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Military Reports It Has Killed A Senior Leader of Al Qaeda In Iraq, But Was He Killed A Year Ago?
The U.S. military announced today that it has killed a “senior leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.” Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson “identified the man as Abu Usama al-Tunisi, a Tunisian described as a close associate and likely successor to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, Al-Qaeda in Iraq’s Egyptian leader.”… But terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann issued a “global terror alert” last year stating that al-Tunisi had died in July 2006…. While it’s possible that there could have been two different Abu Usama al-Tunisis, it is the responsibility of news organizations to resolve these kinds of questions and double-check the facts before reporting them.
Sycophant Savior
A great political general doesn’t tell his masters what they want to hear. He tells them what they need to hear, thereby nudging them to make decisions that must be made if the nation’s interests are to be served. In this instance, [Gen. David] Petraeus provided cover for them to evade their responsibilities. Politically, it qualifies as a brilliant maneuver. The general’s relationships with official Washington remain intact. Yet he has broken faith with the soldiers he commands and the Army to which he has devoted his life. He has failed his country. History will not judge him kindly.
That’s from the crazed, leftist, troop haters at The American Conservative. (Thanks to Keith Olbermann’s Countdown.)
Presto! False Associated Press Reporting Makes Limbaugh’s Bogus Pushback Sound Perfectly Reasonable
The Associated Press has now covered the controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh’s now-infamous assertion that soldiers favoring withdrawal from Iraq are “phony soldiers.”… In the AP’s telling, Limbaugh first mentioned [a] specific phony soldier, and then “followed” with a reference to “phony soldiers.” This description, of course, makes Limbaugh’s pushback sound completely reasonable: Limbaugh established the specific context — a discussion of MacBeth — before using the controversial phrase. But this is not what Limbaugh’s transcript says at all, of course. Indeed, not even Limbaugh himself is arguing this.
WH distances itself from Rush on ‘phony soldiers’ remark.
In a press briefing this morning, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was pressed specifically about Rush Limbaugh’s “phony soldiers” comment. She responded: “It’s not what the President would have used, no.”
Ah, but was it “disgusting”? Click through to watch the video.
Mark Udall to introduce resolution to condemn Rush
“On Monday I will introduce a resolution honoring all Americans serving in the Armed Forces and condemning this unwarranted attack on the integrity and professionalism of those in the Armed Forces who choose to exercise their constitutional right to express their opinions regarding U.S. military action in Iraq. Sincerely, Mark Udall”
Senate Democratic Leaders Demand Apology For Limbaugh’s ‘Outrageous,’ ‘Unconscionable’ Remarks
ThinkProgress has obtained a letter being circulated on Capitol Hill today by the Senate Democratic Leadership that calls on Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays to repudiate its employee Rush Limbaugh’s “phony troops” remark… The letter, signed by Sens. Harry Reid (D-NV, Dick Durbin (D-IL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Patty Murray (D-WA), states that Limbaugh’s comments were “outrageous” and “unconscionable”
Outsiders Aim to Frame Political Debate
WASHINGTON — They raise millions of dollars, conduct provocative ad campaigns, work with a vast network of like-minded allies and have the power to frame the presidential election going forward as much as the candidates themselves. That used to define only the liberal MoveOn.org, an organization of 3.3 million members that has raised $25 million in the past 18 months and is helping spearhead an anti-war coalition. Now, a group of conservatives and Republicans with close ties to the White House have formed their own enterprise, Freedom’s Watch, landing on the political scene with a $15 million ad campaign to defend President Bush’s Iraq war strategy.
There’s one big difference. MoveOn.org is a grassroots organization. Freedom’s Watch is just another organization funded by rich right wingers.
Couric: ‘Not My Job’ To Critically Report On Iraq, ‘Unless Something Is Really Egregious’
This week, [CBS anchor Katie] Couric spoke at the National Press Club with host Marvin Kalb to discuss “Democracy and the Press.” Couric explained that her goal in Iraq was to appear neutral and avoid “a Walter Cronkite moment,” as she put it… Kalb rebutted Couric’s assertions, charging that she offered only neutered judgments about the status on the ground and missed an opportunity to critically assess the situation in Iraq.
Click through to watch the video.
Couric Admits Feeling NBC Pressure On Iraq (by Cliff Schecter)
This is the sad state of our corporate-owned media. Katie Couric is now admitting she felt “corporate pressure” to ease off of Condi Rice and The Bush Administration overall after a “tough interview” she conducted… It’s not as if we don’t know this kind of thing is going on… But for some reason, I still get that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I hear stories like this. It reminds me that as skeptical as I am of our corporate-crony media, I am not skeptical enough.
Foto Funnies Pt. II
[A press release from David Horowitz’s FrontPageMag] reads, “The photo accompanying this article, which shows a teenage girl buried before being stoned to death for alleged sexual offenses, will serve as the poster for the protest Week. The stoning took place in Iran.” This photo turns up all over the right-wing media, but the ’stoning’ actually takes place in a 1994 Dutch indie film called De Steen, directed by Mahnaz Tamizi. The ‘teenage girl’ is actress Smadar Monsinos.
The right-wing crazies are trying their best to demonize all Muslims in their attempt to justify an attack on Iran.
Blackburn’s TV tiff gets spotlighted
WASHINGTON — A recent television interview with U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has exploded in the blogosphere as pundits debate which is worse: that Blackburn couldn’t name the last soldier killed in her district or that the interviewer might have gotten that name wrong… [David] Shuster was forced to read a correction… But Shuster’s apology may have been premature. The tiny hamlet of Bon Aqua, Tenn., is where Bohannon lived in the months immediately prior to entering the Army. The Census Bureau places his home in Blackburn’s 7th Congressional District.
Dan Abrams and Shuster’s Apology
FishbowlDC hears that MSNBC General Manager Dan Abrams asked David Shuster to apologize for Wednesday’s Rep. Marsha Blackburn incident and even wrote the bulk of Shuster’s on-air apology. We also hear that an on-air explanation of this episode is not expected today [Friday], with MSNBC hoping to pretend the entire episode never happened.
Mythbuster: S-CHIP and Socialism (from The Democratic Strategist)
S-CHIP, in the expanded as well as in the existing version, typically purchases private health plans for those it covers [and therefore cannot be defined as “socialized medicine”, though right-wing pundits are doing just that]. And far from being some Washington leviathan, S-CHIP is run by the states, who make a wide variety of decisions about coverage, and also help finance the program.
The Wørd on Health Care
Stephen Colbert urges President Bush to veto the SCHIP bill, for the good of the children. “If we really care for our kids, we should deny them health insurance now to immunize them against expecting it as adults. If we don’t, when they grow up, who knows what other unrealistic things they’re going to expect? You know, if we fund Head Start now, later, they’ll expect education. If we fund school lunches now, later, they’ll expect food.”
Click through to watch the video.
CBS Launches New Online Video Initiative
CBS is launching a new project called EyeLab that will produce short clips relating to some of the popular shows on the network… According to the President of CBS Interactive, the network’s research indicates that less than a third of their viewers are interested in viewing full-length shows online, which is why they decided to offer short-form video as well. It’s a different approach than rival NBC, which plans to make available full-length downloads of their shows.
Corporate America Continues to Block Facebook
More companies are joining the bandwagon and blocking access to social networking sites. A web security firm called ScanSafe reports that a third of employers are now restricting access to social networking sites. Is it because of a loss of productivity? Not entirely. The report shows that companies are worried about security issues as well, with employees visiting social networks on company computers.
Lookery Moving Beyond Facebook to “Rent” Data from Smaller Networks
Scott Rafer’s Lookery, the ad network for Facebook apps, is branching out to encompass the entire web… Lookery on the Web will, in a sense, aggregate the personal information from many secondary social networks, like Hi5, and provide a large pool of data for market researchers, advertisers, and other companies that would want to use the demographic stats.
YouTube Puts AdSense in Embedded Players
This is very interesting: according to [a] page on YouTube, certain sites can now embed YouTube players that contain an AdSense unit above the clip. In other words: you could soon make money by embedding YouTube clips in your site. The page, spotted by ProBlogger today, doesn’t yet provide a way to sign up for this, and I can’t find any mention in my AdSense account. However, it does display a new type of embedded player that’s long enough to accommodate the ad unit. It also mentions that the player is customizable.
iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store Now Live
The iTunes wifi music store has officially launched. You can now access the wifi music store from your iPhone or the new iPod Touch in order to purchase songs and albums directly to your device. You can currently only download music with the wifi store, but television shows and movies may become available later on.