Bill's Bites
Contributed by Bill Faith
The webmaster's blog-within-a-blog. Continuously updated and bumped, newest items at the top.
Video: Katie Couric debuts on the CBS Evening News
I did promise Mary K, who’s gone and written a thoughtful post about it. ...
Introduced by Uncle Walter, ...
I'm so damned excited I just went out and treed three cats.
*** VIDEO: Couric Starts With A Whimper Rather Than A Bang
Greg Tinti
I just watched Katie Couric's debut as the anchor of the CBS Evening News and it was, much to my surprise, not very different than it was when Bob Shieffer was helming. I expected at least a couple radical stylistic changes that would set the CBS Evening News apart from it's competitors on NBC and ABC. You know, shake things up a little. But there was nothing new in that regard. All in all, Couric's debut was, well, ordinary. ...
New Hold Shows Opponents' War of Attrition Against Coburn-Obama Spending Database; Frist Warns Democrats of "Consequences;" Stevens Renews His Hold (H/T)
Rebecca Carr of Cox News Washington Bureau continues to score scoops on the secret Senate holds story. Now it appears a second Democrat has placed a hold on the Coburn-Obama bill to establish an internet database of most federal spending, S. 2590. ...
Pakistani military withdraws, cedes tribal areas to jihadis
Smells like disaster, but it might not be. First, from the Blotter: ... The AP corroborates the report. The question is simply this: are the Pakistanis getting out of the Taliban’s way? Or are they getting out of the way of the U.S. military? From the Asia Times: ...
*** 20:28 Updated: Pakistan Truce: Strategy, Or Failure?
Updated with more from Hot Air below that lends support to the strategic approach.
It would be easy to dismiss the newly announced Pakistani Taliban truce as a bitter failure and perhaps it is. But there are other elements to consider, ones which we'll not be able to confirm for some time due to the politically troubled nature of Pakistan.
Black Gold
WASHINGTON — A trio of oil companies led by Chevron Corp. has tapped a petroleum pool deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico that could boost the nation's reserves by more than 50 percent.
A test well indicates it could be the biggest new domestic oil discovery since Alaska's Prudhoe Bay a generation ago.
Anything that means buying less oil from the Mideast is something for this old dog to wag his tail about. It's waggin'.
Purging 101
From the International Herald Tribune: Iran's Ahmadinejad calls for purge of liberal university teachers. Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged students Tuesday to push for a purge of liberal and secular teachers from universities, in another sign of his determination to stamp a strong Islamic fundamentalist revival on the country. ...
Earlier this year, dozens of liberal university professors and teachers were sent into retirement, and last November, Ahmadinejad's administration for the first time named a cleric to head the country's oldest institution of higher education, Tehran University — drawing strong protests from students.
Blue-staters cheer CSNY anti-war rants (H/T: Zero Ponsdorf)
If your favorite uncles dropped in from out of town for a rare visit, you'd probably be surprised if the mood turned somber and they started lecturing you. You'd be downright shocked to find yourself enthralled with the strange turn the evening had taken.
That's probably how most people felt in the packed house at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young raged on for three hours Sunday night. The granddaddy of rock's "supergroups," touring for the third time as a quartet since Neil Young rejoined in 2000 after a 26-year absence, wore its lefty sentiments as a badge of honor during an endless tirade against President Bush and the Iraq war.
Video: Bush on the caliphate
Is touting Al Qaeda’s desire for a world ruled by Islam really the best way to win over Muslims who are on the fence? ...
Cartoon imam linked to German, Danish terror suspects
His name’s Abu Bashar and he led the first of several delegations of Danish imams to the Middle East last December to see if they could stir up a little old-fashioned religious outrage over the Jyllands-Posten cartoons of Mohammed.
They succeeded. Due in part to the fact that they faked some of the evidence.
Bashar’s back in the news for, of all things, links to terrorism. Contain your surprise:
Centanni: The bastards tickled my feet
Allahpundit
They also asked him to write a letter to Bush telling him “Islam is good” and to stop calling Islamic fascists “Islamic fascists.” Centanni’s reply: “I can tell him, but I don’t think he’s going to listen.” Heh.
A good read at B&C, but these two passages merit blockquoting: ...
The Two Stooges, Reloaded!! Memogate Reunion! (H/T 1stCav)
Good news, phony document fans! The team that gave you Memogate is back in action.
Former CBS News producer Mary Mapes has rejoined her old running partner Dan Rather at Mark Cuban's HDNet channel. Rather, 74, is starting all over at hi-def cable network with a weekly one-hour show that will translate the day's events into awkwardly-worded homespun similes. It debuts in October.
Mapes joins Rather at HDNet; ready to “break balls”
Radar’s got the scoop, and gives credit where credit is due: The documents’ authenticity (though not their substance) was successfully refuted by the same principled wingnuts currently leading the charge against Reuters.
Indeed it was, my moonbat friend. Indeed it was.
*** 17:02
Dan Riehl: More Media Madness
Connectus Interruptus
Been fighting connectivity problems all afternoon. Back now? Thanx 4 yer patience.
1,000+ jihadis for 1 Jew
That's the reported deal being negotiated for the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
There's conflicting info, though, on where Shalit is and whether this swap is real. Ynetnews says: "London-based Arabic-language newspaper reports kidnapped soldier has been recently transferred from Gaza to Egypt ahead of anticipated prisoner exchange. Shalit's father, Noam: According to our sources report is false." ....
Video: Rep. Al Green (D-TX) accuses “criminal” U.S. gov’t of entrapping illegals
It’s not that they want to come here. The Border Patrol’s practically dragging them across the Rio Grande.
FauxPhotography: Undershirtgate
Allahpundit
The comments to yesterday’s post about the airstrike on the Reuters van got a little prickly, so I sort of feel obliged to follow up. Mark Steyn wrote in a recent column, .... An eagle-eyed reader with a long memory e-mailed me last night to say this wasn’t true, and that she could prove it. And she did. ....
WaPo: Do warblogs cause Wahhabism?
Of course they do. It’s the Iraq debate writ small: confronting fundamentalists only makes the problem worse. Much better to politely ignore the problem.
That’s what our modern day Churchill, Keith Olbermann, would do.
The next time they foil a terror plot here, remember who’s really to blame: Charles Johnson. ...
Prosecutors Get Tough On Stewart Sentencing
The AP reports on a brief submitted by prosecutors arguing for a long prison sentence for convicted terrorist enabler Lynne Stewart. They dismiss defense claims that Stewart mistakenly crossed the line from zealous defender to an unwitting accomplice who deserves no jail time for her error: Stewart's "egregious, flagrant abuse of her profession, abuse that amounted to material support to a terrorist group, deserves to be severely punished," prosecutors wrote in a document submitted Thursday to a judge.
Three words: Hang the bitch.
Syria Doubles Down With Another Assassination Attempt
A roadside bomb has seriously injured the lead investigator into the assassination of Rafik Hariri and killed four of his bodyguards near the seaside city of Sidon in Lebanon. The remote-controlled bomb seems very similar to the means used to assassinate Hariri: ...
Immigration Rallies Do Not Increase Voter Registrations
The AP decided to take a look at the prediction that immigration rallies this spring would inspire hundreds of thousands to register as voters in time for the upcoming midterm elections, if not the earlier primaries. Despite this conventional wisdom getting repeated endlessly in political analyses, they only found this to be true in Los Angeles -- and on a much smaller scale than predicted:
Nine held in Danish terror raids (H/T)
Danish police have arrested nine suspected terrorists, the country's security intelligence service says.
The suspects, believed to be all men under the age of 30, were picked up during overnight raids in Odense, Denmark's third largest city.
The country's Justice Minister, Lene Espersen, said it was likely they were planning an attack in Denmark. ...
*** 12:07 Terror Bust - Those Frisky Danes
Nine arrested according to the BBC. Aljazeera suggests they're immigrants. Really? I figured they'd all end up being named Lars. But the best bit is at the end. Why contact Muslims leaders? Hmm? .... Aljazeera also reminds us of the Mohammed cartoon violence. Interesting that they seem to be first out of the box acknowledging a possible link. AT least they are honest in that regard, moreso than our own media will likely ever be. ...
The Democrats Write A Letter
Yesterday, the Democrats released an open letter to George Bush demanding a change in policy for Iraq and the war on terror. The letter takes five paragraphs to get to the point, and even then doesn't do much more than present general goals rather than any clear changes to current policy:
[...]
They want Donald Rumsfeld's head on a pike outside the White House, but they can't even gin up the courage to use his name in their letter. ...
G.O.P. Sets Aside Work on Immigration (H/T)
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 — As they prepare for a critical pre-election legislative stretch, Congressional Republican leaders have all but abandoned a broad overhaul of immigration laws and instead will concentrate on national security issues they believe play to their political strength.
With Congress reconvening Tuesday after an August break, Republicans in the House and Senate say they will focus on Pentagon and domestic security spending bills, port security legislation and measures that would authorize the administration’s terror surveillance program and create military tribunals to try terror suspects. ...
Israel Considering Arab Initiative
The Jerusalem Post reports that the Israelis have come back to the stalled Arab Initiative, a comprehensive peace plan sponsored by the Saudis four years ago. The Saudis apparently intend on raising the plan again at an upcoming summit in Cairo, and the Israelis will watch with interest how it develops: Israel will be watching a meeting of the foreign ministers of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia scheduled for Tuesday in Cairo with "interest, but little expectation," senior diplomatic officials said Monday.
Today's Vent: Hezbollah In Venezuela -- Part 1
Jerry Lewis Telethon Raises Record $61M for Muscular Distrophy
LAS VEGAS — Jerry Lewis' annual Labor Day telethon raised a record $61 million to fight muscular dystrophy, bolstered by a huge donation from a group of firefighters and the lack of a major hurricane before the show. ...
Some people curse the darkness, some light bonfires.
Elites and the military
It's old news that military service has all but disappeared among the upper classes. That's why no one is surprised to hear that Harvard -- which still bans ROTC -- graduated all of nine ROTC cadets this year (MIT hosts them down the river).
Not everyone suffers from outrage fatigue, though -- certainly not Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer. The authors of "AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from the Military -- and How It Hurts Our Country" are appalled at their peers' lack of knowledge, even rudimentary knowledge, of the military.
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