Dec 19, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
FoxNews reports: Saddam Speaks From Prison.From his prison cell, ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein urged his compatriots to remain united against the U.S. occupation and warned of the potential dangers of the upcoming elections, his lawyers said Sunday.
Iraqi lawyer Khalil al-Duleimi met with Saddam on Thursday, the first meeting since Saddam was captured a year ago.
"Our representative in Iraq told us that the president warned the people of Iraq and the Arabs to beware of the American scheme aimed at splitting Iraq into sectarian and religious divisions and weakening the (Arab) nation," said Bushra Khalil, a Lebanese member of the defense team.
This can only get worse.Dec 17, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
From Human Events Editor Allan H. Ryskind: Ugly Reporting Wrongs Rumsfeld.Nowhere was the media's irresponsibility on the Iraq conflict more acutely demonstrated than in the barrage of ugly news reports on Donald Rumsfeld's exchange in Kuwait with Spc. Thomas Wilson, an exchange that is still reverberating across the country. ...
Virtually all the newspaper, magazine, radio, and TV accounts wildly misrepresented what happened next. As the Washington Post's Thomas Ricks "reported" -- and his piece was wholly representative of the media in general --" Rumsfeld replied: 'As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time." Rumsfeld, as the media would have it, was blowing off the deepest concerns of our men and women about to be placed in a deadly situation. ...
But the official transcript of the Kuwaiti townhall meeting with the troops ... reveals an entirely different story.
The first words out of Rumsfeld's mouth in response to Wilson were not what the media either said or implied or disclosed in film clips. They were, instead, words of encouragement. Rumsfeld dwelt at length on how much progress the military was making in solving the problem that began materializing a year ago August when the enemy started using explosives to blow up thin-skinned Army vehicles normally used in the rear of the combat zone. Nor was the secretary caught off guard by the question, as the media has suggested.
The Wall Street Journal ran two good editorials on this subject this week:
The first is by John R. Guardiano, an Arlington, Va.-based journalist who served in Iraq in 2003 as a field radio operator with the U.S. Marine Corps' Fourth Civil Affairs Group: Question Authority: What the media got wrong about Spc. Wilson and Secretary Rumsfeld.To the media, it was a dramatic revelation of Bush administration hypocrisy and incompetence: A lowly American GI courageously speaks truth to power, thus showing that the emperor has no clothes. But to this Marine veteran of the Iraq war, the hullabaloo over Army Spc. Thomas J. Wilson's question reveals far more about media bias, prejudice and ignorance than it does about the U.S. military and Iraq.
Spc. Wilson asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why, nearly two years after the start of the war, his unit still has too few "up-armored" humvees. The media were surprised that an enlisted man would ask so direct and pointed a question of the Pentagon's highest official. I wasn't.
I enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve after Sept. 11, 2001, and served in Iraq in 2003. Throughout boot camp, combat training and subsequent preparation for war, my instructors always stressed the importance of independent thinking and initiative. Obviously, when you're in the middle of a firefight, you cannot -- and must not -- second-guess split-second command decisions. However, when preparing for war, thoughtful and considered questions are not only tolerated; they are encouraged -- even demanded, I found.
As one of my combat instructors told us: "Marines, you're more likely to die from someone doing something stupid than because the enemy is skilled and ingenious. So make sure you've thought things through and that everyone's on the same page. Be polite. Be tactful. But don't be afraid to ask questions."
The second WSJ editorial is by Brendan Miniter: Hunter's Gun Truck: One reason for the Iraq armor shortage: The military is too thorough.Mr. Rumsfeld stirred up a hornet's nest last week by saying, "You go to war with the army you have. They're not the army you might want or wish to have." He's right. We cannot afford to make the mistake George McClellan did in the Civil War, endlessly preparing for war but not doggedly going after the enemy. Our soldiers deserve the best equipment and training money can buy. And that includes the best equipment they can use now, instead of waiting around for something better. Sometimes what's good enough today is better than what would be perfect sometime down the road.
Dec 14, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
From CNN: U.S. opposes third term for IAEA chief.The Washington Post reported Sunday that U.S. intelligence had taped conversations between [Mohammed] ElBaradei [head of the International Atomic Energy Agency] and Iranian officials in an alleged attempt to discredit the Egyptian-born IAEA chief, who has served at the IAEA's director-general since 1997. ...
The United States must win the support of 12 nations on the IAEA's 35-member Board of Governors to block ElBaradei's re-election, but its influence with the board has been limited. To date the U.S. has been unsuccessful in persuading the board to take a tough line with Iran.
In November, ElBaradei praised the European preliminary nuclear non-proliferation agreement with Iran as a "step in the right direction," despite the fact that Iran has a history of lying about its nuclear programs, not to mention a history of being the world's worst sponsor of terrorism and an open enemy of America and Israel. (One recent example: Iran group canvasses for suicide bombers.)
Around the same time, ElBaradei acknowledged that the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists was a "real danger," saying we should take "preventative measures" then: "We have to cross our fingers that nothing will happen." (Via LGF)
When one expects terrorist-sponsoring regimes like Iran's to abide by weapons agreements, then all that is left is to cross your fingers and prepare to be attacked.
The Bush Administration is long over due in confronting Iran, and at least one person has decided to do something about. The Los Angeles Times today published a story about a "grass-roots crusade against Iran," as Robert Tracinski of TIA Daily called it: Kerry Opponent Taking Aim at New Target: Iran.
Jerome R. Corsi, a leader of the Swift Boat Vets and POWs for Truth campaign against former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry, is hard at work on his next political project: preparing American public opinion for what he sees as a likely war with Iran.
"The world cannot tolerate the potential that these mad mullahs would have a deliverable nuclear weapon, even one, secretly developed," Corsi said in a recent interview. "They might just launch on Tel Aviv. The moment the world intelligence community becomes convinced that could happen, either the U.S. alone or the U.S. plus Israel or Israel alone will seriously contemplate a preemptive strike, and I'd be in favor of it."
Dec 13, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
IRVINE, CA--The use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs by major league baseball players has drawn threats from the United States government. Major league baseball had better institute strict drug policies, warned Senators John McCain and Byron Dorgan, or it will face Congressional action.
But the government should not be granted the power to dictate to consenting adults what they can and cannot ingest, stated Dr. Andrew Bernstein, senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute. Major league baseball is a private organization that has the right, if it chooses, to ban steroid use among players by contractual agreement. As with any private individual or organization, it has the right to lay down the terms under which it will associate with others--leaving it to the voluntary decision of players to accept the terms or play elsewhere.
More broadly, Bernstein pointed out, in a free society an adult has the right to think and decide for himself in the pursuit of his own happiness. A necessary consequence is that he may choose self-destructive actions--whether to drink harmful amounts of alcohol or use toxic drugs. A legal prohibition on drugs, as on alcohol, is a violation of the right of the individual to determine the course of his life. Bernstein concluded that Congress should butt out and let Major league baseball determine its own course of action regarding players' use of steroids.Dec 13, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
In The Weekly Standard, Fred Barnes writes on the issue of social security reform: Republican Insecurity.Democrats are a problem. On modernizing Social Security, most of them are reactionary liberals, committed to preserving an antiquated system. But at the moment, Republicans are an even bigger problem for the White House. For a reform measure to win approval in Congress, Republicans must be united. True, the conventional wisdom in Washington is that entitlement reform requires bipartisanship. With only a handful of Democrats likely to sign on, however, that won't happen. So that leaves the matter with Republicans, and they are anything but together.
In today's TIA Daily, Robert Tracinski commented on the above story:The Democrats are on the ropes and in no position to resist President Bush's proposal for a partial privatization of Social Security. So it is up to cowardly congressional Republicans to stand in the way of progress -- which some of them are, of course, doing. This article provides a good overview of likely resistance from Republicans -- as well as the likely outlines of any Bush administration proposal.
Dec 10, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
Charles Johnson commented earlier this week on the Bush Administration's plans to give $20 million to the Palestinian Authority: Rewarding Terrorism.It's amazing how nobody in the world wants to hold Palestinian society responsible for anything. Their economy is devastated because of four years of senseless violence, all right -- perpetrated by the Palestinians, in spite of a historic peace offer from Israel.
For a people who talk endlessly about having their own state, they have done almost nothing positive, on their own, to achieve it. The world has given them countless billions of dollars, much of which vanished into anonymous bank accounts, and the Palestinian people have nothing to show for it. Why are we giving them another huge handout?
Meanwhile, AFP reported the same day that PLO chief Mahmud Abbas was not opposed to convicted and jailed terrorist Marwan Barghouti running for the Palestinian presidency.
But Palestinians aren't the only ones defending Barghouti. So are Leftists, who are supposedly for the criminal prosecution of terrorists instead of waging war against them. Why the contradiction? TIA Daily's Jack Wakeland examined the issue: No War, No Justice.The left complains when we invade countries allied with the anti-American terrorist cause, we do not treat captured terrorists and the criminal militamen who fight alongside them as if they are lawfully uniformed combatants of a hostile nation at war with the United States. Likewise, when police and intelligence operatives capture terrorists in Islamabad or Kabul or Baghdad, the left insists that the men be put on trial, proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and sentenced in accordance with the law, like any other criminal -- or released immediately for lack of evidence. The left has attempted to apply the rule of law out of context, as a fig leaf to cover their general rejection of national defense.
With Barghouti, Israel has done exactly as the left specifies. And the instigator of a dirty terrorist war responsible for the loss of well over a thousand innocent lives is slated to rot in prison for the rest of his life.
Does the left celebrate this successful use of their policy? No. They have dropped the fig leaf.
Dec 8, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
Under the heading "Keep Kofi," Harry Binswanger (HBL email list) pinpointed the real issue:The movement to force the resignation of U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan is a red herring, or a sop. What is needed, of course, is not to get Annan out of his office but to get the U.S. out of the U.N.
The evil of the U.N. is that it includes, in a world body allegedly devoted to peace, every and any dictatorship. It is one of the most egregious examples of the sanction of the victim, which serves to sacrifice the good to the evil.
This, not the graft of the "Oil for Food Program, is the scandal of the U.N. Deposing Annan will serve only to divert attention from this essential and quell the rising outrage against the nature of the U.N.
The best result for the U.S. would be if Kofi Annan keeps his job. That would reveal how corrupt the U.N. is, and the real cause of that corruption is only beginning to be faintly perceived by a few commentators.
Dec 8, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From FIRE (The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education):
NORMAN, Okla., December 7, 2004—The University of Oklahoma (OU) School of Geology and Geophysics has taken academic infighting to a new low in its efforts to silence Professor David Deming, a frequent critic of administrative policy and a politically outspoken faculty member. Professor Deming has filed a federal lawsuit after OU removed him from his department, stripped him of most of his classes, and moved his office to a converted basement lab, all while claiming to respect the principles of academic freedom. Public records requests have uncovered damning evidence that OU administrators schemed to marginalize and isolate him for his attempts at whistleblowing and for his political expression.
"OU's conduct in this case has been shameful," remarked David French, president of FIRE. "University e-mails and documents illustrate a conspiracy to silence a colleague whose outspoken views challenge the norm at OU. This is a naked attempt to subvert academic freedom," he continued.
Professor Deming's troubles began in February 2000, when OU threatened to punish him for a letter he wrote to the Oklahoma Daily newspaper protesting a column advocating gun control. Read more about this case here. After FIRE wrote in protest and Deming threatened a First Amendment lawsuit, the university dropped the charges in May 2000. Soon thereafter, Roger Slatt, Director of the School of Geology and Geophysics, began to unconstitutionally monitor Deming's letters to the newspaper and include them in three professional evaluations, until directed to stop by OU President David L. Boren. In June 2003, Boren wrote to Deming, saying, "I fully agree with you that your political views should not be included as a factor in your post-tenure review."
OU administrators did not confine their persecution of Professor Deming to his political views, however. Deming drew administrative ire when he accused School of Geology officials of a conflict of interest and possible ethical lapses in their decision to hire a new professor who had a close business relationship with Director Slatt and other professors in the department.
Documents obtained through a public records request paint a disturbing story of administrative scheming to eliminate Deming. Click here to read these original documents in PDF format. In a July 24, 2003, e-mail to William Clopine, chair of the Geology Alumni Advisory Council, Dean John Snow of the College of Geosciences wrote, "it is doubly frustrating that President Boren ... has shown such sympathy for Deming.... Somehow I have to convince Roger [Slatt] that he needs to basically ignore and then marginalize Deming.… As long as we keep our i's dotted and our t's crossed, all Deming can really do is make noise and cause a bit more paperwork." He went on, "I firmly believe Deming will finally annoy the President with his whining – it may take a while but it will happen and I want to be here to watch." He suggested that Clopine have supportive alumni call Slatt with their support, telling him that Slatt should know that "all [Deming] really is a bump on the road [sic]."
Officials at the University proceeded to instigate a campaign by alumni to remove Deming. On July 31, 2003, William Clopine e-mailed OU Geoscience Development Director John Ritz, saying that he had "several big name Alums calling me to ask about meetings with Boren, getting State Representatives involved, and other independent high-level meetings demanding immediate action to support Roger [Slatt]," the administrator most at odds with Deming.
One such "big name Alum" was apparently Bob Stephenson, an Oklahoma City oil executive and major donor to the university. On November 4, 2003, his lawyer wrote to OU Provost Nancy Mergler condemning Deming for "pursuing academic and personal interests outside of and not supportive of the school's mission," and supporting "Dr. Slatt and his leadership." Stephenson, who had never even met Deming, threatened to end his donations to the school if his concerns were not addressed
This letter from a major donor apparently inspired OU to do what, in a July 3, 2003 letter to Deming, Dean Snow said it could not do—transfer a professor against his will. On December 18, 2003, Snow transferred Deming out of the School of Geology and Geophysics and into a "dean direct" position in the College of Geosciences, making him the only geology professor in the College who was not part of the school. Deming was evicted from his office and forced to obtain permission to teach classes, yet was still responsible for the same teaching, research, service, and recruitment requirements. As these requirements would now be next to impossible to fill, Deming's job was placed at risk, regardless of tenure.
"OU's scheming to evade tenure protections and rid itself of a consistent critic of the administration's policies and politics threatens any professor who relies on tenure as a guarantee of academic freedom," remarked FIRE Director of Legal and Public Advocacy Greg Lukianoff. "It is distressing that President Boren—after initially protecting Professor Deming's academic freedom—has allowed these reprisals to occur."
On July 20, 2004, Professor Deming filed suit against Dean Snow, Director Slatt, and other OU personnel to restore his position in the School of Geology and Geosciences. OU has filed a motion to dismiss, and a ruling on the motion is expected at any time. Deming is represented by attorney Andrew Lester of Lester, Loving & Davies in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Dec 8, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
Yesterday The Washington Times reported:More than 40 expensive houses under construction in Charles County were burned early yesterday in a development that has drawn criticism from environmentalists because it is next to a nature preserve.
Arson is suspected in at least four of the 41 blazes, a state fire official said. The houses, 12 of which were destroyed, were priced at $400,000 to $500,000.
Ecoterrorism is one of the motives that would be investigated, said Joe Parris, a spokesman for the FBI, which joined the investigation last night. ...
Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and a citizens group opposed the Hunters Brooke development and another subdivision because of their proximity to the Araby Bog, a 50-acre magnolia bog. ... The Sierra Club said yesterday it condemned "all acts of violence in the name of the environment." ... The Sierra Club called the Charles County development "quintessential sprawl" in its fall 2000 sprawl report, noting that it is far from existing infrastructure and "threatens a fragile wetland and important historical sites near the Chesapeake Bay." ...
In recent years, the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a loosely structured group that opposes commercialism and industry in the name of preserving the environment, has taken responsibility for many similar incidents nationwide.
The Times today confirms: Arson cited as cause of fires.
Dec 7, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
IRVINE, CA-- Understandably, the call for Kofi Annan's head grows louder as details emerge in the Iraqi "oil for food" scandal.
But this particular scandal is only the tip of the iceberg of the United Nations' evil, said Dr. Andrew Bernstein, senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute. "The fundamental evil of the United Nations is that it draws no moral distinction between free nations and dictatorships. For example, Sudan's regime enslaves tens of thousands of its black citizens, and Iran is the source of Islamist anti-Western terrorism--but both are UN members in good standing. When President Bush seeks the UN's permission to defend America, he seeks that permission in part from the very regimes which threaten the lives of American citizens."
"It's obvious," said Dr. Bernstein, "what evil regimes gain from UN membership: the cloak of civility and the spoils of unearned money, both awarded to them through the participation of free nations. What does the United States gain from UN membership? Nothing. It only loses."
Dr. Bernstein recalled a slogan from the 1960s "that offers the only solution to the problem of the UN: ‘U.S. out of the UN, UN out of the U.S.' If one wonders what to do with the vacated UN headquarters in New York, it could be used to house an organization of free nations; in doing so, the U.S. would be declaring to the world that it no longer tolerates the evasion of the life-and-death moral difference between freedom and dictatorship."Dec 6, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
Reuters reports: Iranian Students Vent Frustration at Khatami. (Via Little Green Footballs)Students, once the backbone of Iran's reformist movement, heckled and harangued President Mohammad Khatami Monday, accusing him of lacking the courage to deliver promised democratic reforms in the Islamic state.
"Khatami, what happened to your promised freedoms?," "Khatami, shame on you," "Students are wise, they detest Khatami," groups shouted as the moderate cleric attempted to address some 1,500 students at Tehran University.
The speech, held to mark Iran's annual Students Day, marked a nadir for Khatami's relations with students who were a major force in his stunning electoral victories of 1997 and 2001. ...
He said he still believed the path of reform would succeed.
"I really believe in this system and the (1979 Islamic) revolution and that this system can be developed from within."
But for most present, Khatami's words merely underlined the impotence of a man whom they now view as part of a system unwilling to accept real change. ...
Student leaders, many of whom have been jailed for taking part in pro-democracy protests in recent years, said Khatami had failed to stand by them.
"There is no difference between him and the authoritarians," prominent student leader Abdollah Momeni said. "Students are very disappointed because they paid a heavy price for supporting Khatami, but in return they got nothing."
Dec 6, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
Writes Jack Wakeland at TIA Daily on how the Left opposes both war and criminal prosecution against the enemies of Western Civilization:
The left complains when we invade countries allied with the anti-American terrorist cause, we do not treat captured terrorists and the criminal militamen who fight alongside them as if they are lawfully uniformed combatants of a hostile nation at war with the United States. Likewise, when police and intelligence operatives capture terrorists in Islamabad or Kabul or Baghdad, the left insists that the men be put on trial, proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and sentenced in accordance with the law, like any other criminal—or released immediately for lack of evidence. The left has attempted to apply the rule of law out of context, as a fig leaf to cover their general rejection of national defense. [...]
[...] "As the January 9 date for Palestinian elections draws near, the left will complain more and more urgently that no "meaningful dialog" can be conducted and no "lasting peace" can be achieved if the man who the Palestinian people see as their legitimate leader is being kept behind bars. Soon they will join a chorus of anti-Western voices demanding his release. This is why Marwan Barghouti refused to participate in his trial and why he waved away all of the prosecutors' charges in the strutting manner of Al Capone, saying, "I'll be out soon enough." "
"The left's policy towards Islamist terrorism remains: no war, no justice." [No War, No Justice]
Dec 3, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Australia's The Age:
...The whisper in Washington is that there were two losers on November 2. The first was John Kerry, who lost the election to President Bush. The second was [Kofi Annan, who] did all he could to help Senator Kerry, even telling the BBC in the week before the election that, in his opinion, the war in Iraq was illegal. The comment was designed to hurt Mr Bush, but it failed...
...According to investigators, Saddam Hussein ripped $US20 billion ($A26 billion) from the UN's oil-for-food program under Mr Annan's watch and used the money to strengthen his control of Iraq, just as sanctions were supposed to weaken his regime. It is further alleged that some UN staff - including the head of the oil-for-food program - were taking bribes from Saddam....it is alleged that a senior UN staffer regularly sexually harasses his staff and that Mr Annan dismissed complaints about it and that UN peacekeepers in the Congo have been demanding bribes in exchange for food, and raping and beating local women (and taking photographs of it). If that were not enough, Mr Annan's own son is accused of making money from the oil-for-food program, by taking payments from a Swiss company that had a UN contract.
...Throughout the 1990s he was head of the UN's peacekeeping office....Its most shocking failures were in Bosnia, where 20,000 men and boys were slaughtered after being abandoned by peacekeepers in so-called UN "safe" areas, and in Rwanda, where more than 800,000 people were hacked to death with no intervention. Mr Annan knew that a massacre in Rwanda was imminent. The head of the UN's peacekeeping mission, Major-General Romeo Dallaire, sent him an urgent memo, practically begging him to intervene before the killings began.
...Given these facts, many were surprised when Mr Annan and the UN received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. Then again, it was not for making peace, but for "revitalising" the UN.
...He is sometimes call the "rock star" diplomat because he hangs out with people like Bono; he eats in New York's best restaurants and lives with his second wife in a mansion formerly owned by the banker, J.P. Morgan's family.
...On October 31, Mr Annan wrote to the US and Britain, urging them not to launch an assault on insurgents. Iraq's interim Defence Minister, Hazem Sa'alan, scoffed. "Where was Kofi Annan when Saddam was slaughtering the Iraqis like sheep?"
Having Kofi Annan resign will not solve things, as the way the U.N. is designed will naturally attract and promote the worst kind of political scum like Annan. Fire Kofi Annan, and another corrupt bureaucrat will take his place. The U.N. organization by its very nature breeds corruption. The problem with the U.N. is its core principle that equates free capitalist countries as morally equal with slave-state socialist dictatorships. Given this principle, why should it come as a surprise that one finds the U.N. as internally as corrupt as the slave-states it appeases?
The U.S. should withdraw from the U.N. and establish a United Nations for Freedom where only nations that hold the rights of their individual citizens as sovereign are welcomed, and those that do not are unequivocally condemned.Dec 2, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
From The Wall Street Journal: Red Double-Crossed Again.In this latest case, the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] is alleging that the psychological conditions faced by Guantanamo detainees are "tantamount to torture." Why? Because -- we kid you not -- prisoners are being held for indefinite periods, and the uncertainty is stressful. And because some prisoners are subjected to psychological pressure techniques during interrogations aimed at thwarting further terrorist attacks. ...
The ICRC ... objects to interrogation pressure that is typically no more abusive than the good cop-bad cop routines common in American police stations. And where the interrogation techniques go further, they include nothing worse than loud music, temperature extremes, and uncomfortable positions. To call such discomforts "a form of torture" is to rob the word of all meaning and implicitly elevate the behavior of truly odious regimes.
Finally, from the damned-if-you-do file, we have the ICRC complaining that U.S. doctors took the care to examine the detainees' health to determine if particular stress techniques might be too much for a given individual. This is alleged somehow to be a violation of "medical ethics" rather than the example of American humanity that it actually is.
Dec 1, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
From The Union Leader: FALLUJAH SEARCH:Yields huge cache of weapons.The seizures [by U.S. troops] -- amounting to tons of weaponry, from rifles to heavy bombs, from hand grenades to artillery rounds -- are part of what U.S. authorities describe as an intelligence and tactical bonanza uncovered in the city 35 miles west of Baghdad, the capital. The munitions were found in homes, mosques, cargo containers, bunkers and other sites.
Among the most novel finds: An ice-cream truck that had been converted into a mobile car-bomb factory, complete with all the parts and weaponry needed to turn any vehicle into a weapon on the spot.
Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has put together a slide show about the Fallujah operations: Telling the Fallujah Story to the World.Dec 1, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
The dymanic duo of John Cox and Allen Forkum are proud to announce the availability of the second collection of Cox & Forkum editorial cartoons. Black & White World II contains over 450 cartoons (four times the number in our first book) and covers over two years of work -- starting in September 2002 and ending in November 2004 with the conclusion of the presidential election.
The book includes almost every new cartoon that has appeared on this Capitalism Magazine, but there are also about 40 cartoons/illustrations previously unpublished or unposted. For ordering information please visit their website.Nov 30, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
CNN reports: Ukraine opposition cancels talks.Opposition officials say they have cut off negotiations with Ukraine's government aimed at settling the country's bitter and divisive presidential election dispute.
The behind-the-scenes talks had been progressing alongside parliamentary debates and the Supreme Court's consideration of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko's charges that voting irregularities cost him victory in his contest with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
The crisis has brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to Kiev, where Yushchenko supporters have blocked government buildings for several days. ...
With Western observers saying the election did not meet acceptable standards of fairness, the United States and Europe have refused to recognize the results.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country still has much influence over the former Soviet republic, congratulated Yanukovych and complained of Western meddling.
Putin on Tuesday repeated his call for the Ukraine crisis to be resolved without international intervention.
Nov 26, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
USAToday reported Wednesday: Rather: 'Time for me to move on'.Dan Rather, the CBS Evening News anchor conservatives loved to hate, was a network news survivor of the highest order: He lasted a record 24 years despite repeated attempts to unseat him by people inside and outside CBS. Rather, 73, said he will continue to work for CBS, as a correspondent for both editions of 60 Minutes.
But in the end, a single controversial story that Rather reported at the height of a brutal presidential contest, one that questioned President Bush's National Guard service during Vietnam, probably sped his departure. ...
Rather's departure could signal the rise and influence of politically motivated Internet "bloggers," who relentlessly attacked him and the documents that were used to back up his 60 Minutes story. Some political and media analysts have said the "Memogate" scandal damaged CBS News' reputation, especially among viewers in largely rural, conservative states -- the network's core audience. ...
As word spread Tuesday afternoon that Rather was stepping down, the anchor known for his quirky, folksy style addressed 200 CBS staff members -- some of them with tears in their eyes -- in his Evening News "fishbowl" in New York City. Dressed in a sweater, Rather said the time was right for him to go. But he also alluded to a possible driving force, the Guard scandal, which he referred to as the "hippopotamus in the room."
The scandal tainted what might have been an orderly transition from Rather to a new anchor, said Evening News producer Jim Murphy. "This thing obviously messed everything up. ... This has been a very trying time."
And from The New York Post: A Rather Ugly Exit. (Via Little Green Footballs)In the face of compelling evidence that documents [memos] had been forged by a long-time Bush foe, Rather insisted instead that he was being targeted by enemies with political motives.
The anchor postured and preened and hemmed and hawed before admitting, not that the documents were fake, but that he had made "a mistake in judgment."
That's one way to put it.
Andy Rooney, Rather's curmudgeonly "60 Minutes" colleague, had a different take last week -- more blunt, and far more accurate: "I am very critical of some of the people at CBS who make it apparent what their political leanings are," he said. "That's what happened to this thing of Dan Rather's that got out. There's no question they wanted to run [the story] because it was negative towards Bush."
Rooney clocked it: Rather has it in for the Bush administration.
To cite just one of many examples, as war clouds gathered over Iraq in February 2003, Rather proudly aired an exclusive interview with Saddam Hussein — set up by lunatic-fringer Ramsey Clark and filmed by Saddam aides.
But he refused a White House offer of Condoleezza Rice to appear to rebut Saddam's comments.
From CNN: 
