the endless & infinite shame of the scum that would call themselves ‘journalists’ but are instead like that beast of the sea that lives on death – the slime eel

Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 11 2008 15:59 utc | 4

Juan Cole reading the world press:

Reading news about Iraq is like watching Bill Murray’s ‘Groundhog Day’ in which you have to live through the same day over and over again. So the US and Iraqi governments have announced a new campaign against Sunni radicals in Ninevah province, especially Mosul….
Ninevah governor Duraid Kashmula admitted to Al-Hayat that Mosul “has come to dominated by the leaders of al-Qaeda…”
What??! Mosul is Iraq’s second largest city at 1.7 million, and it is under the control of “al-Qaeda”? How long has this been the case? All this time? While the US press was reveling in the “calm” in the country?
…the clear evidence of the falsehood of the Pentagon talking points about a “calm Iraq” … doesn’t prevent them from being conveyed unexamined right to the front page.

Posted by: small coke | May 11 2008 16:51 utc | 6

There is an interesting point to make on this Al Jazeera piece of fights in Lebanon outside of Beirut

Heavy fighting has broken out between pro-government and opposition supporters in Lebanon’s central mountains overlooking the capital, Beirut.
…
Walid Jumblatt, a prominent pro-government politician and a leader of Lebanon’s Druze community, urged Talal Arslan, a Druze rival allied with the Hezbollah-led opposition, to place the affected regions under army rule.
…
Earlier on Sunday, in the northern city of Tripoli, at least one person was killed in clashes between supporters of the government and the opposition.
…
An army officer said government supporters fought loyalists of an Alawite sect with links to Hezbollah in the Bab al-Tebbaneh, Kobel and Jabal Mohsen neighbourhoods.

1. This shows the lie that the whole conflict is some Shia-Sunni one.
We have Druze fighting Druze and Jumblatt is loosing. Fine with me – he started this whole round by issueing the threats to Hizbullah.
In the north there are Allewits fighting who-knows. Allewits are not Shia.
This is neither an ethnic nor a religion-sectarion fight but a fight of disenfranchised (economical and electoral) against the better-off and their mercinaries.
Keep in mind that several groups in Lebanon, not only the Shia are screwed by the election law which puts shares of seats to sects in a idiotic way. (Shia are 40% of the population and get only 20% of the parliament seats which, of course, leads to economic disadvantages)

Posted by: b | May 11 2008 18:15 utc | 8

Clark Hoyt, Public Editor at NYT, reports on what happens when reporters actually try to do their job. He gives two examples arising from use of FOIA, which has become researchers and reporters’ best tool for cracking open government secrets.
FOIA has always been a cat-and-mouse game, between investigators and government. As in all things, the present administration seems to recognize no bounds in playing just beyond the farthest limits of the law.
The two news stories, arriving belatedly: 66 deaths of immigration prisoners, and the close relationship between the Pentagon and retired military who serve as media consultants and commenters.
Curiously, no mention of Hoyt’s report appears anywhere on the lengthy NYT Home page. Appears on the editorial page of the paper edition. Will anyone who does not read the paper edition even notice it?

The Times… took the Pentagon to court last fall. Under the supervision of a federal district judge, Richard J. Sullivan, The Times and an assistant United States attorney representing the Pentagon agreed to deadlines for producing the records Barstow wanted. The Pentagon kept missing the deadlines.
At a hearing in February, Sullivan said the Pentagon was playing “cute” and refused to give any more extensions. “Two years is a long time,” he said. But in April, the parties were back in his courtroom, with the Pentagon pleading for more time. Sullivan was having none of it. “My orders have been issued since November,” he said. “I am not used to having to do this five or six times.” The judge threatened to bring Pentagon officials into court “to explain the delay and why they shouldn’t be held in contempt.”

And when Congress actually tries to help enable FOIA requests, the Executive crew launches it’s usual end run around the legislation.

Late last year, Congress passed the Open Government Act of 2007, with the intention of forcing better compliance with FOIA and heading off situations like Bernstein’s and Barstow’s. (Full disclosure: I testified in favor of the law as a representative of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of 10 news organizations.) President Bush signed it on the last day of the year, but his administration quickly set about trying to dismantle one of its key features, an independent ombudsman who could mediate FOIA disputes before they turn into expensive lawsuits, like the one The Times is still pursuing.
The administration proposed no financing for the new office and tried to move its responsibilities to the Justice Department, which defends agencies trying to withhold information.

Posted by: small coke | May 11 2008 21:40 utc | 10

slime eels everywhere
a reading of the french, english & italian press will tell you – suddenly hezbollah set up a coup & imprisoned the lebanese people
i have not read one paper that gives even a half truthful explanation of either the consequences or of the results
& now that hezbollah have responded reasonably to the hariri/jumblatt provocations – not a word from thos same slime eeels

Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 12 2008 14:26 utc | 12