Saturday, November 11, 2006

NYT: Gordo's hauling out his war porn collection again

In this morning's New York Times, Richard A. Oppel Jr. gets handed the task of writing about the Osama House Tape Club that Bully Boy signed the nation up for ("Qaeda Official Is Said to Taunt U.S. on Tape"). Oppel does about as well as anyone could with 'the release' which may or may not be genuine. He also notes that five deaths of US troops were announced on Friday:

The new deaths occurred in Baghdad and Anbar Prvince, where an overshelming majority of American deaths have occurred.

Christopher Bodeen (AP) noted yesterday that "At least 11 of the American deaths in November have been in Anbar, including a Marine who died Thursday from wound suffered in fighting there." The US military updated that on Friday to 13 killed in Al Anbar since the start of the month. Oppel notes that 26 deaths (US troops) have been announced so far this month. In addition, today it was announced that a Polish (Tomasz Murkowsi) and a Slavik (Rastislav Neplech) soldier were killed in Al Kut Friday by a roadside bomb (an American soldier and a Polish soldier were also wounded in the bombing).

Meanwhile Michael Gordon's is in war porn mode. There are no stats for him to finesse (his strong suit) so he just pants hot and heavy throughout "Military Team Undertakes a Broad Review of the Iraq War and the Campaign Against Terror" and creams his shorts probably around the time he types this laughable sentence: "In a closely held effort, Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has assembled a team of some of the military's brightest and most innovative officers and told them to take a fresh look at Iraq and Afghanistan, among other flashpoints."

"Brightest and most innovative" is offered as fact. What was the criteria? While you don't expect the US military to announce they've put together a team made up of the dregs, you also don't expect a reporter (not a columnist) to offer up as 'fact' something they can't back up. But Gordo does just that in his second paragraph because his War On is leaking and he mistakes reporting for sex in a chat room.

Gordo lists people meeting with the Iraq Study Group (Baker's cheesy joke, not Mike's group) --
Bully Boy, Condi, Rumsfled, Negroponte, Hayden and Zalmay (rumored to be leaving soon) -- but misses that Tony Blair will meet with them Tuesday -- you can be sure he's kicking himself for that. (Tuesday, Bully Boy will be in Vietnam -- no laughs, it's for real -- with John Howard and others.)

C.J. Chivers does what he did so 'well' in 2005. Make the reader believe they're getting something for their time. Of course that whole 2005 'revolution' turned out to be not all that and as soon as it had faded from the front page, Chivers was there with the little noted correction to the record. Not having the time to waste on that sort of thing (it's so 2003, Chivers) with regard to Iraq, we'll continue to ignore him here. (To be clear, the fact that he got it wrong wasn't the issue. The fact that his post-piece revealed that he knew things then but didn't print them is the issue. Printing them might have dampered the drama, but he's supposed to be a reporter not a dramatist.) (The most embarrassing story is the rah-rah tale of three vets -- Fox 'News'! Toby Keith! -- especially surprising since the paper, in the hideous article, claims that the tales of those who were in Iraq aren't told, claims that as they bend over backwards to avoid telling Kyle Snyder or Ivan Brobeck's story. To name but two who should have been in the paper this past week and werent'. On the topic of things not noted, they haven't noted the US military's decision to court-martial Ehren Watada, announced Thursday and not mentioned once in the paper -- not even in a "National Briefing" item.)

Today in Iraq, Reuters notes that, in Latifiyah, three mini-buses were stopped, their passengers hauled off, nine of which were killed and thirteen of which have been kidnapped. Reuters counts five bombings in Baghdad resulting in 12 deaths and at least 44 wounded, the shooting death of "an intelligence officer" and five bodies found while, outside Baghdad in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb wounded four police officers and, in Baquba, a man and a woman are dead from a bombing attack on a police station.

AP updates the bus story noting that ten were killed and at least fifty kidnapped. KUNA reports
"In other developments, unknown militants shot dead a mosque's cleric (Imam), Saeed Mahdi, as he came out of the mosque after Maghreb (sunset) prayers."

The following community sites have updated since yesterday morning:

Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude;
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man;
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix;
Mike of Mikey Likes It!;
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz;
Wally of The Daily Jot
and Trina of Trina's Kitchen

At Kat's Korner, Betty filled in on Monday, Ruth filled in on Wednesday as did Rebecca (click here), and I filled in last night.

And it's the weekend which means RadioNation with Laura Flanders, on Air America radio, online, XM satellite radio, live at 7:00 pm EST till 10:00 pm EST Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's guests include Barbara Lee, Doug Troutman, John Nichols and, pay attention, Kate Taylor. Besides being a gifted artist, those who remember when Taylor was on last to discuss her new album (Live at the Cutting Room Floor) will also remember she was a very strong guest. Sunday will feature many including Sue Hyde, Paul Krugman and Lewis Lapham.

Rachel passes on an e-mail heads up to two programs on WBAI (times EST):

Sunday, November 12, 11am-noon
THE NEXT HOUR
Elizabeth Nunez, novelist and Chair of PEN's Open Book Committee, hosts this hour with poet Linda Susan Jackson, author of Tia Chucha Press' forthcoming collection "What Yellow Sounds Like"; journalist and novelist Eisa Nefertari Ulen, author of "Crystelle Mourning"; and poet Willie Perdomo.
Monday, November 13, 2-3pm
CAT RADIO CAFE
Jazz icon and peace activist Lorraine Gordon on her new memoir, "Alive at the Village Vanguard: My Life In and Out of Jazz Time"; renowned cartoonist and social satirist Jules Ffeiffer and his wife, comedienne Jenny Allen, discuss their collaboration on a book of illustrated satirical fables, "The Long Chalkboard and Other Stories," as well as the retrospective exhibit of Ffeiffer's 50-year career now on view at the School of Visual Arts; and UNIVERSES, the Bronx-based theatre/music ensemble with a new production, "Ameriville," at the Abroms Art Center. Hosted by Janet Coleman and David Dozer.

Elaine caught a few minutes of Cat Radio Cafe (between sessions) last Monday and mentioned a really strong book discussion with Heidi Julavits. She was hoping to catch the discussion of My Name is Rachel Corrie but didn't have the time. Reminder to everyone, if you're interested in listening and unable to listen live, WBAI does archive their broadcasts (WBAI archives).

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