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A Must-Read and Must-Add-to-Sidebar website:
Campus-Watch: Monitoring Middle East Studies On Campus.

Consider this a Middle-East-focused combination of Accuracy in Media, FIRE, NOindoctrination.org and FactCheck.org. That such an active group actually exists is absolutely amazing--and hope-giving:

Analytical errors: University-based Middle East specialists have been consistently wrong in their analyses, as Martin Kramer showed in his Ivory Towers on Sand. Some examples:

1) Portraying militant Islam as a benign movement and suggesting that anyone who thought otherwise is either ignorant or prejudiced. John Esposito of Georgetown University stated that Islamist movements "are not necessarily anti-Western, anti-American, or anti-democratic" and called on that Americans "to transcend their narrow, ethnocentric conceptualization of democracy" to include militant Islamic forms of governance.

2) Dismissing Al-Qaeda as insignificant. "Focusing on Osama bin Laden," wrote Esposito in 1998, "risk[s] catapulting one of the many sources of terrorism to center stage, distorting ... the significance of a single individual."...

Intolerance: The Middle East studies professorate is almost monolithically leftist due to a systematic exclusion of those with conservative or even moderately liberal views. The result is that Middle East studies lack intellectual diversity.

And there's so much more.

Kudos to this group who gets it.

Prior posts on this topic include this and this, where we discuss why such liberals are wrong to "think that because the jihadists hate Bush, that they're friends to the Democratic party and to liberal ideals."

Maybe I'll subscribe to the Orlando Sentinel instead of my local paper (which I ditched at the start of the summer anyway).

Hillary Prefers Self To Troops

Clinton has privately and publicly pushed Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace two months ago to begin drafting the plans for what she said will be a complicated withdrawal of troops, trucks and equipment.

"If we're not planning for it, it will be difficult to execute it in a safe and efficacious way," she said then.

Emphasis mine...and that of about everyone in a soldier's, seaman's or airman's uniform.

She first raised the issue in May, pointing out that whenever troops leave, it will be no simple task to transport the people, equipment, and vehicles out of Iraq, possibly through hostile territory.

...As she runs for president, Clinton has ratcheted up her criticism of the Bush administration's war effort, answering critics of her 2002 vote to authorize the Iraq invasion by saying she would end the war if elected president.

By going public with all this, Hillary does encourage the terrorists by engaging them and all who read her words in visualizing the actual image that they will plant themselves at all the exit routes thus creating a shooting gallery for our men and women in the military to pass through when the time comes.

I'd also caught whiffs of this stench coming from the major evening news network shows recently. Are this woman and the liberal media lapdogs out of their minds? PRIVATE discussions with the Pentagon, I would have had no problem with. But to plaster this out in public, for the news media to lap up dutifully and regurgitate in ink en masse, is pure unadulterated Hillary: megolomaniacal self-aggrandizing at the expense of others' lives. She thinks it garners her votes, to distance herself from her original support of the war. She will do anything to gain the White House!

The Pentagon was right to cut her down for this. And they should keep calling her out for the aider and abettor she has become.

God help our armed forces personnel if she ever becomes their Commander in Chief.

For those, like far too many in my state of Connecticut, who believe "separation of church and state" means believing the rewritten, revisionist history of our Founding Fathers (and various elected politicians since) which now erases the truth that their faith--and the soon-to-be-American people's faith in God--was fundamentally the underpinning, the very foundation, of the building of the United States of America, watch this (with the sound on or not).

Sadly, it is all but guaranteed that there isn't a common-citizen liberal out there who has read these quotes in their entirety.

A Libby-Plame-Wilson-Cheney-Rove-Armitage Post-Verdict Primer

1. "Classified" agent NOT EQUAL TO "covert" agent:

Fitzgerald appears to have concluded that Plame was not, in fact, a covert agent, since there is no count in the indictment alleging violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act....a statement in the Libby indictment [read] to the effect that Plame's status was "classified." But this doesn't mean that she was a "covert agent" for purposes of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the statute that was the starting point for Fitzgerald's investigation.

Read the above links for the full definition of "covert," and this for the rest of this well-hidden fact:

It is difficult to square the implication of Fitzgerald's comments at the press conference that Libby was guilty of misconduct in blowing Valerie Plame's "classified" agency status with the fact that the disclosure of her relationship to the agency was apparently not illegal.

2. The gossip got prosecuted anyway, as evidenced by a jury member actually asking, "Well, where's Karl Rove? Why isn't he here?"

From this San Francisco Chronicle article:

...it is now clear that all the hype about a Bush-inspired vendetta against the Wilsons is bunk...The outing of Wilson was not an act of treason. It was not a deliberate effort to smear an administration critic. It was not an act of revenge orchestrated by Bush political guru Karl Rove. It was not an effort to hurt anyone's CIA career. It was gossip.

Or another left-leaning biggie, Newsweek, in the words of reporter Michael Isikoff:

[Richard] Armitage, a well-known gossip who loves to dish and receive juicy tidbits about Washington characters, apparently hadn't thought through the possible implications of telling Novak about Plame's identity.

3. "He said-he said" evidence wouldn't hold up even on "Law and Order"

I have always criticized the standard of evidence that was required in this case...To me, it's a basic he said-he said case. I don't know of a case where the prosecutor didn't bring in something that was outside extraneous, like another witness...Beyond inconsistent conversations, because, if you go in to a good many of the witnesses, the important witnesses, there were as many inconsistent statements on their part with somebody else in the case as there was between Scooter Libby and the Matt Cooper statement and Scooter Libby and the Tim Russert statement.

~ Victoria Toensing, Former Deputy Asst. Attorney General

Honestly, you'd turn off the HDTV if your favorite court lawyer show had a prosecution this lacking in anything but hearsay evidence that proceeded through to a verdict. You'd be writing complaint letters to the show's writers for blowing the plot.

4. Wilson lied twice, once big-time, and gets kudos and a book out of it; Libby gets convicted.

Wilson contradicted a CIA official who told a Senate committee that Wilson's wife had "'offered up' Wilson's name for the Niger trip." The big-time lie was about his own CIA report on the Nigerian uranium in his New York Times article, his book and many other opinion pieces.

Yet, even post-verdict, Richard Ben-Veniste, former Whitewater Counsel, also in the above PBS Lehrer News Hour interview, still believes one of these lies:

He [Libby] was doing the vice president's bidding in trying to attack a critic of the administration, Ambassador Wilson, who was very clear that the statements that were made by the president about uranium had been twisted, and he was incensed about that.

As Powerline's Paul Mirengoff wrote (and I agree):

Of course, Cheney's anger would not have been an excuse for taking unlawful action against Wilson or his wife. But Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation failed to find that Cheney (or Scooter Libby for that matter) took any such unlawful action against them.

But it would appear Ben-Veniste missed this summer 2004 news, as discovered by the Senate Intelligence Committee:

"According to the former Niger mining minister, Wilson told his CIA contacts, Iraq tried to buy 400 tons of uranium in 1998."

So: what Wilson actually told the CIA, contrary to his own oft-repeated claims, is that he was told by the former mining minister of Niger that in 1998, Iraq had tried to buy 400 tons of uranium from that country, and that Iraq's overture was renewed the following year. What Wilson reported to the CIA was exactly the same as what President Bush said in his 2003 State of the Union address: there was evidence that Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa.

~ John Hinderaker, Powerline Blog

Don't take Powerline's or my word for it. Read The Washington Post's report of how bad Wilson looked after this report to the Senate committee:

Wilson's assertions -- both about what he found in Niger and what the Bush administration did with the information -- were undermined yesterday in a bipartisan Senate intelligence committee report.

The panel found that Wilson's report, rather than debunking intelligence about purported uranium sales to Iraq, as he has said, bolstered the case for most intelligence analysts. And contrary to Wilson's assertions and even the government's previous statements, the CIA did not tell the White House it had qualms about the reliability of the Africa intelligence that made its way into 16 fateful words in President Bush's January 2003 State of the Union address.

Yesterday's report said that whether Iraq sought to buy lightly enriched "yellowcake" uranium from Niger is one of the few bits of prewar intelligence that remains an open question.

The report turns a harsh spotlight on what Wilson has said about his role in gathering prewar intelligence, most pointedly by asserting that his wife, CIA employee Valerie Plame, recommended him.

Wilson's "assertions" get whitewashed, wrist-slapped with "a harsh spotlight," and rewarded with a best-selling book.

Versus...

"Libby's perjury" and "conviction."

(Justice? Justice?? We don't need no stinkin' JUSTICE!!)

If someone lies under oath, yes, it's breaking the law and should be punished.

If someone lies in the mainstream press and in selling his own book, it's ka-ching time. And it still should be punished, but it won't be.

Thanks to the mainstream media's feeding at this tripe-trough and the uber-liberals filling it to overflowing for them.

UPDATE 3/16/07:
What Better Way to Plug A Second Best-Selling-Book-Full-Of-Lies...than to Shill For Its Contents Before a Congressional Witchhunt Committee:

Plame said she did not select her husband for a CIA fact-finding trip to Niger. [Select, no; recommend, yes. We's whos gawn to collej no the diffruns.] Wilson said in a newspaper column that his trip debunked the administration's prewar intelligence that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium from Africa. [Yet his own CIA report said it had.] "I did not recommend him. I did not suggest him. [Other CIA officials said under oath that you did, Valerie. Honestly, we can read.] There was no nepotism involved. I did not have the authority," she said....[N]one of the witnesses who testified at Libby's trial said it was clear that Plame's job was [even] classified. However, Fitzgerald said flatly at the courthouse after the verdict that Plame's job was classified. [If "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results," then is "stating the unproved over and over again expecting the media and ordinary people finally to accept it as fact" much different?]

Plame, Wilson and Fitzgerald all fit this quote to a T:

The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.
~ Andrew Gide

She got one thing right at least:

Plame said she wasn't a lawyer...

In that case, maybe she ought not state opinions on the legality of things as though they were facts.

They'll have to display her book in the FICTION aisle.

Just a thought.

UPDATE #2: "Pretty Little Celebutaineroperative Makes Her Debut on Capitol Hill" OR
"Entertainment Tonight" Visits the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

"star-struck"

"a glamorous face"

"the blond former operative"

"created more of a stir by her presence on Capitol Hill than by her testimony"

"a moment of political theater"

"News cameras whirred"

"spectators craned their necks to catch a glimpse"

"autograph-seekers and camera-toting congressional aides"

Gee. Dan Quayle and John Edwards are blond and the press never gushed over them with such crass behavior and shallow verbiage. Where are the feminists now? Where is their outrage over this beauty pageant sideshow featuring the poor, schmeared pretty little thing and objectifying her for her beauty especially when there's little substance ("Plame sheds little light in leak case", "Testimony from Plame may lead to no action")?

Come to think of it, has Plame no shame? Playing "damsel in distress" like Nell of Dudley Do-Right cartoon fame. Thanks a bunch, Valerie, for setting American women back even more. And I guess now you can't overmilk your 15 minutes of fame by appearing on Penn Gillette's IDENTITY game show.

Achieving racial diversity (i.e., getting more non-whites into the same college educational opportunities as whites) by giving more admissions points to blacks and other minorities just because they are minorities and not because of their achievements is akin to applying a tourniquet to the arm of a healthy person (college education) while leaving the injured person (elementary and high school education) bleeding to death.

Racial/ethnic points-awarding in college admissions or job interviews is the attempt to "fix" a problem in the place where it doesn't exist and didn't contribute to the real problem in the first place, thus doing harm. It ignores the real problem where it does exist: that nonwhites aren't being educated properly to earn those college placements via their early educational achievements.

Prop. 2's passing does not "close the doors of opportunity" to anyone. The failure of elementary and secondary education does, however.

Well Said

Your alarm goes off, you hit the snooze and sleep for another 10 minutes.
He stays up for days on end.

You take a warm shower to help you wake up.
He goes days or weeks without running water.

You complain of a headache and call in sick.
He gets shot at as others are hit, and keeps moving forward.

You put on your antiwar - don't support the troop shirt, and meet up with your friends.
He still fights for your right to wear that shirt.

You make sure your cell phone is in your pocket.
He clutches the cross hanging on a chain next to his dog tags.

You talk trash about your buddies that aren't with you.
He knows he may not see some of his buddies again.

You walk down the beach staring at all the pretty girls
He walks the streets searching for terrorists and insurgents.

You complain about how hot it is.
He wear his heavy gear, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow.

You go out to lunch and complain because your order is wrong.
He doesn't get to eat today.

Your maid makes your bed and washes your clothes.
He wears the same thing for weeks, but makes sure his weapons are clean.

You go to the mall and get your hair done.
He doesn't have time to brush his teeth today.

You're angry because your class ran 5 minutes over.
He's told he will be held over an extra 2 months.

You call your girlfriend and set a date for tonight.
He waits for the mail to see if there's a letter from home.

You hug and kiss your girlfriend like you do everyday.
He holds his letter close and smells his love's perfume.

You roll your eyes as a baby cries.
He gets a letter with pictures of his new child, and wonders if they'll ever meet.

You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything.
He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and remembers why he's fighting.

You hear jokes about the war and make fun of men like him.
He hears gunfire, bombs and the screams of the wounded.

You see only what the media wants you to see.
He sees the broken bodies lying around him.

You are asked to go to the store by your parents? You don't.
He does exactly what he's told.

You stay at home and watch TV
He takes whatever time he is given to call, write home, sleep and eat.

You crawl into your soft bed with down pillows, and get comfortable.
He crawls under a tank for shade and a 5-minute nap, only to be awakened by gunfire.

You sit there and judge him, saying the world is probably a worse place because of men like him.
If only there were more men like him!

If you support your troops, resend this to everyone you know.
If it gets to another veteran who hasn't received it yet, it will bring back memories.

Only 2 defining forces have ever offered to die for you,
Jesus Christ and the American GI -
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

~Author unknown (although Snopes.com says the last paragraph was added to something Tony Blair said)

Before you vote today, watch even one or two
of this multi-part series, then ask yourself,

"Who will do a better job against this: a Democrat? Or a Republican?"

"Did The [New York] Times just say that Saddam's Iraq was a year away from building a nuclear weapon? I guess so."

NYT November 3, 2006 article, "U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer" by WILLIAM J. BROAD with Scott Shane contributing.

And while we're on the subject of reality, is it a surprise that actual terrorist leaders are saying that

Of course Americans should vote Democrat

and that Democrats' urging withdrawal from Iraq makes them

feel proud of this talk...Very proud from the great successes of the Iraqi resistance.

?

John "I apologize to no one" Kerry. The man who slightly more than half of us wanted to be President. Halloween is over, and yet still I am scared to death at what we almost had in the White House.

Powerline reports on the skew given to this story by the left media, and the non-skew by at least one objective paper. Once again, citing "loser derangement syndrome" (complete with the audio of Kerry's gaffe), Powerline nails this on the head, shares a letter to Kerry from a Major, and apparently all but predicted Kerry would cancel some of his appearances.

It was an article of faith among liberals (and many others) at that time that the Army consisted largely of the poor--kids who couldn't get into college and thereby obtain a deferment. It was also an article of faith that non-white Americans died in disproportionate numbers in Vietnam. That turned out not to be true, and I confess that I was astonished to learn, only within recent years, that there was no such ethnic disproportion in the Vietnam dead.

The stereotype of the poor, dumb soldier is firmly entrenched among liberals of the Vietnam era. We often see it repeated by younger liberals today, even though the stereotype has no application whatever to our current volunteer army, which is demonstrably equal, at least, to the civilian population in talent and accomplishment.

"You who are so good with words, and at keeping things vague." ~ Joan Baez

"Vague[ness] about what to do about Iraq...has been a very effective strategy..."

For Democrats.

So say "experts" quoted by Reuters.

Kinda says something really bad about us Americans, doesn't it, that we--on the whole--are buying such vagueness.

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not pro-war, but this article just had to be noted for posterity.

Some current thoughts from a Marine on the ground. The author's name has been removed to protect his privacy. Friend Theresa (and Marine Mom) got it from their Marine Moms website, commenting, "Politicians can learn a lot from these guys."

So could a lot of ordinary Americans, if the mass media would tell us...Liberal readers, you'll be pleasantly surprised by a few nuggets in:

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Senate Dem(agogue)s Call The Clinton Administration, Ramzi Yousef, Mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, and John Solomon, Associated Press Reporter, All Liars

(Please do read the actual article cited in the last 2 links, in its entirety, before anyone blows a liberal gasket.)

It's fascinating, now that campaign time draws nigh, how the Dems rehash some portions of 3-year-old news ("the two U.S. enemies viewed themselves as rivals because Iraq's secular brand of Islam conflicted with bin Laden's more extreme followers") and trash almost all the rest--except that which was "discovered" under Bill Clinton's watch.

Even apparently anti-Bush Iraq Timeline accepts that

in 1996, US intelligence discovered that tenuous contacts existed between Iraqi intelligence and al-Qaeda terrorists...[and] Bin Laden himself may have met with an Iraqi agent in Khartoum, Sudan, in 1996 and subsequently met with one of the heads of Iraqi intelligence.

Why do they accept that intel and not the rest? Becuase it came from Clinton's administration. But note how. they. don't. use. his. name.

Funny, isn't it? The Dem(agogue)s coming out with this savaging while conveniently forgetting to lay the name blame on Clinton's administration as well?

Bush et. al. were duped to some degree, Senate Democrats, but so too were your beloved Bill Clinton and FOBs.

Get over it.