Thursday, December 29, 2005

Last 2005 Round-Up

According to this poll by Rasmussen Reports, 64% of Americans believe the National Security Agency (NSA) should be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States. Just 23% disagree. This view is shared by 81% of Republicans, 51% of Democrats and 57% of those not affiliated with either major political party. Somebody should warn the New York Times about that. Details and comments: Ace of Spades HQ, Protein Wisdom, NewsBusters.org, The Anchoress, Generation Why?, Captain's Quarters, Instapundit, Sister Toldjah, Blogs for Bush, Michelle Malkin, The Strata-Sphere, Say Anything, Power Line, Decision '08, California Conservative. A few days ago, the Washington Post published an article about "warbloggers" which - as Bill Roggio explained, even too softly - was only an attempt to discredit who (like Roggio himself) didn't destroy his own brain in the anti-Bush mechanism which dominates the mainstream media. Glenn Reynolds has an excellent round-up on the subject. But, as Hugh Hewitt writes, who needs MSM when you can read (for free) Michael Yon, Michael Totten, Bill Roggio and Iraq the Model? Jeffrey Hart (senior editor at the National Review) on the opinion page of the Wall Street Hournal begins with Russell Kirk to summarize and define modern American conservatism. Hart's analysis is very harsh, especially against pro-life and free-market ideologies (portrayed as utopians), "wilsonian" foreign policy of Bush Administration and the growing influence of the "anti-intellectual" South within the Republican party. But his article ignited a very interesting debate at NRO's The Corner (and not only), well summed-up by Spinning Clio (via All Things Beautiful) with a sort of liveblogging. It's a mandatory reading for any fusionist wannabe. Chicago Tribune tries to analyze (seriously) the "case for war" of Bush Administration in Iraq. Do expect some surprises. Robert D. Kaplan, author of "Imperial Grunts: The American military on the ground" (the book that Bush is reading right now), interviewed by Hugh Hewitt during his radio show. The full transcript of the interview on Radio Blogger. Max Boot, on the Los Angeles Times, wonders why Hollywood has so many restraints in identifing terrorists as the "bad guys". "The lesson of World War II - he writes - still stands: Civilized countries must use violence to defeat barbarians. Why is that so hard for Hollywood to understand?". Boot should read "Tales from the Left Coast" by James Hirsen. The problem is that Hollywood knows very well who the "bad guys" are. Bud, since decades, they are on bad guys' side.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Open Trackback Holiday


Please, use the italian/english version for open trackback
URL to ping:
http://haloscan.com/tb/andragorn/113542862065081058

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

No News, Good News

Think about it. Since a few days we didn't see, on Italian television and newspapers, stories about Bush-sinking-in-polls. There's a reason for that. In the last week, at least two pollsters registered a strong rebound in President's job approval. In the last poll by Washington Post and ABC News, Bush's overall approval rating rose to 47%, up from 39% in November. And a clear majority (56%) said they approve the way Bush is handling the fight against terrorism. According to Diageo/Hotline, Bush returns to 50%, with his best post-Katrina showing. Other pollsters, like Gallup and Fox News, continues to show Bush slighly upper than the 40%, like in the last weeks, while Rasmussen Reports floats around the middle between these two extremes. But it's clear to everybody, even to the media, that something is starting to move. And journalists prefer to avoid the news.

Bush Round-Up: Mystery Pollster, PowerLine, In the Bullpen, Protein Wisdom, RealClear Politics, Instapundit, The Hedgehog Report, Lifelike Pundits.

Versus the Press

Silvio Berlusconi (at "Porta a Porta") and George W. Bush (at the year-end news conference) hit hard against the Italian and the American press. They both seemed to us in a very good shape, even if they are two leaders on the edge of sunset. As the press says.

Bush Round-Up: Michelle Malkin, Captain's Quarters, PoliPundit, California Yankee, PowerLine, The Political Pit Bull, Instapundit, AnkleBitingPundits, The Strata-Sphere, Hugh Hewitt, Suitably Flip, Ace of Spades HQ, Sister Toldjah, BrothersJudd Blog, Gateway Pundit, Joe's Dartblog, Suitably Flip, The Noonz Wire, Kokonut Pundits, The Volokh Conspiracy.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

The Real Scandal

President Bush delivered a very tough radio address responding to the controversy over the New York Times report on National Security Agency surveillance. The gist, according to Byron York at National Review's The Corner: the surveillance program is critical to security, legal, and carefully reviewed at various intervals -- and the leak of its existence was illegal". Bush also revealed that "Leaders in Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on this authorization and the activities conducted under it". The real scandal is that NYT deliberately decided to harm national security, publishing a 12-months-old "scoop" to try to downplay the impact of free elections in Iraq

Round-Up: Hugh Hewitt, The Corner, Protein Wisdom, Newsbusters.org, Rightwing Nuthouse, Captain's Quarters, Blogs for Bush, Let Freedom Ring, Instapundit, Hit and Run, The Strata-Sphere, Gateway Pundit, Confederate Yankee, Ace of Spades HQ, SoCalPundit, The Astute Blogger, Stop The ACLU, Say Anything, Decision '08, Pardon My English, Little Green Footballs, Dean Esmay, Michelle Malkin, Four Right Wing Wackos, Professor Bainbridge, Sister Toldjah, Carol Platt Liebau, The Political Pit Bull, The Right Coast, Solomonia, Tammy Bruce.

Sleepy Weekend Open Trackback


Please, use the italian/english version for open trackback
URL to ping:
http://haloscan.com/tb/andragorn/113486206604097785

Thursday, December 15, 2005

From Marx to Vallanzasca

"Some are born cops, I was born thief". As one of the favorite quotes by Renato Vallanzasca goes. He was a bank-robber and kidnapper who terrorized Lombardia in the Seventies. Yesterday, during a talk-show on Italian state television, the communist European MP Marco Rizzo, talking about the arrest of Giampiero Fiorani, basically said that there's no difference between a banker and a robber like Vallanzasca. Some are born humans, he was born communist.

Last Call

Last hours to vote The Right Nation or Free Thoughts for the "Best European Blog" category at the Weblog Awards 2005. Reaching the podium is difficult, but not impossibile. You can vote until midnight.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Friday, December 09, 2005

White Flag Attack

According to Matt Drudge, GOP is ready to launch a television spot to attack last ultra-pacifist declarations of Democrat leaders: "The Republican National Committee will provide state parties with a web video prior to release tomorrow afternoon that shows a white flag waving over images of Democrat leaders making anti-war remarks". "We have no one to blame but Dean, Kerry and others who continue to pander to the anti-war activists within our party", admitted a Democratic strategist to Drudge. Finally GOP returns to attack. It's about time. UPDATE. Watch the video on GOP.com.

Round-Up: Captain's Quarters, PoliPundit, Austin Bay Blog, Blogs for Bush, Power Line, Mudville Gazette, Crazy Politico's Rantings, The Ohio Conservative, The Filthy One, The Palmetto Observer, Conservative Outpost, Finding a Balance, Don Surber, 2nd Battalion 94th Artillery, RadioActive Chief, Evil Conservative, McBride's Media Matters, EckerNet, Kennedy vs. the Machine, A Lady's Ruminations, The Asylum, Euphoric Reality, The Tension, A Soldier's Perspective, Hoaah Wife, The Makaha Surf Report, Lifelike Pundits, The Dumb Ox, Spatula City, Pet Bog, The Colossus, Pundit Guy.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

You Can Think It, But You Can't Say It

"Dean's take on Iraq makes even less sense than the scream in Iowa: Both are uninformed and unhelpful". Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) is very harsh, but according to the Washington Post, he is not the only Democrat to fear that his leaders' rhetorical blasts could harm efforts to win control of Congress next year. History repeats itself: Democrats' positions shifted to the extreme left, that's a fact, but when the elections are near, they can't afford to make their ideas too public. If they say what they really think, the risk is to loose elections until 2050.

Round-Up: Just One Minute, Hugh Hewitt, Discriminations, Protein Wisdom, Baldilocks, Right Side of the Rainbow, South Dakota Politics, Clear and Present, Ragged Thots, Speed of Thought, Blogs for Bush, Daily Pundit, Mad Mikey, Winds of Change, Alarming News, The Political Teen, Wizbang, WunderKraut, Between Two World, PoliPundit, Say Anything, Hoystory, New England Republican, BrothersJudd, The Urban Grind, Swanky Conservative, California Conservative, INDC Journal, The Politicker, Froggy Ruminations, Outside The Beltway, EuphoricReality, IMAO, Pardon My English, Right Wing Nut, GOP and the City.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Cato Unbound

The new Cato Unbound by Cato Institute seems like a blog (it even has trackbacks), but it's something more. Each month, they publishes a lead essay by one of the world’s leading thinkers (the kick-off is entrusted to James M. Buchanan) and then, in a short period of time, new reaction essays will appear, followed by a "more free form discussion inspired by the initial exchange of ideas". An unique experiment, which could only be started by an unique think-tank like the Cato Institute.

Round-Up: Instapundit, The Volokh Conspiracy, Hit & Run, The Club for Growth, WILLism, Dispatches from the Culture Wars, Positive Liberty, The Fly Bottle, Crescat Sententia, PrestoPundit, Crime & Federalism, Liberty Corner, Liberty for Sale, To the People, Dave Budge, Eternal Recurrence, Terrible Swift World, Spontaneous Order, SwMo Libertarian, Beltway Blogroll.

Ideas Have Consequences

"Since President Bush got the tax cut he wanted, Americans have gotten the economy they’ve earned". Jerry Bowyer, on the National Review Online, explains why American economy is continuing to grow. And faster than during the "amazing years" of Clinton administration (not to talk about Europe). "Ideas and policies have consequences", comments Will Franklin at WILLisms. José Piñera, not too many days ago, told us something very similar.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

The Real Face of DemocRats

"The idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong". These are the exact words used by Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean in an interview on WOAI Radio in San Antonio. Finally, he officially joined the Betrayal Party, asking for the immediate withdrawal of National Guard and Reserve troops. Dedicated to whoever thinks that American Left is somehow better than the Italian one.

Exchange Vote

I would like to thank all the readers who nominated The Right Nation for the "Best European Blog" category at the Weblog Awards 2005. We are honored to have been chosen as finalists. And I am especially happy that, in the European category, 4 other TocqueVille's blogs were chosen (Buzzurro, Free Thoughts, Otimaster and Robinik). The mytical Nickie Goomba (another ToqueVille's citizen) was selected for the "Best of the Top 251-500" category. From the rules: "Polls close December 15, 2005. You may vote once every 24 hours in each poll. After voting in an individual poll you will be locked out from voting again in that poll (on the computer you voted from) for 24 hours". Just click on the upper-right banner, click on "Vote" and, of course, choose "The Right Nation". For any valid vote, a cold beer is waiting for you in Rome :) Down below, our personal choices for some of the other categories.

Mudville Gazette (Best Blog)
All Things Beautiful (Best New Blog)
The Cotillion (Best Group Blog)
Cox & Forkum (Best Humor/Comics Blog)
Belgravia Dispatch (Best Conservative Blog)
Steyn Online (Best Media/Journalist Blog)
Slashdot (Best Technology Blog)
Right Side of the Rainbow (Best LGBT Blog)
Euphoric Reality (Best Military Blog)
Evangelical Outpost (Best Religious Blog)
Patterico's Pontifications (Best Law Blog)
The Club For Growth (Best Business Blog)
The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns (Best Canadian Blog)
The Daily Ablution (Best UK Blog)
Silent Running (Best Australia or New Zealand)
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (Best of the Top 250 Blogs)
Nickie Goomba (Best of the Top 251 - 500)
WILLisms (Best of the Top 501 - 1000)
The Sundries Shack (Best of the Top 1751 - 2500)
Conservative Musings (Best of the Top 2501 - 3500)
Rantingprofs (Best of the Top 3501 - 5000)
Random Yak (Best of the Top 5001 - 6750).

Monday, December 05, 2005

Asymmetrical Debunking

Thanks to The Jawa Report, we found out that Fox News debunked another fake video by Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera continues to report that the video shows Thursday's attack on US Marines in Fallujah, even though it has already been proven false. Now, it would be nice if SkyTg24 made a similar debunking of RaiNews24's fake scoop on white phosphorus in Fallujah. But it will never happen. Here, in Italy, someone sold us a commie clone of Rupert Murdoch.

Round-Up: The Jawa Report, Dread Pundit Bluto, Gateway Pundit, A Blog For All, Alphabet City, Bareknucklepolitics.

Hong Kong: Pro-Democracy Demonstration


Thousands people (60 thousands for the police, 250 thousands for the organizers) have joined a demonstration in Hong Kong calling for a fully-democratic political system in the Chinese autonomous territory. Here the video from BBC (via Gateway Pundit). Anson Chan, who was Tung's powerful head of the civil service for years, joined a pro-democracy march for the first time."I just feel there are moments in one's life when you have to stand up and be counted," she told reporters. Before the march, the catholic bishop of Hong Kong, Joseph Zen, invited the people to support the pro-democracy campaign.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

(Open Trackback) Weekend Round-Up

Good news from Pakistan: the No. 3 official of al-Qaida, Hamza Rabia, was killed early Thursday morning by a CIA missile attack on a safehouse (not so safe, uh?). Pakistan's president later confirmed the militant leader's death: "Yes indeed, 200 percent", he said. Details and comments at Rantingprofs, California Conservative, Winds of Change, California Yankee, Secular Blasphemy, A Blog For All, Gateway Pundit It's National Review's 50th Anniversary. Who doesn't subscribe will spend a sad and lonely Christmas. Mickey Kaus, on Slate, analyzes "Hillary's Chimerical Recalibration" towards 2008. Plamegate's latest developments: always Tom Maguire, always at JustOneMinute. Brian S. Wesbury, on Wall Street Journal, attacks the "Pundits of Pessimism". "Every bit of good economic news gives them reason for despair", he writes. The discussion continues at Instapundit, Dr. Sanity, Blogs for Bush, Atlas Shrugs, Classical Values, WILLisms, Carol Platt Liebau, JunkYardBlog, GOP Bloggers, Ace of Spades HQ. Gian Marco Chiocci and Mario Sechi continues to tell the truth about Nigergate (and to show Repubblica's lies). The last episode of the saga at Mario Sechi's blog.John Luik, at Tech Central Station, dismantles some myths about violence and videogames (in your face, Hillary!). Comments at Instapundit, Joanne Jacobs e Pagan-Vigil. Gen-X, Baby Boomers and war: two must-read posts by My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and Soldier's Angel. 1000 executions in the US since 1976? McQ tries to put the numbers "in a little bit of context", at QandO Blog. The flooding of New Orleans wasn't a Republican conspiracy to kill black people. The New Orleans Times-Picayune (via Michelle Malkin and Wizbang) makes some justice about the Katrina's lies. According to the Washington Post, Tom DeLay's days are almost over. Comments at RightSided and Charging Rino. Wellington translates in Italian the article written by John Pike for the Los Angeles Times about white phosphorus in Fallujah. If you still believe to RaiNews 24's lies, you're a desperate case. Open Trackbacks: Basil's Blog, The Uncooperative Blogger, Stop The ACLU, Adam's Blog, The Political Teen, Oblogatory Anectodes, MacStansbury10 ft 2 ft, Random Yak, Rightwing Nation, Cao’s Blog, TMH’s Bacon Bits, Is it Just Me?, The Political Teen, Conservative Cat, Third World County, The Political Teen, Wizbang, Point Five, Jo’s Cafe, Stuck on Stupid, Samantha Burns, Choose Life. This post has open trackbacks for all the weekend. Rules and infos are here.

The URL to trackback is:
http://haloscan.com/tb/andragorn/113362953353040679
(a link to this post is mandatory). Enjoy.

Trackbacks:
Stuck On Stupid - Grandma Hoists Baby Jesus
All Things Beautiful - The Enemy Within
Stuck On Stupid - 2005 White House Christmas Card
NeOquidnimis - L'ira funesta, che infiniti lutti addusse ...
Robinik - Il Caso Sofri/1
All Things Beautiful - The Jihad Apocalypse
Third World County - Finally blogging Saturday: playing catchup
From Being to Becoming - McCain-Feingold e primo emendamento
From Being to Becoming - Giornata AIDS: o no?
Camelot Destra Ideale - Magnifica l’esortazione del Papa...
Stuck On Stupid - WW2 Vet Awarded Medals 60 Years Later
The Peace Moonbeam Chronicles - Strange Bedfellows
La pulce di Voltaire - La Tv è cambiata, e Murdoch ha vinto
Phastidio - La società civile e la sua negazione
Committees of Correspondence - The Rape of the Body Politic
Oblogatory Anecdotes - Ray Nagin Says Go Back To Live...
Neocon Italiani - L’intolleranza illiberale
Kagliostro - Volevo fare il ghostbuster
Atlas Shrugs - Weblog's Best Blog Nominations

Thursday, December 01, 2005

White Phosphorus: Pike fries the lies on LAT

Just while the New York Times was stopping to keep an apparent balance between anti-Bushism and sense of ridicule (by Il motel dei polli ispirati the most "appropriate" comment), John Pike, on the Los Angeles Times, dismantles RaiNews 24 lies about white phosphorus in Fallujah. "Once again - writes Pike on the Californian newspaper - it seemed the United States had committed unspeakable atrocities, then lied about its illegal activities and been exposed. Every day there were fresh revelations and allegations. There is just one problem. It isn't true". After dismantling, piece by piece, moonbat theories by Ranucci, Morrione and comrades, Pike attacks also the State Department for not reacting faster to the lies of Italian public television. "The only scandal here - he writes - is that our government allowed the nation to fall victim to clumsy, cheap anti-American propaganda. At least during the Cold War, we made the Soviets work to discredit us". Maybe the director of Globalsecurity.org forgets that during Cold War European commies used to sell their anti-american propaganda in exchange for money. Now, especially the Italian ones, they're doing it absolutely for free.

Round-Up: Balloon Juice (2), Confederate Yankee (2), Iraqi Bloggers Central, CounterColumn(2-3-4-5), Silent Running, Duwayne Black.

Commander-in-Chief


"Setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would send a message across the world that America is a weak and an unreliable ally. Setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would send a signal to our enemies -- that if they wait long enough, America will cut and run and abandon its friends. And setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would vindicate the terrorists' tactics of beheadings and suicide bombings and mass murder -- and invite new attacks on America. To all who wear the uniform, I make you this pledge: America will not run in the face of car bombers and assassins so long as I am your Commander-in-Chief". George W. Bush, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis (Maryland), November 30th

Round-Up: Hugh Hewitt, The Corner (NRO), QandO Blog (2), Hyscience, Pajamas Media, PoliPundit, GOP Bloggers, Stop the ACLU, The Political Teen, bRight&Early, Media Lies, Little Green Footballs, Balloon Juice, The Glittering Eye, California Yankee, One Hand Clapping, Gay Patriot, The Uncooperative Blogger, Big Lizards, Bill Hobbs, Don Surber, RNC04 Blog, Keith D. Milby, Slant Point, PeakTalk, Donkey Stomp, Roger L. Simon, David Corn.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Monday Afternoon Round-Up

Mark Steyn, on Chicago Sun-Times writes about Hollywood's anti-americanism (Whoopi Goldberg included). Commentary at Powerline, The American Thinker, Edd Driscoll, Ann Althouse, Dinocrat, BrothersJudd Blog. A few weeks ago, on the City Journal, Brian C. Anderson (South Park Conservatives' author) faced a similar subject. A must-read. The only sane person in Hollywood seems to be Bruce Willis who, according to the Times is going to shoot a movie about Iraq War based on Michael Yon's reportages. Other details at A Conservative Mind, Generation Why?, Israelly Cool, Ace of Spades HQ, The Jawa Report, Gina Cobb, Riding Sun, Ex-Donkey Blog. Our American friends may want to read the english translation of this interesting post by Wellington on RaiNews 24's fake scoop about white phosphorus in Fallujah. Other good posts (in italian): Parbleu! (also here), I Diavoli Neri, Il motel dei polli ispirati, Wellington, Frequenza 0, The Italian Version. Another Time reporter is cooperating with Fitzgerald on Plamegate inquiry. The best blog to follow all the developments is always JustOneMinute. According to the 72% of French citizens, president Jacques Chirac's influence is weaker than always. All the details on Daily Telegraph, commentary at The Astute Blogger. "Police arrested 10 Sunnis carrying orders from a fugitive associate of Saddam Hussein's to assassinate the court's best-known judge" writes the New York Times. Commentary at Rantingprofs, A Blog For All, PoliBlog. Meanwhile, the trial goes on. Cheney or McCain: who's the real hero? Powerline has no doubts. Commentary at Protein Wisdom and Barcepundit. Who doesn't read at least once a day All Things Beautiful is committing a crime against arts and intelligence. Go read Alexandra's last post. Help my twin Robinik to fight anti-americanism on the web. If you don't, you are just a Michael Moore. Beth of My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy writes his opinion about Pajamas Media, Open Trackback e Weblog Awards: there's a reason why she's always the best. Moving time for some of our favorites blogs at TocqueVille. These are the new URL of Nequidnimis, Mondopiccolo, Silverlynx and Buzzurro. Update your blogrolls. We have nothing to add about the Sofri case. Our twin Otimaster wrote everything we think about it. The Duke is Gone. By the Washington Post (via Crazy Politico's Rantings), a sad story of corruption between Republicans in California.

Guts

"(...) There is no plausible explanation for the Democrats' behavior other than that they long to see U.S. troops shot, humiliated, and driven from the field of battle. They fill the airwaves with treason, but when called to vote on withdrawing troops, disavow their own public statements. These people are not only traitors, they are gutless traitors".
(Ann Coulter, Towhnall.com)

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Friday, November 25, 2005

Iraq Toy Story

Thirty-one victims, mostly women and children. This the bloody outcome of the last kamikaze attack organized by the so-called "insurgents", the one our pacifists consider the last resource against American imperialism. A suicide bomber steered a car packed with explosives toward U.S. soldiers giving away toys to children outside a hospital in Mahmudiya, in central Iraq. Read about it on Washington Post. While New York Times "forgets" an interesting detail. Can you sink any lower than this? Yes, you can.

Round-Up: The Corner, Powerline, Balloon Juice, The Sundries Shack, Mudville Gazette, Gina Cobb, Ex-Donkey Blog, Camp Katrina, A Blog For All, RantingProfs, YARGB, Dinocrat, Paxalles, Daimnation!, Rhymes with Right, The Discerning Texan, JoshuaPundit, Rants, Down Deep in Texas. Update. The Strata-Sphere, Countercolumn, Unclaimed Territory, LyfLines, PC Free Zone, RightWing Nation.

Double Standard [reloaded]

Is Republican Speaker of the House, Tom DeLay, indicted in Texas for violation of election laws? Mainstream media dance over his (political) corpse. Does former First-Lady and Democrat Senator of New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, take millions from a convicted felon in violation of federal laws? Mainstream media ignores the news. An enlightening report on double standard by Accuracy in the Media. Reactions at Random Numbers, Wizbang and Never Yet Melted.

A Bit of Phosphorus (Even on the Left)

Sisyphean Musings tries to make some order out of the debate around the use of white phosporus at Fallujah and links a very interesting article that we missed in the last days: Scott Burgess at Tech Central Station. If you missed it too, read it. It worths the effort. In the meantime, there's a small bunch of lefty American blogs who doesn't want to believe to RaiNews 24's lies: Stygius and WhirledView joins Armchair Generalist, which was linked in yesterday night's round-up. Ten days ago William M. Arking, on the online edition of Washington Post, urged the peace movement to avoid Italian's temptations, if they didn't want to embrace a loser strategy. Maybe, even on the left, someone still have a brain.

Round-Up: The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, The Devil's Kitchen, The O'Toole File, Rottweiler Puppy.

Linked at: Wellington, I Diavoli Neri.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

All in the Family

Unexpected developments in the Plamegate. According to Jack Cashill of World Net Daily, "there is every reason to believe that Wilson himself outed Plame to Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times in early May 2003, at least a month before the leak to Woodward". That is two months before Libby talked to NYT journalist Judith Miller. So Valerie Plane's husband, Josheph Wilson, is allegedly the "deep throat" deemed to undermine Bush administration (in liberals' dream world). Cashill found an old Vanity Fair article (January 2004) that suggest the Wilson-hypothesis as the most likely. For sure, the deeper you get, the clearer it becomes that there's only one huge scandal: the fact that Wilson-Plame pair represented United States of America around the world. Yet another amazing success of Clinton administration. [translated by Babs]

Round-Up: The Strata-Spere, Generation Why?, A Blog for All, Ace of Spades HQ, The Political Teen, JustOneMinute, Myopic Zeal.

Linked at: Myopic Zeal.

Red Phosphorous: (Cheats) Sometimes They Come Back

The big cheat of RaiNews 24 on white phosphorus still engages Italian and American lefties. Insisting on the issue, even when the “documentary” has been extensively demolished in the past weeks (some hints of the debunking at Wellington, Heraklitos, I Diavoli Neri, Grendel from the Moor e Il Giornale), seems senseless. But the story still circulates in the mainstream media and in the blogosphere just like it was not, as said, a cheat. Otto e mezzo’s episode on the subject was, frankly, embarrassing. There’s no need to get into details, as No Way and Wellington dealt with them brilliantly. We just want to remind that the fib saying that in 1995, in a “secret dossier”, the Pentagon classified white phosphorus as “chemical weapon”, turned out to be a lie. Thanks to Confederate Yankee and Protein Wisdom we found out that the definition “chemical weapon” was not used by US military authority, but comes from a transcription of a phone call between two Kurdish siblings, accusing Saddam of using white phosphorus to repress a rebellion in North Iraq. In the phone call one of the sibling uses the expression “chemical weapon” to describe white phosphorus. And this should be the ultimate proof of US army’s double standard? The funniest thing is that at the bottom of the transcription you find the following warning: “This is an information report, not finally evaluated intelligence”. In the report the Pentagon never defines white phosphorus as “chemical weapon”, but simply reports a phone conversation without taking a stance. This, of course, didn’t prevent Sigfrido Ranucci, the author of RaiNews 24’s cheat, from claiming that “when Saddam used white phosphorus it was a chemical weapon, when the Americans use it it’s a conventional weapon”. There are only two options: either Mr. Ranucci is acting in bad faith, or he is affected by a rare illness, “random illiteracy”, that causes him to skip some lines while reading (especially those that prove his conspiracy theories wrong). We understand perfectly the ideological and economical reasons that push Ranucci into defending his false scoop beyond the limit of ridicule. Or that induce comrade Morrione and comrade Floris to make an instrument of political propaganda out of it. Or that force US far leftist useful (only to Al Queda) idiots to air the cheat, trying to arm Bush administration. But we don’t understand how Italian journalism sank so low, that it can’t recognize a false scoop when it sees one. Ignorance or bad faith, Rusty thinks it’s high time to call things with their real name: betrayal. UPDATE: as Domiziano Galia observes on Fratelli d’Italia, the document (that is no more on-line while we’re writing) is not the complete transcription of the phone call, but a summed-up version. Read the post and draw your conclusion. In our opinion the matter does not change. Keep an eye on Wellington and I Diavoli Neri. [translation by Babs]

Linked at: Otimaster, Robinik. Happy Thanksgiving twins! :)
Update: Wellington, I Diavoli Neri, MarioM, Fratelli d'Italia.

Round-Up: Confederate Yankee, Protein Wisdom, NoEndButVictory, RedState.org, Balloon Juice, The Jawa Report, My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Argghhh!, Armchair Generalist, INDC Journal, Baseball Crank, Mark A. Kilmer, Something and Half of Something, Caerdroia, Dread Pundit Bluto, Myopic Zeal, Dean's World.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Lefty Glitches

This is for all those who still believe that american mainstream media are a model of unbiased journalism (and not a bunch of liberals). Take a look in this video (via The Political Teen) at the technical error the CNN ran into while broadcasting a speech by vice-president Dick Cheney at the American Enterprise Institute. An enormous black "X" flashed repeatedly on Cheney's face. As an anonymous White House source declared to Drudge Report: "Is someone in Atlanta trying to tell us something". Lefties claim it was a mere technical glitch. But Michelle Malkin is not convinced.