothing to tax and spend our money?

I know.  I was shocked too.  The crAP media outlet actually goes out and prints the truth of the slaughter of christian women and children.  The AFP doesn't feel it news worthy to note the religious-based massacre of christians.

Here is the AFP version of the story from Yahoo News:

JOS, Nigeria (AFP) – Nigeria's acting president put security forces on alert after machete wielding gangs massacred at least 100 people, mainly women and children, near the central city of Jos, officials said.

Witnesses described how victims were caught in animal traps and fishing nets as they tried to flee their attackers, who hacked them to death in what appeared to have been a well-organised attack.

"Over a hundred people have been killed -- most of them women and children," said a government official Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Some of the children are less than one year old," he added.

But the raiders also set fire to dozens of houses in the nearby villages of Ratsat and Zot, all less than 10 kilometres (seven miles) from Jos and home to members of the Berom ethnic group.

"These villages were attacked by Fulani herdsmen killing scores of people and burning houses," Ratsat resident David Daniel Daniel told AFP.

Other residents and local rights activists also blamed the attacks on the Fulani ethnic group.

Please click on to second page:  Continue Reading »

Remember all those affirmations from Dr. Phil Jones from East Anglia's Climate Research Unit that the data he was protective of was because he was not allowed to release it?  He was under a written privacy agreement to keep the data secret?

Well.....the Stockholm Meterological and Hydrological Institute gives Dr. Jones a great big SLAP!!

It has come to our attention, that last Monday (March 1), Dr. Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (CRU), in a hearing with the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee made a statement in regards to the alleged non-availability for disclosure of Swedish climate data.

Dr. Jones asserted that the weather services of several countries, including Sweden, Canada and Poland, had refused to allow their data to be released, to explain his reluctance to comply with Freedom of Information requests.

This statement is false and misleading in regards to the Swedish data.

BOOYA!!

This man needs to be drummed out of every scientific establishment.  He should not even be allowed in to Best Buy, Radio Shack, or the local science museum.  He is a sham.  He is a fraud.  He made a mockery of science and of research.  This man should not be seen in the daylight again.

But, the Swedes were not finished.  They had to do the little "twist" at the end of their dagger-thrust to Dr Jones' gut.

All Swedish climate data are available in the public domain. As is demonstrated in the attached correspondence between SMHI (Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute), the UK Met Office and Dr. Jones (the last correspondence dated yesterday March 4), this has been clearly explained to Dr. Jones.

What is also clear is that SMHI is reluctant to be connected to data that has undergone “processing” by the East Anglia research unit.

Ooooooo... that's got to hurt!

[Update] The Royal Imperial Torturer thinks it will leave a mark that Jones will see in the mirror in the morning.

Robert Spencer, in an article about self-proclaimed "anti-Fascist" groups attempting to suppress free speech, defends the newest anti-Jihad movement, the English Defense League:

Since everyone who stands up for human rights and freedom against Islamic supremacism and violence is branded a racist nowadays, it's useful to look at the evidence. Here is a group that is so racist that it has featured a Sikh speaker, has a youth group that bears the slogan, "Black, White and Brown Unite," and says: "We welcome members from all over the political spectrum, and with varying views on foreign policy, united against Islamic extremism and its influence on British life. Everyone from those whose ancestral roots are in pre-Roman Britain to immigrants just arrived yesterday will be welcomed into the EDL with open arms as long as they are willing to stand up with us for English values and against Islamist hate."

Many people conflate the EDL with the genuinely racist and antisemitic BNP, which I repudiate utterly, but there seems to be a good deal of evidence to suggest that the EDL is not itself racist, white supremacist, antisemitic, neo-fascist, etc. At very least, they bear watching. In any case, these charges are invariably and inevitably trotted out by Leftists and their jihadist allies whenever anyone stands up against the Islamic supremacism that would deny our freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and equality of rights before the law. After awhile, the wolf-crying becomes obvious.

I completely agree with Mr. Spencer. Although the EDL is relatively new, it should only be judged by its mission and its promotion of unity of all people opposed to the radical, Islamic ideology.

Those who support the Jihadist movement, as well as the ignorant and uninformed in the media, have been quick to label any who oppose open immigration and multiculturalism as "fascist" and "racist". Do not allow such dishonest labeling to influence your perception of truth and reality.

As Geert Wilders so perfectly states, it is not about rejecting individuals, but rather the violent ideologies that some immigrant groups bring with them to, and impose upon, more civilized societies:

(Cross-posted at Avid Editor's Insights and Al Salibiyyah)

Busted guts courtesy of UT Knoxville:

[Al] Gore will receive the degree — an Honorary Doctor of Laws and Humane Letters in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology — at the spring commencement exercises of the College of Arts and Sciences on May 14.
...
“Vice President Gore’s career has been marked by visionary leadership, and his work has quite literally changed our planet for the better,” said UT Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek. “He is among the most accomplished and respected Tennesseans in history, and it is fitting that he should be honored by the flagship education institution of his home state.”

I highlighted the funniest and most rediculous parts of UT-K's Joke-of-the-Day!

I don't know how they could have made it any more funneh.  Ugh, I am still laughing.

Good one UT-K.  Good one.