CraigC writes:

DAVID BEDEIN, Bureau Chief of the Israel Resource News Agency and Middle East correspondent for Philadelphia's Evening Bulletin, reports live from Jerusalem on KSFO that Mahmoud Abbas, who was supposedly the moderate alternative to Hizbollah, gave a speech today in which he threw in with the "noble arab resistance" in Lebanon, and announced that the Pali govt. would be sending supplies to Hizbollah in Lebanon.

He comments:

"WE ARE ALL HIZBOLLAH"

It does seem like most of us are, doesn't it?

He says I must credit KSFO. Okay. KSFO: I credit thee.

Posted by: Ace at 07:05 AM | Comments (20)
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He's out for blood. Lieberman must be stripped of all committee memberships, immediately, etc.

This isn't political strategy. This is an impulse-control disorder masquerading as "people-power."

Don't take a shot at the king unless you're sure you'll kill him, Mighty Kos. In case you haven't noticed, Joe Lieberman is currently a US senator, and, if he runs as he promised his supporters (very nearly half the Democrats in Connecticut, in case you haven't noticed), he has a very good chance of winning.

You think bullying him by stripping him of his committee memberships is going to make him drop his independent bid? I don't-- I don't see him doing much legislative work at all for the next three months. I see him campaigning and fundraising and basically living in Connecticut.

Like Ned Lamont's radio ads told him to. Remember those?

As Dalton in Roadhouse said: Be nice. Until it's time to not be nice.

It's not the time to not be nice, Hard Guy.

You really want to piss off a guy who has a better than even chance of returning as a Senator, and -- before your strong, tough kick-'im-in-the-teeth posturing is actually put into action -- a 99% chance of voting with the Democrats in conference and on almost all key votes?

That's your plan, Genius?

You want to push the chances he stays blue down to 75%? How about 60%? How far you willing to push Lieberman towards the R column for your hissy-fit, and your personal stake in being crowned as kingmaker?

Remember Jeffords, Kos? Seems to me someone in the White House gave him the brush-off over his pet project (special education) and he jumped parties over it (essentially; he votes and conferences with the Dems).

And you want to get really personal and "tough" with Lieberman, son?

Well, be my guest. I won't get in your way. It's a mistake to let an idiot run around with sharp scissors, but it's even more of a mistake to try to stop him.

Unless you really care about the dangerous idiot in question. Which most of us, including half of the Democratic Party, do not.

Kos has wanted to be taken seriously for so long. It's a shame he doesn't know how to behave seriously now that he is, alas, taken seriously.

Lamont will either win or he won't. This sort of lashing-out strategy has no chance of pushing Lieberman out of the race, a good chance of making him more committed to win it, and a decent chance of making him a very Republican-friendly Independent if he does win it.

And what the hell is this?

Let people know what a sore loser Lieberman is.

I do believe that someone over at Free Republic might have a trademark infringement suit against Kos, if he goes too much further along these lines.*

* I don't really think that. There is no accepted legal cause of action based upon "Delicious Irony."

Posted by: Ace at 11:43 PM | Comments (75)
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Iran? Training terrorists? Why, it's almost as if they're part of -- how does one put this? -- some kind of axis of iniquity or something.

Iniquity? Too Biblical. Something simple. Wrongness, baditude. Something like that.

A captured Hezbollah terrorist who took part in the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers that sparked the war in Lebanon has confessed he received military training in Iran, according to a recording of his interrogation.

Under questioning by Israeli authorities, Hussein Ali Suleiman, 22, revealed he was sent to Iran twice for weapons and explosives instruction, most recently at the end of 2003.

"We went from Beirut to Syria," said Suleiman, whose capture by Israeli forces inside Lebanon was announced by Israel on Sunday.

"We went in Land Rovers, which are recognized as Hezbollah vehicles. We crossed the border to Syria at a military passage."

The Hezbollah terrorist said there were 40 to 50 people in his group and after they crossed from Lebanon into Syria, they were transferred to a bus.

"We were led to a special part of Damascus airport" for a flight to Iran, Suleiman said.

"And your passports were stamped?" his interrogator asked sarcastically.

"We had no passports," replied the militant, who had light bruises on his face and lips.

Light bruises? I certainly hope that no coercive interrogation techniques were used to extract information from a committed terrorist and budding kidnapper.

Suleiman, who spoke in Arabic, said he was trained in Iran in the use of anti-tank and other weapons, explosives and first aid. His second round of training was in anti-tank weapons, which are being used extensively against Israeli forces.

And of course the Iranians are likely training Sunni "insurgents" in IED manufacture.

Meanwhile, the French. As the Eskimos have forty words for snow, the French have forty words for "being a complete douchebag for no good reason."

The French-American alliance at the United Nations over a Mideast cease-fire agreement is crumbling, sources tell FOX News.

The French U.N. delegation has joined with Arab nations and is now calling for a complete and immediate Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as a condition of any cease-fire, the sources said.

In addition, the French have reportedly agreed with Arab demands that the Lebanese force be accompanied only by UNIFIL, with no international force to be deployed.

Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are pushing to take Lebanon's offer to deploy 15,000 forces into the embattled southern region along with UNIFIL forces to gain stability without an international force there after more than three weeks of intense fighting.

Actually, there's a good reason for them being so French. "International forces" was taken to be synonymous with "French forces," and it seems that, while they want peace, they just don't want it all that much. They'd rather just go back to doing what they do best, sniping at America and mau-mauing Israel into surrendering to terrorists.

Asked what could be done to reignite this failure in diplomacy, Senator John F. Kerry proposed a bold and ambitious new plan: further diplomacy.

What the US wanted was a credible force that could secure Lebanon's southern border. As that force was deployed, Israel would turn over land to it.

The French seemed to agree to this, and then, suddenly, didn't. Like their Arab allies, they seek not any sort of genuine peace, but perpetual turmoil between Israel and its neighbors, to insure that Muslim extremism is turned ever towards Israel, rather than Arab despots or French interests.

The French will, as usual, take the lead role in calling for peace, and criticizing others for not bringing their eloquent calls for peace into practice.

Posted by: Ace at 11:04 PM | Comments (16)
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I thought we were all going a little too fast with all the stuff about staging. But it's easy to get swept up.

So I'll just say "Hmmmm...," which is nice and noncommittal, so if any of this blows up, it had nothing to do with me. I'm just saying, "Hmmmm..." Means nothing at all.
more...

Posted by: Ace at 07:41 PM | Comments (46)
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Commentators were also stunned by his bold proposals to "fix Social Security" and "improve health access."

I did enjoy his typically-liberal posturing as a teacher, lecturing six year old children:

"How man lobbyists are there for each Congressmen? Let's see who's been paying attention. How many lobbyists? That's right, sixty-three lobbyists for each Congressman."

He said that. Seriously. He was shouting it, actually. He was only missing a Yeeeaarrrggghh.

Oh yeah. That shit's gonna wear well down the road.

Update: At the end of this thread, after Allah stops boring you about his correct prediction of a 52-48 heat, video of Neddy's Victory of Defeat speech, and Cynthia McKinney loses badly, and then... sings.

No video on that, alas. Not yet anyway. When it posts, it will be everywhere.

I have a theory about Cynthia McKinney:

Cynthia McKinney is freaking nuts.

You wait. Time will bear me out on that call.

Posted by: Ace at 06:29 PM | Comments (27)
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I predict the guy will have a smile only slightly more forced and strained than Mel Gibson when he's asked to give up his seat for the Prophet Elijah at Woody Allen's Seder.

Hat tip: Well, Charles. He told me.

MAJOR RETRACTION/CORRECTION: He didn't "tell" me so much as he "wrote" this in an "email."

Posted by: Ace at 05:37 PM | Comments (11)
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Final Update Tonight: The call to congratulate Neddy Lamont was just placed.

He's speaking to his supporters now. He says he intends to continue serving after election day in November. Six more years, six more years, the supporters chant.

So, as of now, he's running. "As of tomorrow, our campaign will file the nessary petition..."

Etc.

...

Too early to tell with just a look-see. Won't be long before Michael Barone tells us that this or that county should have gone for one guy or another, but didn't, so we know this one or that one is toast.

But not yet.

Thanks to Allah for that link.

Continuously updated. I hope. I'm about to pass out.

Twleve point lead for Lamont wtth 7+% in. That seems pretty big to me, no matter what the make-up of the precincts in question are.

I think Lieberman's done.

On FoxNow, they're pretty much saying Lieberman lost.

UPDATE! Lieberman has hope. It's 52-48 with 55%. Barone's on now... saying it's possible Lieberman can "eke out a squeaker."

Again! 83% of vote in, still 52-48%, little chance for Lieberman to overcome Lamont's eight thousand vote lead.

Via Sixers at NRO. Thanks to topsecretk9.

Joest?

But if Lieberman comes close, that makes it much more likely he'll run as an independent. If he starts with 48% of the Democratic vote, he has a good chance of winning. (Of course, he doesn't really; many Dems will turn to Lamont as the victorious Democratic candidate. But he'll still have a nice little piece of the other guy's territory. And you know those people and "territory.")

I can't believe I'm praying for a Federal judge to order the polls to remain open in New Haven... Come on, aren't there any lines too long here, people?

Hasn't a single black voter been given "the stinkeye" by a cop?

SOMEONE FILE A FRICKIN' LAWSUIT HERE.

Throw me a bone, people.

Lamont up by 9000 votes with 84% in.

Diebold.... Say it's not so, Diebold... A big game, Diebold. A big game.

And you just didn't come ready to play. You weren't wearing your game face. You didn't bring your A-moves.

You punked out on us, chump.

Tom is making noises about the absentee military vote in the thread, but 9000 votes? And probably more by night's end?

Unless we have inner city precincts breaking hard for Lieberman (they always seem to be among the last to report), there is no Joementum in Mudville.

I'm not going to bed until I hear, definitively, that they're not going to reopen the polls in St. Louis.

Posted by: Ace at 04:41 PM | Comments (178)
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A full retraction may be in order.

I jumped the gun.*

The photo does not appear staged for effect.

It is not true that the man was claimed to be among the dead.

The caption to this photo that runs with this article:'

TYRE, LEBANON. Wednesday, July 26, 2006: After an Israeli airstrike destroyed two buildings in downtown Tyre, Lebanon, one man helped another who had fallen and was hurt. As people searched through the burning remains, aircraft again could be heard overhead, panicking the people that a second strike was coming.

It's not inconceivable at all that he slipped and fell during this process. In any event, he does not appear to have been identified as "dead" when the picture ran.

Major, major error.

Damnit.

All that shit about things seeming plausible because it seems to "fit the facts"?

Applies to me too. Worse, too.

Thanks to Brett.

* Note: I wrote "we" jumped the gun intially, rather than I jumped the gun. I have no right to speak for anyone else. As the update below demonstrates, the NYT is guilty at the very least of extremely misleading captioning. Other people may have played this differently and have nothing at all to retract.

Another Update: Check the very misleading caption at the bottom of the pic at Michelle's. (It's probably at Gateway Pundit, too.)

The caption reads:

The mayor of Tyre said that in the worst-hit areas, bodies were still buried under the rubble, and he appealed to the Israelis to allow government authorities to pull them out.

That is extraordinarily misleading for a caption accompanying a picture of a man who is "buried under rubble" and appears to be dead.

I don't know how to categorize this one. This is either an inadvertantly misleading caption by someone who wasn't paying attention, or a deliberate effort by the New York Times to suggest that this dramatic-looking "corpse" was one of the dead.

However, as the caption linked at DigitalJournalist says that he was merely fallen and "hurt," it is not the case that the photographer was shooting pictures of a guy playing dead.

The "fallen" man may have taken the pose of a dead man to get just this sort of shot, but the whole charge seems much more speculative now.

Thanks to Allah for pointing out this caption after I shot him the alert on the retraction.

It looked like it was a deliberate attempt to stage a "death." Now it looks more likely that it's a sloppy or deliberately deceptive caption slapped on the photo at the New York times.

Retraction of the Retraction? I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, it sure does look the caption that most people saw strongly implied, on the verge of flat-out stating, that this man was dead. And buried in rubble by an Israeli strike.

He wasn't. At most, he slipped and fell. And who knows if even that much happened.

"Hurt" people are usually pretty animated, unless they're unconscious. They are, you know, hurt -- in pain, grabbing a limb, gritting their teeth.

This guy does appear to be as blissful as only a sleeping baby or the grateful dead can be.

But, of course, he may have passed out from heat exhaustion, fallen, and received an injury in the process -- making the Digital Journalist caption pretty accurate.

All I can say is that it's a lot less clean of a catch now. That other caption -- the one not running on the NYT -- seems to dispel the idea of a propaganda show that deceived the photographer into identifying a live man as dead.

It could still be propaganda. And the NYT still did identify a live man as dead -- or at least strongly suggest that with their wildly misleading caption.

I don't know. It seemed smoking-gun huge when I first saw it. There are still shenanigans going on here, but not enough to really crush the NYT.

They make this kind of shoddy mistake (or "mistake") day-in, day-out.

It's their stock in trade.

Posted by: Ace at 04:11 PM | Comments (65)
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Ms. Lohan plans to give each of our the boys something from home that's hard to get in Iraq -- the clap.

No, just kidding. It's a nice thought, and damnit, if I were in the heat of isolation of Iraq, surrounded by nothing but dudes and goats wearing diapers, I sure wouldn't mind seeing Lindsey Lohan. I hope she follows through and it's not one of those vaporware sort of celebrity ideas.

PS: "The Clap" is, by a wide margin, the funniest sexually transmitted disease.

And number two?

Anal warts, of course.

I owe someone a hat-tip. But I've had this window open since one o'clock and have no idea from whom it came. Sorry.

Posted by: Ace at 04:03 PM | Comments (16)
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Clean and pristine toys seem to be littered on the ground at every Israeli airstrike.

Are the Israelis dropping bombs with submuntions consisting of adorable plushies? Cluster-Poohs, maybe?

These photos do not appear to me as dubious as the ones found by Slublog.

Nevertheless, there is a certain rule that seems to be in effect for photographers in Lebanon:

If an Israeli bomb hits and you can't produce a corpse, at least produce a toy.

I'm pretty sure that Israeli children who've been in and out of bomb shelters for the past two weeks have lost a lot of toys, too. Yet I don't recall a lot of maudlin pictures of clown-dolls left upon the streets of Haifa as a family rushed to take shelter from the incoming rockets.

These photos -- unlike Slublog's somewhat more unlikely ones -- may not be staged at all. So it's hard to call a real picture "propaganda." Nevertheless, when so many pixels are given over to showing the misery of war on the Lebanese side of the border, and so few to the same misery on the Israeli side, there is bias.

Thanks to MC Warden. Wait, I mean, just "Warden." He's no MC anymore. He's all gangsta 'n shit now.

He says he's still on the hunt for more maudlin shots of stuffed animals.

I'm sure he'll succeed. The MSM seem to believe that manipulating public opinion is child's play.

By The Way: Do we have any firm idea of what Lebanese casualties really are? Seems to me that whenever big numbers are offered up, the media scrutiny intensifies, and suddenly the numbers are greatly reduced when there are not as many dead as first claimed.

But not every bombing gets that kind of scrutiny.

The caption that ran with the Winnie the Pooh photo:

A Lebanese civil defense rescuer, throws a toy found in the rubble, as they work to recover the bodies of citizens believed to be trapped under debris and concrete of the destroyed buildings, attacked late Monday by Israeli forces, in the southern Beirut suburb of Chiah, Lebanon, Tuesday Aug. 8, 2006. The raid on the Muslim southern suburb next to a Christian neighborhood killed at least 15 people, police officials said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Police officials said. This is not exactly firm evidence as to the actual casualty figure.

Given Gateway Pundit's finding of what seems to be a well-nigh-certain fake "casualty of war" -- with Western media connivance! -- what do we really know at all?

The whole charge of "disproportionate response" relies upon demonstrating -- or "demonstrating" -- Lebanese casualties greatly in excess of Israeli casualties.

Of course there are many Lebanese casuatlies.

But do we know with any kind of certainty what that number really is?

It seems to me the Lebanese government, as well as the Hezbollah apparatus controlling southern Lebanon, have a major incentive to inflate these casualty figures as high as plausibilty will allow.

And it also seems that the MSM has little interest in getting to the truth of the matter.

"Police officials said." All right, that's what they said. What's the actual truth of it?

CNN Sells "Disproportionate Response: At Prices So Low They're Practically Giving it All Away.

How can they afford to sell at such deep discounts? Three words: Volume, volume, volume.

PHOTO HEADLINE: BLOODSHED AND DESPAIR

CAPTION:

The Israel Defense Forces said this apartment building was used as base by a Hezbollah cell that launched rockets into Israel. Israeli ground troops led an assault on the building in Tyre, and killed "everyone we wanted to kill."

Is that really what Israeli forces said?

Were they fluent in English? Did they mean to say something like, "We took out all the hostiles we were targeting in this mission" ?

"Everyone we wanted to kill."

Nuance.

Thanks to... well, I don't know. It's a couple of those strange Hebraic squiggles and don't know how to reproduce on my computer.

I'll hat tip "E" as that's the first name in the email address.

Posted by: Ace at 03:23 PM | Comments (30)
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