Today's Photo Du Jour

The photo du jour comes from Baghdad by way ot the Times and Karim Kadim of the AP:

And the caption:

Iraqi policemen danced with a United States Army soldier in Baghdad on Sunday, the day Iraq’s cabinet approved a security pact.

As Bush has said for years, when the Iraqis shake it up we will shake it down.  Story here.

Comments

[centralcal]

What a great photo!

[Lori]

"Several political analysts" are already giving Obama credit for winning the war, according to the article. Right on cue.

[Perfect Sense]

This might put a crimp on Obama's January 21st, 2009 surrender plans.

[bio mom]

Did anyone read the Washington Post ombudsman article yesterday? It seems that yes, they were liberal and unbalanced this election season but that is only because they need to hire more conservative journalists and do better editing. So no problem. Sorry for the biased reporting. That was essentially it. So now they are trying to regain credibility and make these admissions that everyone knows anyway but only AFTER they have managed to get their guy elected. They must think we are incredibly stupid to swallow that.

[jimmyk]

It seems that yes, they were liberal and unbalanced this election season

And in other news, the sun rose in the east this morning.

Sometime in early 2009 we will also read that, yes, the media was unfair to President Bush, and that coverage of the Iraq war was one-sided, and sorry about that, they'll try not to let it happen again.

[Extraneus]

Yeah, how about that, bio mom. They goofed! But they mean well. Wasn't that the excuse for Al Gore's Bhuddist temple fund-raising, and Sandy Berger's document stuffing? And now Hansen's October temperature data. Ah, those lovable bumblers and fumblers on the left. Gotta love 'em.

The only way to look at the MSM is as enemies -- enemies who need to be defeated, and not by strategies which depend on their cooperation.

[clarice]

What does it mean, exactly? If the Iraqis cannot manage and ask us to extend, do you suppose we won't? If they can take over more of the job more quickly, do you suppose they'd object to a request by us to remove more troops more quickly?

It seems to me more symbol than substance, but the symbolism is not minor. What other country in the history of the world has ever been less desirous of creating an empire?

[Soylent Red]

It's important to remember that there is a better that average chance that every Iraqi in this picture would be dead if we had listened to the President Elect's wisdom.

[Rick Ballard]

"Sometime in early 2009 we will also read that"

You can read it, I won't be reading it. Unless it's on the AP feed from Rome, NY. I'm starting my New Year resolution a little early. No clicks to trash, no revenue, not even the .000001 cent per click to keep crap outfits like the NYT, the Tribune or the WaPo breathing for half a millisecond longer.

The country will be healthier with the propaganda organs properly dead and I intend to do my part to see that they become "good" media as soon as possible.

[jimmyk]

What's so great about the AP feed from Rome, NY? My impression is that the AP is just as capable of slanting their news coverage as the most eager staff reporters of the NYT, LAT, and WAPO.

[Extraneus]

I didn't see a way to customize the Rome Sentinel feed, but another possible good source is myway.com, with a fully customizable home page, access to AP, Fox, and others (MSNBC & NYT I think, but I don't use). The company is owned by IAC Search & Media, who also own ask.com and reference.com.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Michael called into the Dennis Miller radio show last week from Baghdad. Miller asked him if it was true we were winning the war, and Yon said it's way past winning, it's over. The patrols are boring.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Make that Michael Yon.

[RichatUF]

bio mom-

I'm trying to look at upside all day-it's the optimist in me. In regards to Iraq, the worldwide media coverage of eminent US defeat pushed the Ummah to fight that much harder, committing most of its resources to the fight, and they still lost. With the media's rent boy in office, they will be less anxious to print anything which will blow back on the US and will dial back greatly the retreat and defeat narrative they were trying to perfect. It will buy us some time before the law enforcement and tranzi policies of the Obama Administration can work there ill effects. Add in a global recession and collapsing oil prices and the Iran problem might just take care of itself.

Some problems I see in the military side of the GWOT (aside from his committment to an internationalist law enforcement model) will be the coming Obama failure to get NATO and Europe to commit to victory in Afghanistan (I'm doubtful a "surge" of any consequence is going to happen there with Pakistan playing with our supply lines) and a revisit of Somalia and Yemen. YMMV.

[Rick Ballard]

jimmyk,

There's nothing "great" about the AP at all. It does provide "news" (more or less) and it would be unreasonable to suggest that everyone simply stop reading news completely.

Clicking the Rome, NY feed puts that .000001 in the pocket of a publisher who articulates a point of view with which I generally agree. Click the RomeSentinel button at the top, read his editorials and see if you don't agree. If you do agree, why would you put that .000001 cent in Sulzberger's pocket rather than in the pocket of someone with whom you share a POV?

Reading trash tabloids such as the NYT or WaPo is an indication of a weak mind (IMO). It's like watching Oprah or Jerry Springer.

[JM Hanes]

While I hate to take issue with Dear Leader, Caro's got the indisputable photo du jour. Our own Fearless Jane puts McCain's Straight Talk Express to shame -- and gets all the guys too. We've gotchyer pins & dolls & screws right here:

Eat your heart out Clarice!

[Jane]

Yippee!!!!!!

[clarice]

Oh. No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am disconsolate! Where are those dolls again!

[centralcal]

Clarice, are you gonna stand still for this?

I thought it was gonna be mud wrestling that determined the winner, not who went on a cruise first. lol.

[clarice]

She is a damned cheat, isn't she? Our dear sweet Jane.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTtpDwrKaxo

[MayBee]

Ha ha ha ha ha!

[hit and run]

Best Thread Evah!

More, please!

[NewYorkCentral]

OT, but from the Rome Sentinel's #1 competitor (the Utica Observer-Dispatch)...I meant to post this the other day on the Prop 8 thread but hey, while we're talking about Upstate NY...(LUN)

[JM Hanes]

You're just a babe in the woods, Clarice.

[Jane]

Tee Hee!

Oh and Clarice - my buddy Mark signed the sign and wrote (uncoached): "It's the truth".

Double Tee Hee!

[bad]

Drudge had this up about Obama sending letters to federal workers. from WAPO:

Obama wrote to employees in the departments of Labor, Defense, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs, along with the TSA, the EPA and the Social Security Administration. Defense was the only area in which he did not make promises requiring additional spending, the letters show.

Unfortunately, there are no financial figures to estimate the cost of all these promises.

LUN

[Rick Ballard]

I'm sure that the Utica Observer-Dispatch has many fine points but all roads still lead to Rome.

[DE]

Obamas' using Americans for Foreign aid and the pay off.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Politics/comments?type=story&id=6269682

[Elliott]

More, please!

Couldn't have said it better. And good afternoon, JMH.

[MayBee]

bad- it seems he is going through the budget line by line and finding all sorts of ways to add to it. Using his magic pen, of course.

[clarice]

Speak for yourselves, Elliott and Hit.

[JM Hanes]

'Afternoon, Elliott. Afraid I'm having trouble keeping up with the Cruiser Crew who seem to need zero recovery time. Maybe it has something to do with needing a second suitcase for all the equipment I take along when I know I'm only going to have to unpack once. Unfortunately, that means arrival and departure are hell on wheels, so to speak. In the new upside down world of air travel, your lightweight stuff goes into your suitcase, while you carry the all the really heavy gear from one distant gate to another on your back. I'd bet that all the new weight limits on baggage have not materially changed the totals, just the center of gravity.

[glenda waggoner]

Oh, JMH, Jane & Clarice--you girls are rich!
and make me smile, even on bad days!!
Please, More!
You all are my mental travelers, but it's the wit and satire that kicks!

[Jamesbond]

Michelle out with the gal........

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6269615

[JM Hanes]

MayBee,

I think Obama will be looking to break the record for promulgating executive orders by several orders of magnitude -- in his first 100 days. Seriously. With nary a "unitary executive" peep from a grateful Democratic choir in Congress, either.

[Jane]

JMH,

I'm still exhausted from the trip home, and no one is making demands on me to get out a product, so I sympathize.

[Elliott]

It would be easier if we could just take a steamer trunk (or two) along.

[Elliott]

Today's cause of sinistropherical cris de coeur: Missile defense likely to continue in Obama administration.

[JM Hanes]

centralcal:

"I thought it was gonna be mud wrestling that determined the winner, not who went on a cruise first."

It's not our fault that Clarice didn't show up! People started claiming seats at the Mudwrestling Pit the night before the match, just to make sure they didn't get stuck watching it on TV in the Deep Six Lounge.

Jonah Goldberg tried to get in on the act of course. Here he is, strutting his stuff for the ear muffed JOM Dames, but we were not impressed. Neither was his onstage companion, apparently. When Steyn is in the house, he turns even Jonah's substantial head. You've got potential kid, but for now, best to listen and learn. Last but not least, lest any of you doubters think Jane was jesting, here is the divine Steyn, himself, endorsing Jane's win.

All of the above caught in the act by Caro, of course.

[Jane]

It's True! It's True!

Bravo JMH.

I already miss you guys!

[Laura]

Jane,
your BFFL is useless today. Even a trip to Target has not reenergized her.

[clarice]

Double HUMPH!!! Esp that shot of MS making the sign..I mean who's going to believe that?
(Anyone seen those dmaned dolls and stickpins?)

[Thomas Collins]

Ummm. I think we "non-cruisers" are being doled out tidbits of info. But the REAL CRUISE ACTION is being hidden in a "What Really Happened On The Cruise Stays On The Cruise" omerta! :-))

[Laura]

Clarice,
If we told you everything we would have to remove you. Fr Sirico's brother can help with that.

[JM Hanes]

Why, bless your little heart, Thomas Collins. What a thought!

Alas, I meant to blot out the photo credit, but had a last minute uploading lapse which I'm at a loss to correct. I trust that our upstanding JOM jury will scrupulously disregard the implications, although I'm not entirely sure about Clarice.

[111644]

Rove meetings missing the agencies:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/16/AR2008111602440.html

[clarice]

Thought you all were blondes///Don't tell me there was some fibbing going on?

[centralcal]

Nope, Clarice - in one of Jane's very first posts after hitting land, she claimed she was the ONLY blonde among the 4 JOMers.

[Caro]

Clarice, only one blonde, and she's a natural!

[bad]

Hot Air has this linked. It's about how Obama will go around the Fairness Doctrine to stifle syndicated talk radio. LUN

[Caro]

The waterfall was in the Rainforest in Puerto Rico and we happened to be there on Veterans' Day, which is a school holiday. The frolic in the falls was a well-attended event.

[Jane]

I'm the blonde Clarice, I told you!

your BFFL is useless today.

Tell her I feel the same way. I looked at my calender which had "board meeting" scheduled for tomorrow night. I had to ask Amy if I am on any boards.

JMH, I'm confident that Mark won't mind that we are publishing his ongoing tribute to the ladies of JOM. I'm sure that is how he wants it.

[Jane]

Caro, Laura, do either of you remember what Rob Long said about comedy - what you need in order to make fun of something? I've been trying to remember all day.

[Elliott]

*****sinistroSpherical********

[bad]

what Rob Long said about comedy - what you need in order to make fun of something?

The something needs to have really big ears....

[bad]

What are Hillary's qualifications to be Secretary of State? Surely there is someone far more capable available to do the job.

[not_bubarooni]

at the risk of coming across as a typical male pig...

more pictures please!

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

LOL. I'd forgotten about this.

Nixon’s The One: The Button

[JM Hanes]

Hold on just one minute here! I can be blonde any time I feel like it.

[cathyf]

"Better living through chemistry."

[bad]

living through chemistry

LOL, I resemble that remark.

[Pagar]

Bad,
Take your link:
"Hot Air has this linked. It's about how Obama will go around the Fairness Doctrine to stifle syndicated talk radio."

and add this Atlas Shrugs post:

"GuyInGothamX: I am monitoring your site---if you or any of your hate- filled followers even make a passing joke about violence toward Barack Obama or his family, I am going straight to the FBI. I don't put anything past you or your racist followers----everything you do is an incitement to violence... additionally, i have reported your site to the Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance, the ADL, the ADC and the NAACP... you may think race-baiting and religious bigotry are entertaining, but i'm not sure those organizations will"
-----------------------------------
"It's not illegal, or hate speech. The O-bot did not threaten violence or smear my race or religion, just threatened to tell the FBI. It is very carefully constructed."

Then add:
"The Obama Crackdown on the Jewish Media Begins Sultan Knish

Call it Scenes from the Obama Revolution Part 2. It's happening quietly and under the radar but there is a pattern to it is a bit similar for it to be completely random. Editors and staff working for local Jewish papers that have run articles critical of Obama have been receiving hostile phone calls."

LUN

My guess is conservative talk radio and conservative blogs' last day will be the minute Pres Bush leaves office.

[Pagar]

Here's the Miami Herald -Censor the Latina conservative piece:

"Herald Ombudsman Flirts With Censorship?
Hidden deep in the Miami Herald web site is a column by Herald ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos published yesterday titled “Facts Should Be Foundation for Published Opinion”. In the piece, Schumacher-Matos responds to a letter from a reader of Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald who is upset at a recent column written by El Nuevo columnist Adolfo Rivero Caro titled “Suicidio Nacional” (National Suicide). The ombudsman shares the reader’s concerns about Rivero's “smears” of Barack Obama and Democrats and wonders whether facts (as defined by the editors, of course) should trump a columnist’s job to be opinionated."

[bad]

and wonders whether facts should trump a columnist’s job to be opinionated."

If facts mattered, most of the MSM would be out of a job.

[clarice]

Maybe Giuliani should run for Hillary's eat now? How does this work in NY? Does the governor appoint someone for the remaining term or for just a short period pending a new election?

[katie]

Thomas,
I will be posting on my website some additional details but in reality, what happens in international waters stays in international waters. Don't ask, don't tell...I got a million of 'em!

[clarice]

**Hillary's Seat***

[DrJ]

Clarice, I can't tell you the ugly images that "eat" and "seat," said of Ms. Clinton, painted in my mind.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[centralcal]

Clarice: I read somewhere today that Eliot Spitzer's name was suggested as a Hillary replacement.

Why am I not at all surprised?

[clarice]

I am sorrier than I say, Dr J.

CC--I find that suggestion impossible. I'm often wrong, however, but this wrong...I don't think so.

[Jane]

Narciso,

I just found dave's piece at Red State (LUN). I actually had dinner with he and his wife one night and was at the table when the talk turned to gay marriage (guess who brought it up?) and also when he encountered the elderly racist. Funny how all the pieces sort of converge over time.

[Thomas Collins]

I enjoyed your website post on the cruise, katie, and understand the necessity of discretion in these matters. Of course, if one of the JOM cruise goers decides to break the code of silence and publishes a "tell-all," I'll be the first in line at the bookstore!!

[Jane]

Be careful of Katie Thomas, she is a "community organizer". Wanna take Suffolk county? I volunteered for Worcester County 4 minutes after I met her.

[clarice]

Humph! After that famous picture of you know who, I was sure you'd be "organizing" in NH, Jane.

[centralcal]

Phew - glad to hear it Clarice, about Spitzer. On the main thread, I called you "wise" (and, no I didn't mean wise-acre). If you say so, then I am calmer.

[clarice]

You called me"wise"? Let me have my friend PUK have your phone no., please, cc. We have a very exciting business opportunity we'd like to share with you.

(Smooches)

[sbw]

Rick, how kind of you to fly the Rome Sentinel flag for the standard AP feed.

Other newspapers who pay more to AP will allow readers to customize what they see.

On the other hand, people who visit the Rome Sentinel AP site support the publisher regularly writing AP's state bureau chief questioning their coverage. Just today I asked them to parse the difference between Obama effigies and those of Palin so they could explain why one is racist and the other is not.

And today the WaPo ombudsman wrote she might bring up my challenge of her remark that most journalists are liberal; that she wants change. Horsehockey! I nuanced. So-called liberals only want to cover up problems using other people's money. So-called liberals are actually Machiavellian conservatives hungry for power while I am liberal because I want to extract only what works from history to solve our social problems.

I support the Rome Sentinel's editorials, too. ;-)

[centralcal]

Hey - I'm game. You, me, PUK, exchanging information (PUK picking my pocket and rewarding you). Why not. The cruise crew ain't gonna give up their anonymity and are only posting hokey photos, so we might as well know voices, if not faces.

And, I know how to photoshop too. Where do we wanna tattoo PUK? Could get interesting. No?

[Jane]

The next cruise: LUN

[clarice]

I happen to know--don't ask how I pray--that PUK has many tattooable spots..and anything the JOM love boaters can do, we can do better.

[clarice]

Oh dear, Jane--some of my favorite places in the world.

[centralcal]

Yeah, Jane, I saw that this morning. Sadly, I have to wait for My Messiah to spread the wealth around (checking mailbox daily) so that I can afford to take that cruise.

But, then again, look at the speakers! No Mark. No Fred. So, I am not too terribly depressed.

[Thomas Collins]

I'll take Federal Hill in Providence, Jane. I'll relive my glorious youth playing poker at night at the bottom of Atwells Avenue (the street that is still the home of my favorite bar).

[Jane]

I'm sure Katie will comply Thomas. You can get the conservative gay vote, which might be booming by that time.

Centralcal, that's just the initial speakers, and yes it is pricey. I certainly will have to wait and see if I can afford it as well.

[narciso]

I missed that Adolfo Caro Rivero piece; heard about on Babalu. It's in keeping with his nature. The Herald used to have a commentator, former dissident named Luque Escalona, who was savage toward the left as well; calling Fidel, the "Wandering Coma" a pun on "Comandante" He was driven off, and ended up writing for the more tabloid, NY post style small newspapers "los
periodiquitos" The more passionate and direct nature of the Spanish editorial page
was held by Ryan Lizza and Salon; as having
provoked the Elian brouhaha. We'll have no more of that now. Clearly Rivero's too partisan, not in keeping with the 'balanced camapaign coverage' of the McClatchy paper; re the previous Schumacher Matos column, he doesn't know that McClatchy Watch has catalogued every one of the chain's lies, omissions, mis-representations, against McCain butspecially against Governor Palin.

[glasater]

I think I found Jane in JMH's photo:-)

[clarice]

I think if we don't have a contingent for the next NRO cruise, we arrange a three day weelend excurion to Little Havana guided by narciso.

[clarice]

**weeKend**

[Ann]

Jane,

Now I really feel stupid. I have been on the other thread linking to "Dave in Fl diaries". I must of found it when you did.

That Rob Long quote you were looking for is:
"It is hard to make fun of someone who gets the joke."

[Laura]

Jane,
Unless we hit the litigation lottery I think the Med cruise will be out of the question. College tuition will be cheaper. NR is really getting a premium on this one, you can have just the cruise for 1200.

[JM Hanes]

Sign me up for the weelend!

[sbw]

I'm afraid that, with two kids in college, the only way I'll get on board is if they decide to comp me:

Harrumph! [Clears throat] It's kind of Mark Steyn to join me on this panel...

[Laura]

galaster,
actually I do see Jane's head, but that isn't it. Hey this is sort of like Where's Waldo

[clarice]

I'm already tasting those Cuban sandwiches.

[JM Hanes]

I'd have thought you'd be making those Cuban sandwiches, Clarice.

[clarice]

Very funny, jmh!

But narciso would be an outstanding guide. Of that I'm sure.

[clarice]

I suppose I could, but there is such a thing as perfection..

And think of the fabulous coffee there!

[Thomas Collins]

Providence's politics have always been intriguing, Jane. See LUN for an article on the current mayor.

[Soylent Red]

Did someone mention Cuban sandwiches? Mmmmmm...

Got a couch narciso?

[clarice]

Couch, soylent? Miami's real estate market is so underwater we could buy a luxury condo for the price of an NRO cruise.