More Mass Media Lies

The LA Times has been caught with it's pants down yet again.

Last Thursday we reported on Paul Bremer's inspirational farewell speech to the Iraqi people, as seen through the eyes of an Iraqi blogger. We also noted that the frequently-clueless Washington Post had denied that Bremer gave a farewell speech at all.

Now, Patrick Frey of Patterico has written us to point out that as recently as July 4, the Los Angeles Times went the Post one better, not only mis-reporting Bremer's speech, but turning their own error into a major theme of the paper's "news" report:

I won't go into the whole thing, but the question that has been on my mind for quite a while is this: Given the major screw-ups that the major media outlets have tossed up as of late, (saying that retirees are getting called up is just an example), and given how these screw-ups could be fixed by a two-minute search with Google (saying the Bremer didn't give a speech, when people who were there reported on it and blogged on it), when do we start to say that these aren't just screw-ups, but intentional misleadings?

Moore's "Militia"...

...strikes again.

As does Robert Fisk.

Seen at Sullivan.

Women in Iraq

Jason Kallini talks about women and right here.

One of the more amazing things about this war has been the totality with which the Left has been willing to whitewash the reality of Saddam's Iraq just to make it look clear that President Bush has made things worse. I hear that F9/11's pre-war scenes include no mass graves, nor rape rooms, nor plastic shredders - just a young man getting his hair cut at the barber and a loving couple dining out to candlelight.

Civility in the Blogosphere

This is topical:

I get questions about the vitriolic tone of the comment section here with some regularity, and my answer is usually the same: there's just not much that I can do about it. True, I can ban people, but that works only if they have a fixed IP address, which these days most people don't. What's more, if the ban fails, the recipient is often pissed off enough to try even harder to make a pain in the ass out of himself.

It's also true that the problem is exponential. A year ago I got 10-20 comments on each post and had no trolls. As a result, the conversation was relatively civil. Today I get 100+ comments per post and the site has at least half a dozen trolls whose only love in life (as near as I can tell) is to start flame wars. The result is a melee....

Why don'tcha try a little tact in your comments, Mike?

danieldrezner.com :: Daniel W. Drezner :: Is civility an endangered species in the blogosphere?

I couldn't get ANYTHING on the FM band this evening....

...in my car. Now I think I can see why.

What a bunch of pigs

Very rarely do I feel like I REALLY TRULY HONESTLY want to punch someone in the mouth. Read this.

How can I miss you when you won't leave?

Since Mike Ross of Portland Oregon continues to stick around, I figured that I should continue to let everyone know just who is plaguing this blog and others with his one-man comment spam operations.

Michael J Ross
19437 SE Marcia Ct
Portland, OR 97267
Phone number: (503) 657-8056
mikelx@comcast.net

You may know him as mikelx from Right Thinking, or as "Liberal Revenge" from Drumwaster's Rants. He loves to use proxy IP's, and won't stop until he shows just what a repulsive and worthless little asshat he is. And since I like to keep people informed, here's a list of all the IPs that he's used.

202.57.70.*, 218.185.66.* and 202.96.161.* (Pacific Rim/Australia), 148.244.150.* (Latin America/Caribbean), 165.247.31.* (Earthlink), 217.127.70.* and 80.32.92.* (The Netherlands), and 198.188.134.* (California University Network).

If he's used any other IP's to hit people, please, let me know. I'm making a list, and checking it twice. Right before I send it off to every IP that he's used to make an ass of himself.

I'll say it again, Mike. Go away. Don't come back.

Memo to al-Zarqawi

Yer screwed, bub.

A group of armed men in Iraq is threatening to kill Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The masked men appear in a videotape sent to Al-Arabiya TV, calling themselves ``Salvation Movement.'' In the video, the previously unknown group orders al-Zarqawi to leave Iraq immediately, and questions how he could justify killing innocent civilians.

Three men with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons deliver the threats while flanked by an Iraqi flag.

One man says the group is preparing to capture or kill al-Zarqawi and those who give him shelter.

How this plays out could be interesting. Of course, the last line is telling:

U.S. officials say the Jordanian -- who is said to have links to al-Qaida -- is behind a series of deadly attacks in Iraq.

Amazing, how US Officials say that Zarqawi is behind the attacks, eh? Maybe because HE HIMSELF CLAIMED CREDIT FOR IT! Golly gee gosh, maybe that's too simplistic for the AP.

Then again, maybe the AP is a bunch of cocked-up asshats. I'm voting for the latter.

Gun Nut Tells Savage Joke

Kim du Toit has a rather indelicately-stated joke to tell, but in so doing he states something that drives me nuts: why are there not more ballsy Conservative pundits out there? Do they not get invited to TV talk shows? I don't know, but I often wonder why no one asked, say, Senator Biden, how many Marine lives would have to be saved by the act of torturing a prisoner before he'd advocate it? 1? 100? 10,000?

NEWS FLASH!!!

Democrat Presidential Candidate seeks candidate for Vice President, decides upon Wealthy White Lawyer.

Shocking.

eL wAFFLER mAS gRANDE

Err, that's Spanish. Lee at Right-Thinking sez Kerry was for abortion before he was against it.

Or vice versa.

Protestors...

...versus Protest Warriors.

Kerry-Edwards

Yawn. Let's see, an uber-rich, two faced, hypocritical, flip-flopping, cadaverous like Northeast Liberal matched up with a greedy, money-grubbing rich trial lawyer.

Who's the "Party of the Rich" again?

Random Thoughts

When trolling websites, try to avoid websites where the people actually know each other. Because when two people get together and start comparing IP's, we find out things like this:

Michael J Ross
19437 SE Marcia Ct
Portland, OR 97267
Phone number: (503) 657-8056
mikelx@comcast.net

Who would this be, you ask? This would be the latest fucking dipshit to cut-and-paste his crap into our comments. Hi there, Mike!

Now, I am not posting this information so that you can do anything with it, I'm simply releasing the information of someone who obviously has quite a few mental problems, and should be avoided at all costs.

By the way Mike, you can keep using proxy servers, and I'll just keep deleting your comments. I'll also put your information up on a post every single day. Hell, I'll broadcast it as far and wide as I possibly can, as well as the list of proxy IP's you use. Let's see, there's 202.57.70.* and 202.96.161.* (Pacific Rim/Australia. Ooooo, fancy!), 148.244.150.*, 165.247.31.*, (Earthlink), 217.127.70.* (The Netherlands! That explains why you act so drugged out.) and 198.188.134.* (California University Network). Now, unless you're a UC student (and I don't think the UC has many campuses in Portland) I'm sure that the UC computer network wouldn't like to find out that you've been using their IP to spam other websites.

So Mike, I'll be nice this time. Go away. Don't come back.

Chainsaw Therapy

The Girlfriend and I headed out to a farm yesterday to get rid of some tension. The farm belonged to a friend of a friend, to put it rather simply. They raise rabbits, chickens, a cow or two, just a small little operation. We've had one of their rabbits for dinner before, so I kinda knew the folks, but hadn't really sat down and talked with them at all. The owners had part of a Broadleaf Maple tree come down in the last windstorm, and due to medical reasons they could cut it up with the chainsaw. They also had a few rabbits to cull.

So the girlfriend, myself, and our pal who actually knows these folks headed out to the farm yesterday. After checking the place out and seeing what needed to be done with the tree, we got to business. We also found out that the owners had bought a sheep to slaughter in addition to the rabbits, since there were going to be extra hands around to help.

So they started with the rabbits. I stuck around to watch, because I'll be doing this at some point in the future. While the girlfriend and our pal were gutting and skinning the rabbits, the owners (I'll call them J and K) got out their chainsaw and I got to work. I'll say this, that Maple was frigging HUGE! And to top it all off, there is more that needs to come down from that tree before it falls over. Can you say "Widowmaker"? I can. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the tools I would need to bring it down. Living in the city doesn't require much in the way of tree-felling equipment, ya know? So I started cutting the wood that was already down. After a while, we took a break, had some water, and then got to the sheep. They hadn't quite figured out how they were going to kill it, (They used a pellet rifle on the rabbits. Works like a charm) but some bright (not so) young man had his .45 pistol on him as any good law abiding citizen should. By the way, my .45 is now named "The Shepherd", because I'm sick and twisted like that. Heh. I also learned a few things from all of this.

1) Unlike the pigs I used to raise, who would just stiffen up and fall over when you killed them, sheep spasm. Hard. And they also kick. Stand well clear.

2) Shooting a sheep in the head and causing instant death is the preferred way to do it. Quick, painless, and humane. However, a .45 APC slug tends to liquefy anything inside the skull, which then leaks out of just about any orifice on the head. When the sheep spasms (see above), it tends to fling large amounts of blood everywhere. If you happen to be in the way of that blood, you come away looking like you have been circumcised with a chainsaw. My pants are ruined.

3) Rabbits just kick a lot when they're killed. No biggie. Hold 'em up by the scruff to avoid ruining any meat.

Once the sheep had stopped spasming, we hung it up so that they could start skinning it. After it was hoisted and hung, I went back to the chainsaw and started cutting again. Let me reiterate that this tree was HUGE! And this was just one section of it! It was easily 50 feet long, laying on the ground, and branched out from two or three points. I probably spent a couple of hours cutting this thing into large pieces. Once I got the main parts cut into 6-10 foot lengths, I noticed that the chain was starting to come loose from the saw blade. So I set it down and went to go help with the skinning. Sad to say, they didn't quite need my help. With four people there, one more set of hands would have gotten in the way. So I stood back, drank about a gallon of water (because I was sweating like mad), and watched the girlfriend, our pal, J, and K cut the sheep up. It was about 60 pounds of meat dressed out. Not bad. The total count for the day was one sheep, four rabbits, and one Raging Dave who's lower back was saying really nasty things about him.

By the way, if there are any woodworkers in the Seattle area who would like some maple wood, let me know. J and K want it gone. And there is literally tons of it.

Anyways, working for hours with a chainsaw is a great way of releasing stress. The girlfriend was happy cutting up little fuzzy things for dinner, and we came back with three rabbits for our freezer. After letting them age in there for a couple of weeks, I'll toss them in my smoker for an hour or so before I cook them up. MMMMMMmmmM!

It was a good weekend. I hope you all have a happy Fourth of July.

Our new troll, same as the old troll

Our new favorite verbal punching bag, "Leaning Left" is none other than Little Robert McClellan, the cut-and-paste fuckwit.

Here's a clue, you dipshit... when you're spewing crap, remember that A) no one is truly anonymous on the Net, and B) LEAVING THE URL TO YOUR WORTHLESS SHITBAG SITE ON YOUR COMMENT IS A GIVEAWAY!

It's a good thing that basic body functions are pretty much automatic, because our fuckwit troll would be too stupid to remember how to take a breath.

At second glance, and third, and fourth....

The longer that Moore's Big Film 'o Lies is out there, the more lies are pointed out.

Via the Terpsboy.

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Busy Busy Busy

I spent yesterday running errands in the morning, and refinishing a chair in the afternoon. Let me just say right now that I hate varnish. No, I don't just hate it, I want to dig up the body of whoever came up with that unholy crap and burn him. As far as I'm concerned, it has to be one of the worst things you can put on a piece of furniture.

Anyways, my belt sander has been getting a workout. I've got most of the chair down to the bare wood. The girlfriend and I are going to put a nice oil stain on it once it's all clean, and then re-assemble it. We're also redoing the supports for it, since the old supports were pretty much falling apart. From what we can deduce, this chair used to belong to a bunch of vegan hippies who smoked a lot of anything they could get their hands on. I had to fill in quite a few burn marks with wood putty, and it looks like they tried to repaint the chair a few times. Grrrrrr. Once I got all the crap off the chair, I found out the wood was excellent. I can't tell what type of wood it is, but the grain of it is just gorgeous. It'll look pretty damn good once I'm finished with it.

And today I'm going out to a farm to do some log clearing, while my girlfriend dismembers little fuzzy things with the people who own the farm. As payment for my log clearing, we get to take the dismembered fuzzy things home and cook them. Yum!

So there might not be too many posts from me today. I'll see you all tomorrow.

COMPENDIUM OF 'FAHRENHEIT 911' LIES, MISTRUTHS, AND EXAGGERATIONS

The SmarterCop has a compendium of F9/11 bullshit. It's lengthy.