He wouldn’t be the first doctor to commit mass murder [Tom Gross]
Some commentators on television are expressing amazement that the army major, Nidal Malik Hasan, suspected of murdering 12 and wounding 31 at Fort Hood in Texas today was a doctor of many years standing. It is too early to tell whether this is an act of domestic terrorism but if it is we should not be surprised that the shooter was a doctor.
As I happened to write earlier this week, doctors have a long history of playing keys roles in terrorist movements. Among them, Al-Qaeda’s number 2 and (terror) operations chief, Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is a qualified surgeon; Dr. Abd al-Aziz Rantissi the mastermind behind Hamas suicide bombings; and Dr. George Habash, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the instigator of many airline hijackings in the late 1960s and 1970s, and responsible for the deaths of dozens of passengers. Scroll down to items 4 (and 3) here for more details of these cases.
There have been many other examples too, including several Palestinian suicide bombers and the British Muslim doctors who carried out an attempted suicide attack at Glasgow airport in Scotland two years ago.
Fort Hood Shooting: The Left's Take [Kevin D. Williamson]
It is unfair to use an unmoderated comments section to tar the site that hosts it, I think, so while I wouldn't argue that this gives us any insight into what the folks at Salon.com think, it does seem to me representative of a certain habit of thought on the Left. (Using the word "thought" loosely.) In the wake of the Fort Hood shootings, one regular Salon commentor wrote:
The Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld nazification of the United States military — turning it into nothing more than a worldwide force for unmotivated aggressive war — leads to the murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis/Pakistanis/Afghanis (and many, many more of those to come) — and this clown Benjamin asks why?
Because there were no towelheads around to mass murder, that's why.
I'm guessing that Major Malik Nadal Hasan was not the kind of guy who was looking for "towelheads" to murder. Just a hunch. But, of course, it's Bush's fault, and our troops are Nazis.
Kinda funny. The American flag at the anti-Pelosicare rally falls over and Mark takes it from there (the "that" he's referring to is a copy of the Pelosicare bill):
Those photos of President Obama saluting as caskets are brought into Dover reminded me of this column by John Lukacs, which made a lot of conservatives I know very angry when it was published. I wonder if they will feel different about it now?
Helping out the Milbloggers for a Worthy Cause [Greg Pollowitz]
Longtime reader and milblogger Boston Maggie sends this along regarding the "Project Valour" fund-raiser for our wounded veterans. Navy is a little behind the Air Force, Army, and Marines, and could use a little help if you are so inclined. Go Navy!
This page will stay on top until November 11, 2009 and new stuff will post below.
Are you onboard?
First off, if you are a blogger who comes here, you should be on #TeamNavy. Once you are added to the Blogroll, you should automatically be directed to the page that lets you add a widget. If you have any technical difficulties with the widget, email me, I've got people. And despite what SJS says....they are not chained in the hull of a ship.
Next, do you have a Twitter account? You can add a #Valour-IT Twibbon to your avatar to show support. Then please retweet #Valour-IT tweets and use the hashtag.
Ok, maybe you don't have a blog....but I bet you have a FaceBook account. That's great too! If you go to this page, select the FaceBook icon and fill in your FB info. It will post to your Facebook. We also have an event page on FaceBook, go and RSVP.
There is an official Valour-IT blogand of course, everything you could ever want to know is on their webpage.
So you've looked at everything above and you've decided that you are not comfortable with clicking through to donate online.....no problem, here's the mailing info Soldiers Angels 1792 E. Washington Blvd Pasadena, CA 91104 I would simply request that you mark your check as being for #TeamNavy.
OK, that was all the technical stuff. There will be posts below where I write about the accomplishments of the charity, post testimonials from Valour-IT technology recipients and link to other bloggers' Valour-IT posts. We have until November 11, 2009 to raise a pile of money to help bring this technology to our wounded military......raise awareness of the whole Project Valour-IT (it runs year round)......and to beat the snot out of the Army Team.
The Budding Bromance Between Keith Olbermann and Sean Hannity [Greg Pollowitz]
How cute: Mediaite has the adorable picture of Keith Olbermann taking a picture of Sean Hannity taking a picture of Keith Olbermann at last night's World Series game.
Hannity taped his show and then went to the game, Olbermann skipped out entirely, leaving the chair to Lawrence O'Donnell.
But if all it takes is a Yankees World Series game to get Olbermann out of the studio, here's to November baseball and the Yankees in the big game in 2010 and 2012.
I'm not sure if this is better or worse than Ben Franklin in a toga, but I like the headline: Tall, Bronze, and Hideous:
Oh, the dreadful realism! One of the worst things about the Nineties was Bill Clinton and his single-buttoned jackets. (And that damned digital watch he wore with his suits.) Give this to Barack Obama: When he dresses up as JFK, he more or less gets it right.
James Gardner, formerly of the (Weep! Gnash!) much-missed New York Sun, writes:
[Clinton's] palpable unease was surely as much a question of aesthetics as a protestation of modesty. For the sculpture really is lousy. Though ultimately based on the ancient Prima Porta statue of Augustus Caesar, it can be more immediately traced back to those superhuman man-tractors representing the likes of Lenin, Brezhnev, and Ceauşescu that littered the Soviet Block [sic] in times gone by.
An important discovery: We have finally found out what it takes to embarrass Bill Clinton. Well done, Pristina!
Time TV writer James Poniewozik tweeted that Dan Rather still has his collection of "wild-ass election similes," but I'd say this routine is just sad. Rather's perpetually upset that he's not breaking in on the CBS set as the news breaks out. Dissing all your colleagues means the cutesiness gets overpowered by the bitterness. Michael Calderone and Daniel Libit report:
"So much of what passed for political coverage last night was like watching a manure spreader in a windstorm,” Rather told POLITICO. “Much of it was just a constant stream of highly partisan political message points. Thoughtful analysis was as rare as a golden-fronted bowerbird."
Mediaite is reporting that Keith Olbermann was visiting his dad in the hospital, which explains why he wasn't there at 10 p.m. But they also ask: Why didn't one of MSDNC's other anchors take over rather than go to a repeat?
On MSNBC the program began with Olbermann tossing to Lawrence O’Donnell, who seemed to share anchoring duties with Chris Matthews. At first. Around 10:15pmET, there was a commercial break, and the repeat 8pmET Countdown kicked in. It aired the rest of the hour. We hear Olbermann was visiting his dad in the hospital, which accounted for his absence. But that doesn’t answer why O’Donnell or Matthews didn’t fill in during the prime results hour. In the MSNBC release Monday, it was listed as a live edition of Countdown.
Ahmadinejad appoints leading Holocaust denier as new official in charge of the press [Tom Gross]
Not only did Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, today say that negotiating with the United States would be a “naive and perverted” thing to do (Khamenei revealed President Obama has approached him several times through oral and written messages which he has not replied to).
Not only did Israeli commandos today intercept a ship carrying hundreds of tons of Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon – the biggest ever seizure of arms on their way from Iran to its client terrorist militia, Hezbollah, which Iran plans to use as one element in its attempt to wipe the Jewish state off the map (BBC story and video here).
Not only did Iran brutalize pro-democracy demonstrators once again on the streets of major Iranian cities today (there are several videos if you scroll down here from France 24, and a report here by BBC Persian).
But in addition Iran has appointed as its new deputy culture minister, in charge of media and communications, Mohammad-Ali Ramin, who previously served as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s top advisor on Holocaust matters and is known as “the brain” behind the president’s strategy of Holocaust denial.
Ramin hasn’t just repeatedly said that Jews invented the Holocaust, he has also said (sounding quite like Hitler) that “everyone knows Jews are filthy people who have spread lethal disease throughout history.”
In his new post as official in charge of communications and the press, Ramin will be able to influence Iran’s media agenda, as his boss continues the rush to acquire nuclear weapons despite a phony deal that Barack Obama and other western powers seem to have been suckered into by the Iranian regime.
MSDNC Explains the Abscence of Keith Olbermann [Greg Pollowitz]
Jim posted earlier on MSDNC's absence at 10 p.m. with further election coverage. TV Newser — kind of — has the answer:
Rather than running a full, live "Countdown," Lawrence O'Donnell broke in with a 20-minute update on the latest election results. Afterward, MSNBC finished the replay of Keith Olbermann's 8pmET broadcast.
With the exception of one segment, all of Rachel Maddow's subsequent 11pmET program was live, as was 12amET's "Hardball."
An MSNBC spokesperson tells TVNewser, "MSNBC was live with what needed to be live and provided coverage of all the results as they came in."
Not really a good explanation. This is how Olbermann finished his 8 p.m. broadcast:
OLBERMANN: That‘s COUNTDOWN for this the 2,378th day since the previous president declared mission accomplish in Iraq. Lawrence O‘Donnell and I will be back with the latest on the votes in New York 23rd, Virginia and New Jersey at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific. Until then, I‘m Keith Olbermann, good night and good luck.
Now with the latest on tonight‘s votes, and Maine‘s bid to become the first state to vote to uphold same sex marriage, ladies and gentlemen, here is Rachel Maddow. Good evening, Rachel.
Game-Changing Imus Interview for Christie? [Greg Pollowitz]
Neal Cavuto, days before the election, thought this interview with Chris Christie on the Don Imus show might be a "game changer." In retrospect, maybe he was right. Either way, Christie's line "man up and call me fat" is one of the better lines in political history.
But the New Jersey gubernatorial contest between Senator Jon Corzine, a liberal Democrat, and another multimillionaire, the Republican businessman Douglas Forrester, and the Virginia race between Lieutenant Governor Timothy Kaine, a moderate Democrat, and Jerry Kilgore, a Republican former state attorney general, had been very close for weeks.
So the fact that both Democrats not only won, but did so easily, Kaine by six points and Corzine by nine, raised speculation that Bush had not only failed to help Republicans but might have weighed them down as public concerns increase over the Iraq war, the CIA leak scandal and other matters.
Kaine's comeback victory was also seen as a ringing endorsement by Virginia voters of his mentor, Governor Mark Warner, a possible 2008 presidential candidate who is positioning himself as a pragmatic centrist with appeal in the South. Polls show that more than 70 percent of Virginians approve of the job done by Warner, who was barred by law from seeking re-election.
The president made a much-publicized election eve appearance with Kilgore in Richmond.
Presidential aides had told reporters that the appearance was something of a gamble. They said they knew that if Kilgore did poorly, a "Bush effect" might be blamed, but they thought it was worth a try to help an ally in a state that has long leaned Republican. The president carried the state with 54 percent of the vote just a year ago.
And before we criticize David Axelrod for saying this election was about local issues, note that this explanation has been used before:
Republicans tried to play down their losses as not atypical in off-year elections, and largely reflecting local issues, not national concerns. Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, told The New York Times that in the past seven elections, the party that had won the White House the year before had lost the Virginia governor's race.
(CNN) — Stephen Colbert may have lost his bid as an underdog presidential candidate last year, but he still wants to represent America any way he can.
The "Colbert Report" host said that his viewers. the "Colbert Nation," will now be the primary sponsor for the U.S. Olympic speed skating team when the squad goes to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.
The announcement was made on his show Monday night. Earlier, the Netherlands-based DSB Bank in the Netherlands had dropped out as a team sponsor.
"We must ensure that it is America's 38-inch thighs on that medal platform!" Colbert exhorted.
Bob Crowley, executive director of US Speedskating, said Colbert "embracing the US Speedskating Team will provide immeasurable exposure for our sport and very talented athletes."
The team has quite the track record, including 75 Olympic medals and such alumni as Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair and Eric Heiden. It ranks as the most successful of any United States winter sports team.
