From the LA Times: As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq. The articles, written by U.S. military “information operations” troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials

Jawa Report has video of the 4 western peace activists taken hostage in Iraq by The Swords of Righteousness [Truth], an Islamic resistance group. The post includes a transcript revealing the names of the other three hostages (previously, only Norman Kember had been identified).  The hostages are accused of spying. We have not seen videotaped executions in some time, and the purported Zawahiri letter to Zarqawi expressed concern with the

From the New Zealand Herald: Air New Zealand and Qantas have banned men from sitting next to unaccompanied children on flights, sparking accusations of discrimination. The airlines have come under fire for the policy that critics say is political correctness gone mad after a man revealed he was ordered to change seats during a Qantas flight because he was sitting next to a young boy travelling alone. Auckland man Mark

[12:14] cwealm: I did not understand your haiku [12:17] proteinwisdom: Understand it? [12:20] proteinwisdom: Well you see, if Abe Lincoln were a Yellow-billed cuckoo?  He’d probably be less interested in giving the Gettysburg Address than he would be in eating grubs with one of his Yellow-billed cuckoo friends. [12:21] proteinwisdom: It’s common sense, John. [12:23] proteinwisdom: Yellow-billed cuckoos are notoriously grub-covetous.  And notoriously apolitical [12:24] proteinwisdom: And when it gets

Former Democratic Congressman Martin Frost, writing on the FOXNews site: Quietly, without a shot being fired, a revolution is about to occur in American politics. There is a very strong chance that, one year from now, a woman will be third in line for the presidency of the United States. If the current trend continues, Nancy Pelosi will be Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives following the November 2006

…Or, as some people would have it, “traditional conservative values.” Unless of course some of it’s practiced, say, here.  Then it’s just a manifestation of grrlpower and progressivism!

Ever looking for a way to revise history and justify their votes giving the President the authority to go to war with the Hussein regime, Democrats are floating a new rhetorical trial balloon, articulated by erstwhile Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. From the LA Times, “Timing Entwined War Vote, Election”: Tom Daschle, the former Democratic senator from South Dakota, remembers the exchange vividly. The time was September 2002. The place

“I’m not going to lie to you, Billy:  the paltry turnout at my combination anti-war protest / celebrity book signing was quite dispiriting.  Quite dispiriting.  Tell me—was it like this when the sixties ended?—a sinking feeling that nobody really much cares anymore that the neocon war machine keeps churning out armed, bloodthirsty deathmerchants who will tragically fall victim to the lies of their greedy, corporate, Jew-coddling leaders?”* “Could be.  Though

**** (BBC story; more here and here)

Like a genital Herpes virus that lies dormant for a spell before reasserting itself at awkward moments in an outbreak of ragged penile lesions or vaginal discharge, cartoonist Ted Rall manages to crash univited into the parlor of civilized cultural discourse from time to time, whereupon he immediately insults the hostess and dips his grubby fingers directly into the clam dip. This is one of those times. But of course,