Conversion Video
No compulsion to religion?
Much more at Hot Air, thanks to Allahpundit.
Fox News Journalists Freed After Kidnapping In Gaza
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh (left), of Hamas, talks with freed
journalists Steve Centanni (center) and Olaf Wiig (right) in Gaza, 8/27/06
AP: Fox News Crew Freed After Gaza Ordeal
Wonderful news! Centanni and Wiig are safe. Sounds like it got pretty dicey: I heard Centanni say on Fox News that they were forced to write and write about their lives and experiences. And then they were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint! YIKES!!!
So it is just very happy news that they are free and safe. Isn't it interesting that Hamas thought about how Palestinians will be seen by the world and made the right decision. Maybe this could happen more.
GOP Straw Poll
German TV Uncovers Truth of Israeli Chemical Weapons Charge
German TV gets to the bottom of claims that the Israelis used chemical weapons in Lebanon. But the clever Germans do actual scientific tests to prove it! They're smart like that. Watch the video.
Punctured Red Cross Ambulance Myth Exploded
Zombie totally demolishes the wild tale of the missile that hit ambulance right in the middle of the red cross. View his excellent work.
Also at zombietime:
Mohammed Image Archive
The Reuters Photo Scandal - A Taxonomy of Fraud
License plate analysis from RiehlWorldView
Take That, Evil Fauxtographers!
The Jawa Report takes on the fauxtographers.
Video Released of Kidnapped Fox Journalists
A group called the Holy Jihad Brigades has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of Fox News journalists and released a video of the missing men. Thankfully, they look to be in acceptable physical condition. Except for not being able to come and go as they please. You can view the video at Hot Air.
MSM Hearts Three Sizes Too Small
Scroll for updates.
When Daniel Pearl was kidnapped, the story was heavily covered by Fox News. The same can be said of the kidnapping of Jill Carroll. And what about the time ABC anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were seriously injured by an IED in Iraq? It was reported by Fox News and the kindest good wishes were offered.
But now two Fox News reporters are kidnapped: Steve Centanni and his cameraman Olaf Wiig are taken by gunmen in Gaza. The silence from the MSM is deafening! Shame on the whole evil, envious, black-hearted bunch!
Bob Laurence, a TV critic at the San Diego Union-Tribune, is the epitomy of MSM nastiness as he blames the victims:
I'd like to offer a couple of possible reasons for the lack of attention given to the kidnapping of the two guys from Fox:
One is that, sadly, they are far from the first to be kidnapped, injured or killed. They are, alas, only the most recent two of many. The kidnapping or targeting of journalists in Iraq isn't the story it once was.
Second, Fox has deliberately set itself apart from other news media. Starting at the top with Roger Ailes, the Fox sales pitch has been to deride other media, to declare itself the one source of the real truth, the sole source of 'fair and accurate' news reporting. As a result, there's not a reservoir of kinship or good will with Fox on the part of the rest of the news media. You can't keep insulting people and then expect friendship when you need it.
They've made it a policy to keep a distance between themselves and the rest of the media, far beyond the usual competitive spirit, so that's where they are: at a distance.
Sour grapes. Sick and vile. Has there ever been any TV news - local, network, cable - that did not claim to be the biggest, bestest, truest? And isn't CNN still claiming to be Numero Uno? Apparently Fox did not invent this.
So let's keep Centanni and Wiig in our prayers, along with their families. And consider firing off an email to Bob Laurence - who is safe and sound in his comfy office.
Update: 8/23/06 - Boston Herald - Asking for it: why terrorism vs. Fox TV is not news
Not Surprising
Does this surprise anyone?
NRO Media Blog - Bassem Mroue: Anti-Israel AP Reporter
What do you think are the chances of getting unbiased reporting out of this guy?
Google Points Out The Fascists
[Ed. - Red circles added to areas of interest]
I was looking up the definition of 'fascism' for a post at Rat Chat. The advertising surrounding the definition is fascinating.
Screenshot of Google ads
I'm sure Google would say that these ad results are a result of the content of the web resources the ads point to. That's what they would say.
Unfortunately, it is also a result of a snarky anti-conservative, anti-Bush our-ideology-is-superior-to-yours mentality at Google. But then, Google would prefer to distract users from the fact they are complicit in censoring the internet for China. Google's ideology is so superior that it is okay for them to prosper from fascism. Do they really believe that when they elect to do evil, they can counterbalance it with a certain quantity of good? What is the algorithm for that?
All urgently scorn the bushitler! May a thousand flowers bloom for the correct and noble censors.
The Big One
AP: Thwarted plot may have been ‘the Big One’
Counterterrorism officials said Thursday the plan thwarted in London appears to bear the fingerprints of al-Qaida, and may even have been “the Big One” they have been dreading since Sept. 11, 2001, particularly as the five-year anniversary of the attacks on the United States approaches.
I find this analysis disturbing. Yes, the disrupted terror plot was big. Yes, it was likely an Al Qaeda operation. But I'm concerned by use of the term "The Big One".
It would be a grievous error to assume that now that The Big One has been thwarted, we can all relax. The murderous desires of those who make these evil plans have not been halted. Conceivably, there are more big terror plots in the pipeline. We can not let down our guard.
"One of the Big Ones" is probably the more accurate term.
Hezbollywood: Caught in the Act (VIDEO)
This fascinating video from Germany's NDR shows the Green Helmut Guy directing the production of video propaganda from Qana. Am I shocked or NOT?
Update: It was only a matter of time. Green Helmut Guy now has his own blog. HA!
Update: Hot Air: At last: Lebanese death pimp finally identified
Fauxtographic Propaganda
Update: NewsBusters.org is running a sticky thread collecting links to bloggers' posts on the Fauxtography scandal.
Shocking fraud has unraveled this week as photographs purported to depict news events were shown to be staged and even Photoshopped. This saga began with EU Referendum questioning whether or not certain heartrending photos from Qana had been staged. Then, Little Green Footballs presented a clearly doctored photo of smoke rising over Beirut. Reuters acted promptly: they killed the photo, fired the photographer, and withdrew all the images he had submitted.
More:
Zombietime: Reuters Commits Four Types of Fraud
Hot Air: Vent - Picture Kill, 8/8/06
FreeRepublic.com: keyword 'fauxtography'
Now the questionable photos are turning up everywhere, including a Lebanese 'pieta' (above) brought to us by none other than the New York Times. Since the poor guy laying down is seen participating in the 'rescue' in other pictures by the same photographer, it all appears quite damning.
Update: NY Times issues a correction. They say he got hurt participating in the rescue. Still looks like play acting to me.
Even U.S. News & World Report has a blatantly lying photo on their cover, calling a tire fire at the dump "Lebanon's new ruins". The same scene from a different angle appears in Time magazine (7/31/06) calling it a downed Israeli jet. Hmmm.
Update: Allahpundit at Hot Air has tracked down the truth on the tire fire - and from the sounds of it, it wasn't easy. Long story to short, the fire was started accidentally by Hezbullah when one of their missile blew up in the wrong place. DOH!
Or consider the Passion of the Toys at Slublog. How did these mostly clean toys find their way into the filthy middle of bombed out ruins?
These pictures are meant to play upon our emotions and effect our thinking as we consider world events. And that makes these pictures propaganda. Thanks to this hideous breach of trust, we now know we can't trust what we are shown in pictures.
Pallywood (Video)
This is a shocking and eye-openning video demonstrating how news propaganda videos are produced in some sectors. It is 18 minutes long, but certainly time well spent.
Intolerance? Paranoia? How could this be?
Scroll down for update.
This is just outrageously funny! Apparently certain people believe that the Internet belongs to them and and it must be a dangerous conspiracy if certain other people use the same technology. I can just hear them sputtering: "WE are the Netroots. What the heck are YOU doing here?"
Let us look back, for a moment, to the dark days when Bill Clinton was president and Conservative folks found fellowship at FreeRepublic.com. The Internet of today is the very same hothouse that produced the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. It explains two terms for President George W. Bush. It explains how Republicans held onto the majority in the House in 2002. It even explains the GOP's superior fundraising.
But let's get back to the people who think THEY own the Internet:
Example #1 - Michelle Malkin added a Digg button to her blog posts. Readers used the button. Horrified users of Digg.com howled in protest: "fascist trash...right-wing media machine...ban anything from her site..." Michelle wrote:
How dare conservatives take advantage of user-generated ranking structures for news like everyone else!
If you're a liberal who puts the Digg button on your site and encourages your readers to use it, you're a social-networking revolutionary.
If you're a conservative who does the same, you are master of "gaming" and "spamming" and"controlling" the system.
Example #2 - Matthew Sheffield of NewsBusters.org points out a very paranoid-sounding article from the Wall Street Journal, of all places. They discovered that a cute flash cartoon available at YouTube.com was posted to that web site by someone using a computer belonging to a lobbying firm, DCI Group. And guess what! DCI has connections to ExxonMobil!
The authors of this story, Antonio Regalado and Dionne Searcey (summer interns?), need no more proof than that to accept that chicanery is afoot. It's the dreaded monster Propaganda!
The anti-Gore video represents a less well-known side of YouTube. As its popularity has exploded, the public video-sharing site has drawn marketers looking to build buzz for new music releases and summer blockbusters. Now, it's being tapped by political operatives, public relations experts and ad agencies to sway opinions.
...Web video operates on a different level, stimulating viewers' emotions powerfully and directly...
Internet videos could prove particularly potent, because they may influence watchers in ways they don't realize.
Remember when we were kids and grown-up people tried to tell us that watching cartoons would rot our brains?
Matthew puts all this consternation back into perspective:
Call me crazy, but isn't the entire point of "Inconvenient" to score political points and to "harden" people who have casually bought into the idea of human-caused global warming? (Oh, and make people think Al Gore is cool.) Doesn't our fearless reportorial duo feel even a little bit weird about comparing, at "worst," a viral video produced for under 3k with a "documentary" film costing far more, promoted by Paramount, the creator of the "Simpsons," and basically every MSM outlet?
Update: Well, okay! A Google search shows that Antonio Regalado and Dionne Searcey, the above-mentioned reporters, are probably more experienced than summer interns. You just wouldn't know it by reading this particular article.
