New Jersey Slayings Update

Lara, a friend of mine from Valpo who is now in grad school in New Jersey, passes on the local reaction to the slaying of a family of Coptic Christians.

According to Lara, the murders have been the top stories all week for the local New Jersey news outlets. Furthermore, the religious hatred angle has not been supressed, but has been mentioned openly (for example, this story at the Star-Ledger). So she was surprised at my report of the (lack of) play that this story has been getting nationally. Libertarian Girl has further thoughts on this, and points out that this story was promoted to CNN's page during the same news cycle as the Jersey slayings were not.

Lara also send on a couple other interesting links. First, this story at the Star-Ledger's site reports that relatives of the Armanious family believe that the murders should be attributed to American violence in general rather than Islamofascist hatred. I'm not sure about this. The New York Post reports that "[t]he heartless killer not only slit Sylvia's throat, but also sliced a huge gash in her chest and stabbed her in the wrist, where she had a tattoo of a Coptic cross." That's an indicator that the killings were not random, but rather targeted based on the Armanious family's faith.

Secondly, Lara says that this link has video footage of the family funeral, at which a fight broke out. Unfortunately, viewing requires a paid subscription. If I find the video hosted for free elsewhere, I'll post an update.

Coptic Christians Slain In New Jersey

Read this overview of the story. Hossam Armanious was a Coptic Christian and an Egyptian-American who frequented a chatroom at Paltalk, often to argue about Islamic persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt. According to a family friend, he was threatened in the chat room by some Muslims. They had stated that if he continued to speak out, they would kill him.

Hossam, his wife and his two daughters were found brutally murdered on Friday. Most news outlets are either not carrying the story or are omitting the death threat aspect.

Protest Warrior Inauguration Counter-Protest, Chicago, 1/15/05

Update: Captions Added


Inauguration Protestors at Senn High School




Police Officers conversing with PW Chicago leaders



PW Chicago at Senn High School



The Mega-Sign



Police Escort



End All Occupations Sign



Another attempt at getting an image of the End All Occupations Sign



Inauguration Protestors at the local Alderman's office



"Senator Paul Wellstone:Murdered By The Bushmob"



The other side of the Wellstone Sign



Broadway Armory -- Location of the Inauguration Protest Rally



Two Inaugural Protestors, lost, who were willing to talk with PW Chicago



A better picture of the Broadway Armory



The officer on the right, an Iraq veteran, initially thought we were liberal protestors and was confused as to why we would have a flag



The Police Presence. How many Chicago PD vehicles are in this image? Hint: I think there's at least one plainclothes vehicle.



CapnTal espousing the merits of the Socialist Action Network



Jpers36 (UndercoverPunk) advocating rational thought



The American Flag



Two Inauguration Protestors willing to talk rationally with PW Chicago

The Extinction Of Tape?

According to this news report, studio recording tape has gone extinct, at least temporarily. The last manufacturer of reel-to-reel tape, Alabama-based Quantegy Inc., has filed for bankruptcy and closed its plant. Quantegy hopes that restructuring will allow it to open back up, but at the moment there is no manufacturer of what was once a music industry staple.

Many bands and producers which still use reel-to-reel for aeshtetic reasons are hoarding, tracking down used reels, or making plans to resplice. And NASA's bugging out, too --- the space shuttles use Quantegy's tape to record all sorts of data.

The Bulls Are Back

For those who haven't been paying attention, the Chicago Bulls are on a five-game winning streak, after having put together a similar streak a couple weeks ago. Since opening 0-9, the team is 15-9, and their most recent win just put them in playoff contention. I think that the East is weak enough for the team to keep their spot, maybe even improve a spot or two. And again, since the East is weak, who knows what will happen once they get in?

So write this down, or save the text to your hard drive or something: JOSH SAYS THE BULLS ARE MAKING THE PLAYOFFS.

Another Great Essay

Norman Podhoretz has just released another great essay, titled "The War Against World War IV". Its focus is the various reasons for being against the Bush Doctrine and the War on Terrorism (which Podhoretz labels 'World War IV'). The article dismantles each of these reasons as well as their perceived effect on the Bush administration.

And if you haven't yet, also check out Podhoretz's previous essay "World War IV: Why It Started, What It Means and Why We Have To Win". Both of these essays have been published in Commentary Magazine.

Hmm. Maybe I should get myself a subscription.

Did Greedo Shoot First?

Sam Davatchi here finds a short comic that gets to the bottom of the issue.

Topps Profiteering Update

Original post here.

I just got a new email from Topps offering the latest Topps Chronicles card, and there's an important note at the bottom:













See that? "ALL PROCEEDS FROM THIS FIRST CARD GO TO RELIEF EFFORTS" -- I wonder if others besides myself have accused Topps of profiteering. This note WAS NOT in the first email I received.

Bloggers Helped Set Up Memogate?

I don't know if anyone else has picked up on this yet, but according to the independent report, the trail from Mapes to Burkett goes through two anti-Bush "bloggers" -- Paul Lukasiak of The AWOL Project and Linda Starr of, well, Linda Starr. I have bloggers in quotes because Lukasiak's site is in reality not at all a blog.

Excerpts from the report:

On Monday, August 23, Mapes learned that Lieutenant Colonel Burkett was rumored to have important documents regarding the President’s TexANG service. Paul Lukasiak, who operates a website on which he posts disparaging analyses of President Bush’s TexANG service, told Mapes that another blogger, Linda Starr, had seen new TexANG documents regarding President Bush. Starr hosts a website that recently contained the slogan, “Bush lied, Americans died,” and is the editor of Online Journal, an online newsletter often critical of President Bush.

Mapes contacted Starr, who responded that she believed that Lieutenant Colonel Burkett had a two-page, classified document regarding President Bush’s TexANG service, and Starr speculated that it might be a disciplinary report. This disciplinary report was thought to relate to an assessment of whether Lieutenant Bush was fit to fly jets armed with nuclear weapons. Starr told Mapes that Lieutenant Colonel Burkett was trying to determine the best way to disseminate the information to journalists "without leaving any fingerprints." (IRP Report, pp. 59-60)

So Mary Mapes got a tip from Lukasiak, an anti-Bush web citizen, stating that Starr, an anti-Bush editor/blogger, might have some documents relating to the AWOL story. And Starr sent Mapes on to Burkett.

Between August 24 and August 31, Mapes and Smith spoke to Lieutenant Colonel Burkett many times. They also spoke to Starr because they believed that Lieutenant Colonel Burkett respected and trusted her, and they thought that an alliance with Starr might help them to convince Lieutenant Colonel Burkett to give them the document(s). (ibid, p. 60)

So, in the interests of gaining this new document, the 60 Minutes news team allied itself with a source that it recognized to be biased to the left. Conflict of interest? Breaking of standards? Unfortunately, I'm not an expert in journalism, but it sounds fishy to me. Is this acceptable?

On Sunday, September 5, Colonel Charles was still involved in attempting to confirm facts related to the Killian documents. Colonel Charles spoke to Lukasiak and asked him for additional samples of Killian’s signatures from public documents. (ibid, p. 83)

Colonel Roger Charles was Mary Mapes's military affairs consultant. He asked Lukasiak to track down examples of Killian's signatures on public record.

Many of the sources of information that were used for the September 8 Segment had an anti-Bush political agenda. First, Lieutenant Colonel Burkett was a visible and outspoken critic of President Bush. Second, Mapes and Smith also relied on Linda Starr to assist in obtaining the documents from him. Her website was and still is filled with anti-Bush statements. Third, it appears that Mapes first came to learn about Linda Starr and her possible link to TexANG records from Paul Lukasiak, another anti-Bush blogger. Fourth, Ben Barnes appeared on the September 8 Segment to claim that he provided assistance to President Bush to gain entry to the TexANG. Barnes was a well-known supporter of, and fundraiser for, Senator Kerry’s presidential campaign.

The Panel recognizes the appearance problems involved in receiving information from partisan individuals. It is not at all unusual or inappropriate, however, for news organizations to obtain information from a political, business or other opponent of the subject of an investigation, given that supporters are manifestly less likely to provide critical or damaging information. It only becomes problematic if the political bias of the source is allowed by the reporter to affect the fairness of the story.

The Panel does not believe that evidence exists to demonstrate that the political leanings of any source influenced the production of the September 8 Segment. Doubtless, however, these sources to some degree sought to use 60 Minutes Wednesday to further their own political agendas, as they likely viewed a TexANG story on President Bush’s service as potentially helpful to efforts to defeat President Bush in his reelection campaign. It goes without saying that CBS News must guard against being used by people pursuing particular agendas and must have careful and balanced reporting and vetting. As noted below, management of 60 Minutes Wednesday and CBS News recognized the political significance and sensitivity of the story and made a number of edits to the September 8 Segment script to make it more balanced. (ibid, pp. 213-214)

So I guess the Panel sees no problem with the alliance between 60 Minutes and Linda Starr.

In order to emphasize what 60 Minutes allied itself with, here's an excerpt from Starr's blog, from a post regarding the Swift Boat Vets dated August 27, 2004:

These guys are goons and have been proven to be liars repeatedly. I don't like to make such a denigrating personal comment, but gee, Steve Gardner looks like a reject out of a "Planet of the Apes" movie. I have yet to see another human look so much like an ape in a suit. Gardner also comes across as a liar to me. In my opinion, he is just a loser who hates Kerry because Kerry is everything he could never be - articulate, refined, educated, sophisticated and cool under pressure . Gardner did everything but come out and directly threaten Kerry's life. I hope the Secret Service checks out the transcript. At one point, Gardner was hollering over Ian that Kerry can't be commander in chief! At least Larry Thurlow didn't totally embarrass himself.

It's obvious that the Swfit Boat LIARS are pure partisans, eaten up with jealousy over Kerry's many wonderful accomplishments. Kerry is a gentleman, who protested the war courageously, but only after he served in it heroically. John Kerry did positive things with his life. The disparity between Gardner and Kerry is nearly as big as the disparity between GWB and Kerry.

GWB isn't even in the same class with John Kerry. There simply are no fair and balanced comparisons, because comparing GWB to Kerry is like comparing Dom Perignon, to near beer.

Emphasis in preceding quotes mine.

CBS Releases Report And Four Employees

The Independent Panel Report can be found here, and CBS's article detailing the fallout is here.

Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard’s deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated.

The correspondent on the story, CBS News anchor Dan Rather, is stepping down as anchor of CBS Evening News.

The report is very long, so the blogosphere's reactions may be delayed a ltitle bit. Ra^thergate has set itself the task of reading through it. I don't know whether I'll get the chance -- I'll probably skim through, do a search on some keywords that might get interesting results.

RAMS WIN

First 8-8 team ever to win a playoff game.

BOO-YAH, SEAHAWKS!

Next up? Maybe Atlanta, but my pick is Green Bay over Minnesota, which would put us up against Philadelphia. Watch out IGGLES!

IRP Open State Party Chair Selection Process!

Well, sounds like it's not open in the sense that just anyone can become chair, but rather in the sense that anyone can show up and make their voices heard. I really want to go to this, but I also really want to go to the Protest Warrior event in Chicago on the same day. Hmmm . . .

On Saturday, January 15th, 2005, the Illinois Republican Party will host an open meeting in Springfield to select the new State Party Chairman to fill the remainder of Judy Baar Topinka's term.

This is truly a historic event for Republicans in Illinois. To our knowledge, this is the first time in our State Party's history, that rank-and-file Republicans will have the opportunity to be involved in the process of selecting a Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party.

Every Republican has an interest in seeing our State Party put on track. The State Party is an important organization because it has special responsibilities under Illinois law - such as picking replacement candidates when a nominee drops out. We obviously saw that in 2004.

The State Party is also the conduit for National Party funds, and is in a unique position to establish a culture for the Party where people want to get involved. Republicans can't win statewide unless the State Party does its job. So we all have a stake in this process of choosing a new Chairman of the organization.

At the meeting we will hear from the six candidates for the position - John Cox, Jim Nalepa, Jim Oberweis, Andy McKenna, Gary Skoien and Steve McGlynn. After their presentations, you will have an opportunity to speak with your State Central Committeeman - and others - to voice your opinion regarding who you think the Central Committee should choose.

Don't worry if you no idea who your State Central Committeeman is. This meeting will be the perfect opportunity to find out. He or she is YOUR representative at the State Party. You should get to know him or her.

Open Meeting of the Illinois Republican Party
When: Saturday, January 15, 2005
Time: 12:00 PM
Place: Renaissance Hotel
701 E. Adams Street
Springfield

All Republicans are welcome to attend!
No need to RSVP - just show up!
There has been a lot of criticism of the Illinois Republican Party over the past few years, but now you have a chance to do something to help change the direction of our Party. If you aren't happy about Illinois being such a Kerry-Blue State, you should be at this meeting.
We encourage every Republican to take the time to attend on the 15th. And please help spread the word!

REPUBLICAN YOUNG PROFESSIONALS (RYP)
www.ilryp.org
ryp-il@prodigy.net
312/648-0061

I also need to check out this RYP group.

Ralph Nader vs The Puppets Of DOOOOOOM

Is Ralph Nader insane?

No, that is not fake. It is completely real, produced by the Nader campaign, and available for purchase from the website here.

Hat tip Redstate.

Anyone Interested In ProtestWarrior?

Hey guys, anyone interested in going to a Protest Warrior counterprotest again? Next week Saturday (January 15). I'm considering going. It'll probably be cold, though. Let me know what you think.

Calibretto's Dead, But Still Releasing Material

I just got this email from Calibretto:

Well, well, well. You thought you had heard the last from us, did
you? Well, you were wrong. Dead wrong. No, we're not done with
you yet; not by a long shot.

So what could we possibly have to say now that we are dead and long
gone? Well, perhaps you remember talk of some sort of surprise that
we had in store for you. Or perhaps you don't, and that's fine,
too. But the surprise is ready for you. And you can find it at
http://www.calibretto.com . And lemme tell you what: it's huge.

"So, what is it?" you're probably saying to your computer screen
right now. Well, although your screen will remain mute, I will
not. Let me first give you a bit of background on this whole thing:

In Christopher's bedroom closet, on the shelf next to his enormous
collection of CDs, there is a small stack of CDs and cassettes. On
these CDs and cassettes are recordings of Calibretto, Calibretto 13,
and the infamous "BLACKSHEEP". (Not coincidentally, there are also
recordings of Harley Poe.) Amongst these recordings are many songs
and versions of songs that you have never heard. In fact, many of
these are songs that even the members of the band have only heard a
handful of times. In the past, we have always maintained that these
recordings were best kept in the closet and out of earshot of anyone
who might ridicule us for our past... indiscretions.

But now Calibretto is dead. The band and the hysteria that
accompanied it is long gone and exists only as an open wound in the
memory of those who found themselves caught in the fad that the
media quickly labeled "Calibretto fever." These poor souls, the
individuals at the heart of the pro-Calibretto movement, now cannot
help but think of this brief, fanatical period in their lives in the
same painful way that people will soon look back on their Good
Charlotte CDs and polo shirts with popped collars.

In the wake of all this, there has been a release. A letting go.
In the words of perhaps the greatest poet of our time, a Mister
Marshall Mathers: "I'm sorry, Mama. I never meant to hurt you. I
never meant to make you cry, but tonight I'm cleanin' out my closet."

Indeed, Mama, Calibretto is cleaning out its closet and putting the
contents on display for your consideration. At
http://www.calibretto.com you will find 50 mp3s to download and
enjoy, from our very first demo recordings up to our very last.
Unofficial releases, outtakes, live recordings, scraps and pieces,
it's all there. Go over and take a look. The collection is immense.

Take care, young ones, and don't forget that the Calibretto message
board lives on. Enjoy life enough for Calibretto, because
Calibretto cannot.

Love and tearful kisses,
Christopher, Joseph, Chad, and Aaron

I haven't listened to any of the mp3's yet since I'm on dialup, but I will download many of them as soon as I get a chance. Go check it out, if you dare, and let me know what you think.

Topps Capitalizing On Tsunami?

What do you guys think of this?

SANDBERG = HALL OF FAME

Finally, on his third try, Ryne Sandberg has been voted into the Hall of Fame. The induction will be on July 31, in Cooperstown.

Dissension In The Seattle Ranks

I'm a fan of the St Louis Rams, who just barely made it into the playoffs and will be facing their division rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, during Wild Card Week. So I'm happy to see this story.

Shaun Alexander, grow up. No wait, don't -- please. Just let the Rams walk all over you this Saturday.

Another MLB City Change

With all of the focus on the Washington Nationals, this story has been flying under the radar. The Anaheim Angels have been trying to get their name changed to the Los Angeles Angels in order to potentially tap a larger fan base. The problem is, the team has a leasing agreement with the city of Anaheim, attached to their use of stadium, that the team will remain the Anaheim Angels for thiry-three years.

The team thinks it's come up with a solution: they have changed their name to the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim", which is completely silly. The city of Anaheim, which is neither fooled nor impressed, is filing a lawsuit to prevent the name change.

Building a Better Pizza

For lack of anything more interesting to report, here is a random patent.