To The MSM: Get Out Of The Hotel And See Iraq

This morning I watched NBC's TODAY Show. There was an interview segment hosted by David Gregory featuring James Carville and Laura Ingraham that focused on events being reported out of Iraq. The greatest point in the interview was made by Laura when she challanged NBC to do a week of remotes from different cities in Iraq.

This account from News Busters website -

Like a top point guard, Laura Ingraham tenaciously fought through the Gregory-Carville double-team to make her case. She pointed out that NBC and the Today show expended huge resources to cover the Olympics and even to answer the question "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" She suggested that they devote some of the same resources to broadcast the Today show directly from Iraq, that they accompany troops, speak with US and Iraqi military personnel and with villagers and see the reality on the ground.

Instead, pointed out Ingraham, the MSM's approach is to stand on a balcony in the Green Zone, reporting on the latest IEDs, killings and reprisals. A timorous Gregory replied: "And you think Iraq is safe enough [to do what Laura proposed]?" Ingraham: "Yes. I was not on the hotel balcony. I was out with the U.S. military. It can be done in any part of the country." Laura attempted to continue, but Gregory cut her off: "I get the anti-network point."
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However, it was this article posted at Real Clear Politics by Jack Kelly (Jack Kelly is national security writer for the Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio) which drove the point home with greater authority. (ht: Hugh Hewitt)

March 21, 2006
Ignorance Pervasive in Reporting From Iraq
By Jack Kelly

My friend Bill Roggio, an Army veteran and Web logger who was embedded with U.S. Marines in Iraq last fall, was a guest Saturday on a segment of the CNN show "On the Story." The topic was news coverage from Iraq.

"On the Story," which airs at 7:00 p.m. EST, gets even lower ratings than the average CNN show, so there's a question of how representative of American public opinion audience reaction is. But before the segment with Bill began, host Ali Velshi conducted a little poll.

"Give me a show of hands if you have confidence in the news coming out of Iraq," Mr. Velshi asked the studio audience. "It looks like about 30 percent of you.

"Let's see a show of hands of those of you who don't have confidence like (Defense Secretary) Donald Rumsfeld says," he asked. "That looks like 90 percent of you."

Mr. Roggio gave the media a D+. Reporting often is inaccurate, usually lacks context, and often aids al Qaida, he said.
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It's also significant that Operation Swarmer was conceived by, and largely planned and executed by, the Iraqi army. An air assault is the second most difficult tactical maneuver for ground forces (only crossing a river under fire is more difficult), one which requires meticulous planning. That this one was pulled off essentially without a hitch indicates how far the Iraqi army (which, for all practical purposes, didn't exist a little more than a year ago) has come in a very short time.

"The reporting on Operation Swarmer is a microcosm of the sub-par reporting on the Iraq war," Mr. Roggio said.
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CNN correspondent Abbi Tatton implied that because Bill is a former soldier, his view is biased. "Are you not too close to this to be objective yourself?" she asked.

Consider the implications of this attitude. Would a reporter who is a lawyer (such as Fox News' Megyn Kendall) be considered biased in covering the courts simply because she actually knows something about the law? Would a reporter who is a doctor (such as CNN's Sanjay Gupta) be considered biased simply because he actually knows something about medicine? Yet news organizations consider it proper to have our wars covered by people who are unclear about from which end of the rifle the round comes.
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Actor and antiwar activist Richard Belzer said he knows more about the war in Iraq than do U.S. servicemen in Iraq because he "reads 20 newspapers a day." But 20 biased, shallow and incomplete accounts don't add up to the truth.

Note: Other web based reporting sources - new media voices, like Michael Totten, Michael Yon, Victor Davis Hanson, and Robert Kaplan, have reported directly from Iraq and most have judged the MSM coverage to be inadequate.

Trends & Shifts In Supermarket Niche Marketing

This From Progressive Grocer via FMI -

Supermarkets Move to Specialty Services: FMI Study
MARCH 21, 2006

-- WASHINGTON -- Faced with stiff competition, food retailers are making an effort to stand out from the crowd by rolling out target market-focused stores, and offering more specialty services, according to "Facts About Store Development 2005," the Food Marketing Institute study released yesterday."

Shifting consumer behaviors and attitudes, shorter product lifecycles, new store concepts and competitive pressures from a broad range of retail formats are driving a fundamental change in the way food retail companies do business," noted FMI s.v.p. Michael Sansolo in a statement. "There is no longer a 'one format fits all' supermarket. Understanding the specific needs of your targeted consumers and delivering what they need are essential for success."
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Notable trends outlined in the report include the following:
--Space for cooking demonstrations is offered by 72 percent of new stores, as consumers with less cooking experience who seek to enlarge their range of skills increasingly view cooking as a special event.
--Over half (53.7 percent) of the companies surveyed have a coffee bar in at least one store, and slightly fewer (52.2 percent) have introduced dollar aisles, addressing consumers' dual desires for convenience and value.
--The addition of low-carb food sections appears to be declining, with fewer than half (49.4 percent) of all retailers now offering them.
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Need Abandonment Nets Market Niche Filled

This from AP via the New York Post -

LUXE HOTELS TAKE DINING SKY HIGH

March 20, 2006 -- BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Pistachio-crusted blue fin tuna topped with shaved fennel and blood oranges. Prosciutto and burratta mozzarella on bone bread, garnished with arugula. Grilled chicken with avocado and chipotle aioli.
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The trend toward gourmet travel offerings by hotels began to take off when high fuel prices and competition from no-frills carriers forced many domestic airlines to trim costs by closing kitchens, industry observers said.

"You saw them starting to deal with the void of what domestic airlines have been offering," said Albert Herrera, vice president for hotels and resorts at Virtuoso, a network of travel agents that specializes in luxury trips.
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We will know we have fully evolved when the airlines begin to serve fresh, medium rare, In-N-Out Double-Double's hot off of the grill at 30,000 feet (... with fries)! Now that would be a gourmet travel offering!!

Risky Business At Viacom

Actually, this follow up on the 'South Park' dust up is being posted just because it is great to see Tom Cruise as a 'South Park' character - love it!

Excerpts from E! Online via Yahoo News -

"The Closet," the Controversy--and Cruise
By Joal Ryan Fri Mar 17, 8:49 PM ET

"Trapped in the Closet," a South Park episode featuring a literally closeted Top of Form
Bottom of Form Tom Cruise and a primer on Scientology, was abruptly pulled from Comedy Central's schedule, and replaced with a nearly eight-year-old chestnut spoofing the Bottom of Form Sundance Film Festival.
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Cruise, a Scientologist who has staunchly defended his religion and an avowed heterosexual who has successfully sued people and publications that have suggested he is in the metaphorical closet, was pegged as the culprit in the South Park switcheroo in a report Thursday on HollywoodInterrupted.com.

The blog reported that the star "threatened" to sit out the publicity cycle for Mission: Impossible 3--presumably meaning no interviews, no photo-ops, no Oprah couch--if "Trapped in a Closet" aired again on Comedy Central.
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This is not the first time Cruise has been linked to the closing of "Closet." In January, Britain's Sun reported the episode would "never" air in the United Kingdom because TV executives there were "scared [Cruise] will sue." (The episode apparently aired without incident in Canada a few days later.)

This also isn't the first time Comedy Central has been accused of caving. Last December, a Catholic rights' group took credit for the network pulling reruns of South Park's Virgin Mary-skewering ninth season finale, "Bloody Mary."
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Comedy Central would not say if "Trapped in the Closet" will reair at a later date, or if it will be included in South Park's syndication package.

Video clips from the episode, including the bits with Cruise and the closet, and Stan and the Scientologists, can be found on the Comedy Central Website.

In a bit of timing that is said to be coincidental and not at all related to the "Closet" controversy, South Park begins its 10th season next Wednesday.

NOTE: Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures are owned by Viacom which is set to release the new Tom Cruise movie - "Mission: Impossible 3"

- Censorship Is A Risky Business -

Grinding Meathead - A Dedicated Website

How long has "Meathead" remained in office without being reappointed?

Find Out Here>>

The Devil Is In The Details

The devil is in the details:

It seems that the latest big Hollywood entertainment vehicle will pass this speed bump into movie immortality.

With little or no evidence, writers are fighting over the copyright claims of religious “Historical Conjecture”.

On this basis alone, “The Da Vinci Code” should be vetted for every detail and suspected at every turn.

This From Reuters -

"The Da Vinci Code" copyright case winds up
Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:37 AM ET
By Mike Collett-White

LONDON (Reuters) - A court case in which two historians accuse Dan Brown of copying their work in his novel "The Da Vinci Code" is due to finish on Monday, ending one of the most closely watched copyright claims of recent years.

Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh wrote "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail", a work of historical conjecture published in 1982, which shares some of the same themes as Brown's best-selling religious thriller.
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Both books raise the possibility that Jesus had a child by Mary Magdalene, she fled to France after the Crucifixion and Christ's bloodline survives to this day. They also associate Magdalene with the Holy Grail.

Authors warn that should the historians succeed, there would be serious implications for fiction writers who have always incorporated other people's ideas and research into their works.

Legal experts say the claimants face an uphill task to protect general ideas. "You would hamper artistic creativity if you couldn't write a novel that theorizes about a conspiracy theory," said Boston-based intellectual property lawyer Edward Naughton of Holland & Knight.
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"If it were otherwise the dissemination and discussion of history, science, religion and like topics would be stultified. Creativity of novelists, TV producers and film makers would be stymied," he (Random House's lawyer John Baldwin) said.
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Again, these people are arguing over the potential of delivering a conspiracy theory ... FACTUALLY!

This view of seperating fact from fiction found on the FAQ's page on a webite put up by Sony Pictures (the studio responsible for making "The Da Vinci Code" into a movie) to give their entertainment effort cover -

Question:

Why was this site created?

Answer:

While The Da Vinci Code is an entirely fictional thriller, the story obviously touches on religious issues that concern many Christians. The Da Vinci Dialogue grew out of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s desire to respect those concerns by providing a forum where a wide variety of respected religious scholars could discuss some of the serious questions the movie may raise.

"Million-Year" War Declared Against Scientology

"South Park" creators Trey Parker, left, and Matt Stone pose at their offices in Los Angeles on Oct. 14, 2005. The battle between the pair and the celebrity-endorsed religion of Scientology, raged on this week in a tempest over a controversial episode mocking outspoken Scientologist Tom Cruise. They said Thursday, March 16, 2006, they won't relent in their feud against the religion, based on the self-help book "Dianetics" by founder/science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. (AP Photo/Ann Johansson)

There has been more bad blood brewing between the creators at Comedy Central's "South Park" and the Church of Scientology ever since Oscar winning singer, Isaac Hayes resigned as the voice of "Chef" (saying he could no longer tolerate its religious "intolerance and bigotry.").

Excerpts from Yahoo Entertainment News & Gossip -

'South Park'-Scientology Battle Rages On
Friday March 17 7:35 PM ET

"South Park" has declared war on Scientology. Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the animated satire, are digging in against the celebrity-endorsed religion after a controversial episode mocking outspoken Scientologist Tom Cruise was yanked abruptly from the schedule Wednesday with an Internet report saying it was covert warfare by Cruise that led to its departure.

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun!" the "South Park" creators said in a statement Friday in Daily Variety. "Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies... You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail!"
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The episode in question, "Trapped in the Closet," which first aired last November, shows Scientology leaders hailing Stan, one of the show's four devilish fourth-graders, as a savior. A cartoon Cruise locks himself in a closet and won't come out. An animated John Travolta, another famous Scientologist, enters the closet to try to get him out.
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On Monday, Stone told The Associated Press, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith in Scientology...He has no problem and he's cashed plenty of checks with our show making fun of Christians."
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And all of this time since 9/11, we have been concerned for our safety from the efforts of radical fascist Muslims.

Phishing Tidal Wave - National Consumers League Issues Report

More needs to be done in combating the problem of phishing. Referencing a 57 page report issued by the National Consumers League, participants in a press conference expressed concern that Internet users are becoming more wary of conducting business online because of phishing scams and other cybersecurity problems.

This story from IDG News Service via Infoworld -

Coalition calls for action on phishing
In a report, consumer groups, technology vendors, financial services organizations and law enforcement agencies, calls on Internet companies to step up consumer education efforts
By Grant Gross, IDG News ServiceMarch 16, 2006

Internet service providers (ISPs) and e-commerce sites can employ more tools to combat phishing scams, including "white lists" of legitimate Web sites and using false identification information to scam the scammers, according to a report released Thursday.

The report, released by a coalition of consumer groups, technology vendors, financial services organizations and law enforcement agencies, also calls on Internet companies to step up their consumer education efforts.

Among the more novel techniques recommended by the group was for Internet companies and law enforcement agencies to enter false information, such as bogus credit card numbers, into phishing Web sites, allowing police to find phishing scammers by tracking the use of those false numbers.
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Media & Terrorists Get Hit With This Shalaylee Offensive

Soldiers and aircraft are positioned on the airstrip at Forward Operating Base Remagen in advance of Operation Swarmer. Image courtesy of Sgt. First Class Antony Joseph, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade.

This from The Fourth Rail -

March 17, 2006
Operation Swarmer: Legit or Theater?
Swarmer is the latest in a series of Air Assault missions, not a "wag the dog" moment

As soon as Operation Swarmer kicked off, the pundits rushed to assign political motivations to the operation. One author of this school of analysis is Richard Beeston, the Diplomatic Editor of the London Times, who claims the air assault is "politically opportune for both the Bush Administration and the fledgling Iraqi government in Baghdad," "a show of US strength" and a "demonstrate that that they [American and Iraqi commanders], in fact, are in charge."

Rubbish.

Such analysis highlights the shortcomings of the media in covering war, particularly the inability to track combat operations and provide meaningful analysis. Instead of looking at the big picture, a single combat operation is viewed as an isolated incident, and there is little attempt to provide the context for an operation.

Read all of Bill Roggio's Report>>
And this report on Operation Swarmer Near Samarra>>

These posts from The Fourth Rail speak for themselves. Whack 'em, and whack 'em hard. We are even seeing the Iraqi's dancin' the jig in this joint operation.

WBC - Mexico Turns 9th Inning Dbl. Play - USA Out!

Mexico's Jorge Cantu strokes a double. (AP)

No fireworks for Rocket in what could be his last appearance in professional baseball.

Team Mexico - 2 Team USA - 1

AP Story via Yahoo Sports -

The outcome was a stunner, considering Team USA fielded a lineup loaded with All-Stars even without Derrek Lee and Johnny Damon, sidelined with sore left shoulders.

Recap>>

Cheese & The Infidel-Evangelical Alliance

Photo Credit: TIME

Post From Pilgrim:

This is the best article on the early American Baptist and evangelical views I have seen.

These views are often distorted by Falwell and Dobson and Charles Colson, as mentioned in the article.

I was amazed to see such an accurate reading and what I think is good contemporary application.

The book mentioned by George Marsden and Nathan Hatch, the two leading evangelical church historians in America today, is excellent.

Excerpts from Beliefnet, On Belief by Steven Waldman -
A version of this article is also appearing in the Washington Monthly.

Jefferson, Madison & Their Evangelical Pals
Religious freedom resulted from an unlikely alliance: evangelicals and skeptics

Thomas Jefferson stood, dressed in a black suit, in a doorway of the White House on Jan. 1, 1802, watching a bizarre spectacle. Two horses were pulling a dray carrying a 1,235-pound cheese—just for him. Measuring 4 feet in diameter and 17 inches in height, this cheese was the work of 900 cows.

More impressive than the size of the cheese was its eloquence. Painted on the red crust was the inscription: “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” The cheese was a gift from religious leaders in western Massachusetts.

It may seem surprising that religious leaders would be praising Jefferson, given that his critics had just months earlier attacked him as an infidel and an atheist. In the 1800 election, John Adams had argued that the francophile Jefferson would destroy America’s Christian heritage just as the French revolutionaries had undermined their own religious legacy. Adams supporters quoted Jefferson’s line that he didn’t care whether someone believed in one god or 20, and they argued that the choice in the election was: “God—and a religious president…[or] Jefferson—and no God.”

But in a modern context, the most remarkable thing about the cheese is that it came from evangelical Christians.

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