Category: Internet

A number of anti-war people are holding up an alleged Iraqi blogger who goes by the pseudonym “Riverbend” as the authentic voice of the Iraqi people. Martini Republic, David Isenberg, and the pretentious Juan Cole are examples. But it’s unlikely that Riverbend is what she claims to be.

On MR’s comments, USA Today writer Cesar Soriano, who’s done four tours in Iraq says he’s tried to meet her and been ignored (scroll down):

I’m Cesar G. Soriano, the USA TODAY reporter who wrote the feature story you’re questioning.

In between fits of laughter, I’ve been reading comments that suggest, among other things, that Iraq the Model is written by CIA agents at Langley who planted stories about the web site into the mainstream media.

For the record:

1. I can vouch that the Fadhil brothers are real, they are Iraqis and they do live in Iraq. During four tours in Iraq, I’ve met the brothers several times, in person, in Baghdad. Their photographs appeared in our newspaper and website.

2. My story was not the first written about the Fadhil brothers, but it was one of the earlier ones. The story was about Iraqi bloggers in general. I interviewed different bloggers, some ?pro-American? and some ?anti-American.? Here’s the link to the original story:
http://www.usatoday.com/new…

3. I first heard about the web site from a work colleague who happens to be an Iraqi-American. I have never had any contact with the CIA regarding the blog story.

4. As for Riverbend, I have attempted on numerous occasions to contact the author of that blog. ?Riverbend? has never responded to my queries and, as far as I know, has never given media interviews.

Soriano has met the brothers who write “Iraq the Model” and can at least vouch for the fact that they’re Iraqis blogging in Iraq, as can hundreds of Americans now that they’ve paid us a visit. Riverbend claims to be personally familiar with the situations in both Baghdad and Fallujah, which is unlikely.

There are certainly a number of real Iraqis blogging who have very different perspectives on current events than this Riverbend character (see the Blog Awards,) who’s either a Saddamite shill angry about loss of privilege or a Western leftist writing from somewhere outside Iraq with the typical Anti-American Sophisticate Attitude(tm). There is certainly zero evidence that she is who she says she is or that she speaks for the Iraqi people.

Juan Cole, the pretentious history professor from Michigan, made some especially idiotic remarks about Iraqi bloggers recently, and Jeff Jarvis had to set him straight:

The man is pond scum. I know no other way to say it. This guy Cole (supported by your tax dollars in Michigan) decides that if he disagrees with someone, he should imply that that someone must be backed by the CIA or other nefarious forces. Prof. Cole is too deaf, dumb, and blind to see the liberal irony in that; back in the day, when people disagreed with those on his side of the political spectrum, people on the other side implied that they must be backed by the Soviet Union, by Commies. It’s an old trick, Prof. I’m ashamed of you for using it.

It’s delightful rant, and spot-on. Cole is no more informed about the reality of Iraq than you or I, dear reader, but he pretends to be.

Just so there’s no confusion, I’d like to make it crystal clear that I endorse protein wisdom for Best Humor Blog in your Weblog Awards competition this year. I don’t have anything against IMAO and Scrappleface, mind you, and I’m sure they’re patriotic Americans, but nobody can hold a candle to protein. So vote early and vote often.

When you vote, you’ll notice you have to type in 5 numbers and letters to prove you’re not a script on account of the Daily Kos’ trying to steal even this election.

Have they no shame?

The state of Washington has some pretty nasty pollution, what with coal-fired power plants, stinky paper mills, and the King County Democratic Party. But the identity of the number one polluter is probably a surprise:

But right now, the biggest single source of air pollution in Washington isn’t a power plant, pulp mill or anything else created by man.

It’s a volcano.

Since Mount St. Helens started erupting in early October, it has been pumping out between 50 and 250 tons a day of sulfur dioxide, the lung-stinging gas that causes acid rain and contributes to haze.

I say we slap some fines on that bitch.

Here’s a little bit of good economic news:

The price of oil dropped $3.64 a barrel to $45.49 in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration reported that commercial stocks of distillates, which include heating oil, rose 2.3 million barrels to 117.9 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 26.

That’s a good start, but we aren’t done yet.

Wonkette’s bogus exit poll numbers affected the stock market:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks reversed course suddenly on Tuesday and drifted lower as chatter on the Internet speculated that early exit polls had Sen. John Kerry leading the presidential election in key swing states.

So why hasn’t anybody been arrested?

Link via Wonkette’s employer, the former Financial Times writer Nick Denton.

Yankees choke! Continue reading “Aha.”

If you haven’t been watching the MLB playoffs this year, I feel sorry for you. The first round (we call that the “division series”) was 100% excellent, with all the good guys defeating the bad guys (except the Yankees squeaked through, but they’re supposed to) and one full five-game series between the heroic Astros and those bastards from Atlanta.

The League Championship Series has featured one great game after another, with dynamite slugging in the early games of each series followed by killer pitching in the later games. The Bostons were behind the Evil Yankees 0 games to 3 when they turned things around in a manner that would make a 12-stepper proud. They lost a game 19-8 and then came back to win three in a row after all their pitchers were hurt or shot and their most consistent hitters couldn’t find the ball. In tonight’s game in New York the umps reversed two blown calls, which has to be an even greater miracle than the Bostons rallying to tie the series at 3 games apiece. Wednesday night is the rubber match, one game to decide who represents the American League in the World Series.

Over in St. Louis, the Astros have a 3-2 game lead over the Cards in the National League Series after winning three in a row at home behind the pitchers of Christmas Past, Present, and Future and the superior closing of unhittable Brad Lidge. Houston only has to win one of the next two games, so they’re starting a rookie pitcher in order to have The Rocket on full rest for Game 7 if it happens. Carlos Beltran of the Astros is the next Barry Bonds, but without the attitude and many of the drugs, so it’s worth the price of a TV show just to see him.

Baseball is the national pastime, but it was bordering on boring until TiVo came along and rescued it, much to America’s benefit. And Japan’s too, actually. Not to mention civilization’s as a whole.

The opening day of the baseball playoffs was great, as Truth, Goodness, Sweetness, and Light triumphed decisively over Greed, Sloth, Indolence, Hollywood and New York: The Twins shutout the Evil Empire, and Hollywood’s twin demons were soundly defeated by the generally hapless Red Sox and America’s Team, the Cardinals.

I don’t know that the Twins can win two more, as they lack depth in the pitching department, but the Yankees are weaker than they’ve been in years so there’s hope. The Dodgers are actually a very deserving team from the standpoint of management and staff, but their fans are so obnoxious they have to lose. The Cards will dispatch them easily and the world will be a better place.

The ironically named Angels are more of a challenge, as their evil genius manager Mike Sciosia is generally a step ahead of the opposition. He used his throw-away starter for game 1, quite sensible given that the cursed ones had Mr. Schilling on the mound and he wasn’t to be denied. It’s a five game series and he’s got some tricks up his sleeve.

Most of the matchups at this point pit teams who wear red against teams who wear blue; red teams and blue teams. It would be funny if all the red teams won, including the Astros but not including Anaheim. Funny and weird.

That’s some real baseball insight, isn’t it?

She’s at it again: Yahoo! News – Mount St. Helens Belches More Steam

Unfortunately we have too much haze today for me to get a good view, and I’ve got the best vantage point in the Portland area, on top of Prune Hill in Clark County.