N&O public editor replies. I ask again.

Below are full taxt copies of three emails. The first I sent yesterday, Jan. 8, to Raleigh News & Observer public editor Ted Vaden. I questioned a statement he made to N&O readers in his column yesterday.

The second is Vaden's reply.

The third is another email I sent Vaden after receiving his reply.

I'll let you know what I hear back.
____________________
FIRST EMAIL TO VADEN:

Dear Ted,

In today's column you say The N&O's Jan. 4 story on the miners "did note that the mine owners had not confirmed the rescue." Melanie has made the same claim at her blog.

But my Jan. 4 N&O doesn't contain any mention that "the mine owners had not confirmed the rescue."

What explains that?

Here's a link to a post today concerning your column:
http://johninnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2006/01/i-cant-fault-no-public-editor-says.html

I'll post again on your column tomorrow.

Sincerely,

John
www.Johnincarolina.com
____________________
REPLY FROM VADEN:

From paragraph six of the Jan. 4 story: "The mine's owner, International Coal Group Inc., did not immediately confirm that the 12 other men were alive."

__________________________________________________
SECOND EMAIL TO VADEN:

Dear Ted:

After receiving your email I read The N&O's Jan. 4 front page miners story for what must be the fifth or sixth time.

Contrary to what you and Melanie are saying, nowhere in the story I read is there any mention that the "mine's owner, International Coal Group Inc., did not immediately confirm that the 12 other men were alive."

I've asked others to read the story. They, too, found nothing about mine owners
not immediately confirming the 12 men were alive.

The story ran five days ago. Any question about its contents, especially one of this importance, should have been resolved by now.

I want to do what I can to make that happen.

Would it help if I faxed you a copy of the part of your front page story that contains all the text there of the miners story as well as faxes of all text of the inside page part of the story?

If it's necessary, I'll drive to The N&O's office in Chapel Hill so one of your staffers can look at my Jan. 4 N&O. But I can't get to Chapel Hill much before 6:30 PM.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

John
www.johnincarolina.com

The Churchill Series - Jan. 8, 2006

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

I want to share a story that reflects Churchill's care for the precise use of language, even under the most trying circumstances. I can't cite a source for it but I recall reading it in a reliable one; and I don't doubt that on the important points the story is true. So with the usual caution about memory, here's the story.

Churchill was in his last years and visiting with friends in the South of France. After dinner, they went outside and sat quite awhile talking. Darkness fell and a wind came up. Churchill's physician, Lord Charles Moran, urged the party to go inside. Churchill wanted to stay outside. So the party did.

Churchill awoke the next morning with fever, chills and severe bronchial congestion. Lord Moran feared he had pneumonia but told Churchill he thought it was a cold. Moran added, "I fear you caught it sitting out so late on the porch."

Churchill, struggled to say something in response but Moran didn't catch it. So he bent close to him and asked what he'd said.

"It's a portico, Charles, a portico."

Don't miss Will; look in on Boyd

From a George Will column about government and people, David Boyd highlights this graf:

Government could spare itself the stress of moralizing about so many things if it decided that the choices people make with their money is their, not its, business. And government could avoid having opinions about so many things if it would quit subsidizing so many things.

Don’t miss Will’s column. And look in on Boyd.

"I can't fault The N&O," public editor says.

Raleigh News & Observer public editor Ted Vaden's column today concerns The N&O's botched story reporting 12 miners had been found alive.

Vaden's column is basically more of what N&O executive editor for news Melanie Sill has been telling readers: OK, the story was wrong. We're sorry. We'll review procedures but it wasn't our fault.

Here's how Vaden puts it:

I can't fault The N&O or the rest of the newspaper sorority for going with the incorrect story. It was the best information available and it was tied to credible, identified sources.

Compare Vaden's "can't fault The N&O" conclusion with what Wichita Eagle editor Sherry Chisenhall told readers about similar mistakes The Eagle made. From her Jan. 4 column, "Here's why The Eagle got it wrong:"

(We) violated a basic tenet of journalism today in our printed edition: Report what you know and how you know it.
…
We published what we believed to be true at the time. But unfortunately, we failed to make clear exactly where those reports were coming from and that they were not confirmed. Instead, our story and headline reported them as certainty.
…
Many newspapers and TV stations reported exactly what we did today. But being wrong in crowded company is still being wrong.

Our commitment to our readers is to tell you exactly what we know and how we know it. Today, we fell short.

I respect Chisenhall for so forthrightly acknowledging her paper's mistakes and accepting responsibility for them. Nowhere in her column does she shift responsibility and blame others. If it's a fair sample of how she regularly practices journalism, Chisenhall's staff and readers are very fortunate.

I'll say more about Vaden's column in a post tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm sending Vaden the following email. I'll let you know when he replies.
______________________________

Dear Ted,

In today's column you say The N&O's Jan. 4 story on the miners "did note that the mine owners had not confirmed the rescue." Melanie has made the same claim at her blog.

But my Jan. 4 N&O doesn't contain any mention that "the mine owners had not confirmed the rescue."

What explains that?

Here's a link to a post today concerning your column:
http://johninnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2006/01/i-cant-fault-no-public-editor-says.html

I'll post again on your column tomorrow.

Sincerely,

John
www.Johnincarolina.com
________________________________

MSM reports on Bush's approval ratings

For a while it seemed we couldn't read or hear a news story that didn't include a reference to President Bush's approval rating.

"With President Bush's poll numbers plunging, the state fair opened today ..."

Even in the travel sections we were finding things like: "A family visiting Newfoundland could easily forget Bush's most recent approval rating is among the lowest ...."

Now that Bush's approval ratings have risen from the high 30's to the mid'40's we're not seeing or hearing many references to them.

That tells us something even as MSM insists it doesn’t have a political agenda

The Churchill Series - Jan. 7, 2006

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

One of the best of the recent, one volume studies of Churchill's life is Lord Jenkins', Churchill: A Biography, published in 2002. Historian John G. Plumpton began his review of Jenkins' work with:

"There are times," wrote the great Cambridge scholar, Sir Geoffrey Elton, "when I incline to judge all historians by their opinion of Winston Churchill - whether they can see that no matter how much better the details, often damaging, of man and career become known, he still remains, quite simply, a great man."

Sir Geoffrey would have likely judged the new Churchill biography by Roy Jenkins favourably. The octogenarian Jenkins, a biographer of Attlee, Asquith, Baldwin and Gladstone, among others, and a political colleague of Labour leaders since World War II, concludes with a startling admission: "When I started writing this book I thought that Gladstone was, by a narrow margin, the greater man...I now put Churchill, with all his idiosyncrasies, his indulgences, his occasional childishness, but also his genius, his tenacity and his persistent ability, right or wrong, successful or unsuccessful, to be larger than life, as the greatest human being ever to occupy 10 Downing Street."

Plumpton's entire review is here. (Scroll down)

Jenkins's biography is still in print and available at many book stores, on the net, and in decent public libraries.

Dems chicken out on anti-Alito witness. Now what?

I was looking forward to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Alito confirmation hearings once I heard the Democrats’ final witness would be journalist and animal rights activist Stephen Durjack.

Then Matt Drudge blew the whistle and reported that in 2003, Durjack wrote in the Los Angles Times:

“Like the victims of the Holocaust, animals are rounded up, trucked hundreds of miles to the kill floor and slaughtered.”

Durjack didn’t stop there. He went on and said :

“To those who defend the modern-day Holocaust on animals by saying that animals are slaughtered for food and give us sustenance, I ask: if the victims of the Holocaust had been eaten, would that have justified the abuse and murder?”

With all that public, Senators Leahy, Kennedy and the rest got a little nervous and decided they could do without Durjack even though he was ready to join them in -- what else? -- calling Alito sexist and racist.

So the Dems pulled Durjack's name from their witness list.

Question: Can Republicans add Durjack to their witness list?

Let’s give some attention to Durjack, so the American people will notice and denounce him and the Democrats who tried to pass him off as a credible Senate witness.

How and why did The Raleigh News & Observer get it wrong?

A little after midnight, Jan. 4, I looked at Yahoo's news site and read the AP story on the miners.

I called out to my wife," There's a report they've found 12 of the miners alive, but the mine's owners are not confirming it."

"Let’s pray it's true," she said.

I'm sure about that time and during the next few hours very similar conversations took place between hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who wanted to believe the men were alive but knew the AP had said the reports were unconfirmed.

Recalling how much of MSM Katrina reporting on victims and survivors later proved false no doubt helped many to be extra cautious in what they said about the miners’ fate.

Yet The Raleigh News & Observer used the AP story to produce its Jan. 4 front page, headline story, W. Va. families rejoice as 12 miners found alive.

That The N&O would do that is very troubling; and not excused by the fact that many other MSM news organizations did something similar.

Of course, The N&O didn’t want to get the story wrong; that only makes it more troubling that it did.

This was not a hard story to get right. By right I mean adhering to the old journalist adage: Report only what you know and how you know it.

Example: In answer to my questions this morning, Jan. 6, The Fayetteville Observer’s executive editor for news, Brian Tolley, told me his paper’s Jan. 4 Home edition reported the AP story under the headline, 12 Alive, Families Say. He also said The Observer’s story included the AP statement that the mine owners had not confirmed the men had been found alive.

Contrast that with The N&O’s Jan. 4 story (West edition) that not only headlined as fact that the men were found alive, but also failed to tell readers the mine owners had not confirmed that.

If you're asking how and why The N&O got the story wrong, here’s a sample of what its executive editor for news Melanie Sill is telling readers:

In hindsight, always 20-20, what I think we could have done better was make clear in the headline that this information was preliminary. The story noted that the mine company had not confirmed the reports, but the headline did not. ( JinC readers' note - As stated above, The N&O ( West edition) failed to tell readers "that the mine company had not confirmed the reports.")

We're sorry for putting out an incorrect story, but I think the summary in my post shows that The N&O was working hard to give its readers the news. And I have no apology for that.

Folks who look for any opportunity to bash us can see this as another, but there's a difference between getting bad information from credible sources and being irresponsible.

You can read more of what Sill is telling N&O readers at her blog post,The mine story: From good news to bad.

Not all editors whose papers got the story wrong are giving readers the “bad information from credible sources” excuse. Nor are they saying readers who ask how and why questions are folks “who look for any opportunity to bash us.”

Take a look at what Wichita Eagle editor Sherry Chisenhall said to her readers in her Jan. 4 column, Here's why The Eagle got it wrong:

I'll explain why we (and newspapers across the country) went to press last night with the information we had at the time. But it won't excuse the blunt truth that we violated a basic tenet of journalism today in our printed edition: Report what you know and how you know it.
…
We published what we believed to be true at the time. But unfortunately, we failed to make clear exactly where those reports were coming from and that they were not confirmed. Instead, our story and headline reported them as certainty.
…
Many newspapers and TV stations reported exactly what we did today. But being wrong in crowded company is still being wrong.

Our commitment to our readers is to tell you exactly what we know and how we know it. Today, we fell short.

I respect editor Chisenhall for acknowledging her newspaper’s mistakes instead of shifting blame onto others. I doubt it was easy for her to write that column. But I think it was very important she did. I’ll soon say why I believe that.

I’ll also be posting more often concerning N&O news reporting.

Meanwhile, we still have the questions of how and why The N&O got the miner story wrong.

Please continue to visit.
___________________________________
PREVIOUS:
Raleigh N&O editor wants to discuss the weather

Raleigh News & Observer post later today

Raleigh N & O editor wants to discuss the weather

Many Raleigh News & Observer readers have had back-and-forth today with N&O editor Melanie Sill concerning the paper's erroneous report that the 12 miners had been found alive. I'm one of those readers.

You can read some of what we said at Sill's blog post, The mine story: From good news to bad. I hear many other readers phoned or emailed Sill.

If you go down the comment thread, see if you think Sill answers readers' questions about how The N&O took the AP story that clearly said the mine's owners were not confirming the men were alive, and then produced its Jan. 4 headline story: "W. Va. families rejoice as 12 miners found alive."

Yes, many other MSM news organizations made the same mistake(s) The N&O made. But not all did.

So questions about how The N&O came to make its mistake are important for the paper and its readers.

BTW - Sill now wants to change the subject and talk about the weather.

Don't laugh. I'm not kidding. See for yourself here, Change in the weather.

I'll post again later tonight.

Raleigh News & Observer post later today

Here in North Carolina many people are asking how The N&O got the miners story wrong.

I have meetings now, but later today I'll be posting some thoughts, including linking to previous JinC posts pointing to other important stories The N&O "got wrong."

Meanwhile, visit N&O executive editor for news Melanie Sill's blog where The N&O's miners story is being discussed at this post: The mine story:From good news to bad.

I left a question on the thread which so far Sill hasn't answered.

See you later today.

The Churchill Series - Jan. 4, 2006

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

In Summer, 1975, a certain Dr. Merry informed London Daily Telegraph readers that Churchill drank too much. What's more, the good doctor said he felt sure Churchill's drinking influenced his judgement and led him to make decisions which lengthened WW II.

Well, as you might guess, many readers were unwilling to swallow Dr. Merry's concoctions. Here's what two of them said in letters to the editor:

"The inappropriately named Dr. Merry is undoubtedly correct when he says that Sir Winston Churchill was responsible for lengthening the war. Had it not been for Churchill the war would have ended much earlier in Britain's defeat."

M. A. Wicking
Tunbridge Wells.
.............................

"What did Lincoln say when it was reported to him that Grant was getting through a bottle of whisky a day? 'Fine, find out what brand and send a case with my compliments to all the other generals.'"

Leon Drucker
London

If we met them, I bet we'd all say to Wicking and Drucker, "Cheers."
__________________________________________
The Churchill Centre: Action This Day, Summer, 1975, page.(Scroll down)

Castro’s Killing of Thousands Exposed

In his Boston Globe column today, Jeff Jacoby writes about www.CubaArchive.org , an organization dedicated to documenting Castro’s brutal treatment of innocent people. Over 9, 000 such people have been killed since Castro came to power.

THE LONGEST-RULING despot in the world is Fidel Castro, who seized power in Cuba 47 years ago this week. Like most dictators, Castro is a brazen liar, especially about his own regime. This, for example, is what he told an international conference in Havana in April 2001:

"There have never been death squads in our country, nor a single missing person, nor a single political assassination, nor a single victim of torture. . . . You may travel around the country, ask the people, look for a single piece of evidence, try to find a single case where the Revolutionary government has ordered or tolerated such an action. And if you find them, then I will never speak in public again."

One would have to be willfully blind -- a useful idiot, in Lenin's phrase -- to believe such a reeking falsehood. But when it comes to Castro, useful idiots have never been in short supply. From Norman Mailer to Jean-Paul Sartre, from Jesse Jackson to Ted Turner, a long line of admirers has swooned over the bearded tyrant, lavishly praising his wisdom and charm -- and never showing the slightest interest in his real record: cruelty, repression, and a death toll in the tens of thousands.

But Castro's mocking challenge -- "try to find a single case" -- is not going unanswered. The Cuba Archive project (www.CubaArchive.org) is working to document the cost, in human life, of more than five decades of Cuban dictatorship.

The New Jersey-based archive's tiny staff has set itself the monumental task of identifying every man, woman, and child killed by Cuba's rulers since March 10, 1952, the day Batista ousted the island's last democratically elected president. Meticulously, impartially, the archive's researchers are assembling the evidence that Castro claims doesn't exist -- victim by victim, one death at a time.

It is heartbreaking work. The revolution's victims have died in front of firing squads and been beaten to death by government goons; they have been sunk while at sea and shot down while flying; they have been killed for resisting communism at home and killed when sent to fight for communism abroad. In the hands of Castro's jailers, some have been driven to suicide; many more have disappeared.
...

There is much more in Jacoby's column. It's such a powerful, fact-based exposure of Castro's dictatorship that it should shame his many liberal and leftist supporters here in America. But I doubt it will.

You can read the column here.

The Churchill Series - Jan. 3, 2006

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Following the attacks of September 11 Finest Hour, The Churchill Centre's quarterly, republished an essay by his official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert. The Centre had first published the essay, "Churchill For Today," a decade before. It said it was republishing it “because of its particular relevance in 2002”

Gilbert’s essay has as much “particular relevance” at the start of 2006 as it did in the aftermath of 9/11. Here are selected portions, followed by a link to the entire essay.

"Why study Churchill?" I am often asked. "Surely he has nothing to say to us today?" Yet in my own work, as I open file after file of Churchill's archive, from his entry into Government in 1905 to his retirement in 1955 (a 50-year span!), I am continually surprised by the truth of his assertions, the modernity of his thought, the originality of his mind, the constructiveness of his proposals, his humanity, and, most remarkable of all, his foresight.

When, in 1919, Churchill called Lenin the embodiment of evil, many people thought it was a typical Churchillian exaggeration. "How unfair," they exclaimed, "how unworthy of a statesman."
…
From the first days of Communist rule in Russia, Churchill did not doubt for a moment that the Communist system would be a blight on free enterprise and a terrible restraint on all personal freedoms.
…
Nevertheless, Churchill was always an optimist with regard to human affairs. One of his favourite phrases, a Boer saying that he had heard in South Africa in 1899, was: "All will come right." He was convinced, even during the Stalinist repressions in Russia, that Communism could not survive. Throughout his life he had faith in the power of all peoples to control and improve their own destiny, without the interference of outside forces.
...
(In 1950), at the height of the Stalin era, these were Churchill's words, in Boston: "The machinery of propaganda may pack (peoples') minds with falsehood and deny them truth for many generations of time, but the soul of man thus held in trance, or frozen in a long night, can be awakened by a spark coming from God knows where, and in a moment the whole structure of lies and oppression is on trial for its life."
…
Once a war had been thrust on any nation, Churchill was a leading advocate of fighting it until it was won, until the danger of subjugation and tyranny had been brought to an end. He was equally certain that, by foresight and wisdom, all wars could be averted: provided the threatened states banded together and built up their collective strength.

This is what the Western world failed to do in the Chamberlain era: Churchill always regarded the Second World War as the "unnecessary war" that could have been averted by a united stand of those endangered by Hitler. Forty years later, in the Reagan-Thatcher era, Churchill's precept was followed. The result is that under their successors the prospects for a peaceful world were much enhanced.
…
In every sphere of human endeavour, Churchill foresaw the dangers and potential for evil. Many of those dangers are our dangers today. He also pointed the way forward to our solutions for tomorrow. That is one reason why his life is worthy of our attention.

Some writers portray him as a figure of the past, an anachronism, a grotesque. In doing so, it is they who are the losers, for he was a man of quality: a good guide for our troubled decade and for the generations now reaching adulthood

The essay is here.

On Abramoff: Is the NY Times serving readers or the Dems?

Today's New York Times report of the Jack Abramoff plea agreement is headlined: G.O.P. Lobbyist to Plead Guilty in Deal With Prosecutors

The Times story twice refers to Abramoff as a "Republican" lobbyist and, off course, it brings in Rep. Tom DeLay. The story never mentions the word "Democrat” or names any of the Democrats who received money from Abramoff's lobbying firm

But a June 3, 2005 Washington Post story reported:

Abramoff didn't work just with Republicans. He oversaw a team of two dozen lobbyists at the law firm Greenberg Traurig that included many Democrats. Moreover, the campaign contributions that Abramoff directed from the tribes went to Democratic as well as Republican legislators.

Among the biggest beneficiaries were Capitol Hill's most powerful Democrats, including Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) and Harry M. Reid (Nev.), the top two Senate Democrats at the time, Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.), then-leader of the House Democrats, and the two lawmakers in charge of raising funds for their Democratic colleagues in both chambers, according to a Washington Post study.

Reid succeeded Daschle as Democratic leader after Daschle lost his Senate seat last November.

Democrats are hoping to gain political advantage from federal and Senate investigations of Abramoff's activities and from the embattled lobbyist's former ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). Yet, many Democratic lawmakers also benefited from Abramoff's political operation, a fact that could hinder the Democrats' efforts to turn the lobbyist's troubles into a winning partisan issue.

Yes, information about the Abramoff-Democratic connections could make it hard for the Dems to turn Abramoff's actions into "a winning partisan issue." Count on the New York Times to do its best to make sure it doesn't.

Sheehan- NY Times race "too close to call"

Over at Little Green Footballs, Cindy Sheehan and the New York Times are locked in a tight battle for the Idiotarian of the Year Award.

Sheehan had been ahead in early voting, but the Times has now taken a small lead with votes still being cast. Experts say the election is still too close to call.

The Times may have gained some momentum following disclosure Sunday that publisher Pinch Sulzberger and executive editor Bill Keller are refusing to answer written questions concerning their decision to breech national security by publishing the NSA domestic surveillance story. The questions were put to them by their own public editor.

You can vote here until Wednesday, Jan. 4, at 11:59:59 pm Pacific.

Don’t wait. Click and go to the “voting booth” now. Let your voice be heard.

Storms here. Posting delayed

I'm down on the Carolina coast today. We're experiencing severe thunderstorms.

I've got a few posts partly finished but I'm shutting down now.

I hope to be back up later.

Keep your fingers crossed.

John

Happy New Year. Blogging resumes Jan. 2, 2006.

Good wishes for a healthy and happy 2006.

A special thanks to America's serving military, our veterans, their families, and all those of our coalition allies.

Blogging resumes Jan 2.

John

The Churchill Series - December 30, 2005

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

We often read of Churchill's participation in broad strategy planning during World War II. But he also immersed himself in details. He did it partly because he had to be always ready to answer for his war leadership to the Cabinet, Commons and the public. And he did it partly to enable himself to more effectively discuss and influence government policies and war strategy. And then there's the fact that all his life he was a detail person.

Here's an example of Churchill gathering details:

16.IV.41

Prime Minister to Colonel Jacob

Let me have on one sheet of paper lists showing at present time and in September last the strength of British Home Forces in (a) rifles and S.A.A.; (b) artillery - including all types of field and medium guns under one head; and also coast defense batteries, and also A.A. both heavy and light; (c) number of "I" tanks and cruiser tanks in the hands of the troops; (d) ration and rifle strength of the fighting formations, (e) number of divisions and brigade groups; (i) on the beaches, (ii) behind the beaches in Army or G.H.Q. Reserve or otherwise; (f) strength of fighter aircraft available for action at the two dates; (g) strength and weight of discharge of bomber aircraft at the two dates; (h) strength of flotillas in home waters at the two dates.

Very general and round figures will do. Don't go too much into details.

We can wonder what Colonel Jacob thought when he read that "general and round figures" would do; and that he needn't "go too much into details."
_______________________________________________
Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance. (p. 756)

Will faithful New York Times readers ask why?

Will faithful New York Times readers ask themselves why, as of December 30, the Times has said nothing for months about a major international news story: U. N. secretary general Kofi Annan and his son Kojo's purchase, with financial aid from an executive involved in the oil-for-food scandal, of a Mercedes-Benz which has since disappeared?

While the NY Times is silent, other news organizations are reporting the story and providing commentary. See, for example, The New York Sun, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, and Times of London.

Here's part of what Jordan's former representative at the U. N., Ambassador Hasan Abu Nimah, wrote for the Jordan Times:

Last week, CNN showed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in a harsh exchange with UN correspondents at a year-end press conference.
...
Annan began the press conference in a jovial mood, offering advice to his successor, saying "he should be thick skinned and should have a sense of humour".

But things turned sour quickly when the London Times correspondent, James Bone, asked Annan what had happened to a Mercedes car which Annan's scandal-plagued son Kojo had imported into Ghana using his father's diplomatic privileges.

The report by Paul Volcker into UN corruption stated that Kojo bought the car using his father's name, avoiding hefty duties and obtaining a special discount available only to UN employees.

Annan lashed out angrily at the question. "Wait a minute, I smell something cheeky here," he said before scolding: "Listen James Bone, you've been behaving like an overgrown schoolboy in this room for many, many months and years. You are an embarrassment to your colleagues and to your profession. Please stop misbehaving and please let's move on to a serious journalist."
...
When the CNN programme was shown again last Sunday, as an introduction this time to a panel which debated the confrontation, Annan appeared in the programme commenting on the Mercedes affair by saying that the matter was being investigated by his son's lawyer and anyone who wanted further information could go straight to the lawyer or the son, adding he was not his son's lawyer or his "box man".

(This) kind of evasiveness suggests that Annan is not keen to answer questions no matter how respectfully they are posed.

Regarding the purchase, Ambassador Nimah says:

Under no circumstances could Annan's son order a car under his father's name and diplomatic privilege without his father's consent and signature. He could not ship the car anywhere without the same signature and the same consent, no doubt an operation requiring a great deal of documentation. Even if Kojo was able to obtain such paperwork from the UN bureaucracy without his father's knowledge, his father still remains accountable for a shocking lack of oversight, and Annan should insist on an internal investigation to find out how such a thing could possibly have happened without his knowledge, if that was the case.

If duties or taxes were avoided in the transaction, they ought to be refunded and the responsibility for that lies ultimately with Annan himself.

The Ambassador had much more to say. You can read it all here.

I can't help thinking about the news coverage and editorializing the New York Times would now be providing its readers if the Mercedes purchase involved Vice-president Cheney and his daughter instead Nobel laureate and U. N. secretary general Annan and his son.

Surely, the Times can't be serious when it claims to report the news "without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect, or interest involved."

I'll soon have more to report.

As always, your comments are welcome.

Trackbacks to: Michelle Malkin, bRight & Early

CNN transcript of Annan's Mercedes outburst

Here, from a CNN 12/21/2005 transcript , is that part of U. N. secretary general Kofi Annan's press conference in which he lashed out at a reporter who tried to ask Annan about a Mercedes purchased in the secretary general's name with financial help from a Swiss executive whose company is involved in the oil-for-food scandal.

Annan's son, Kojo, was employed by the executive's company, and may have been the actual purchaser of the Mercedes. Both Annan's say they can't now locate the vehicle.

ROTH (voice over): Up until now, the Nobel Peace Prize winner had in public kept his cool, but he lost it when asked by a British reporter about a Mercedes bought by his son and then shipped with a diplomatic discount to Africa, a slice of the overall oil-for-food scandal.

JAMES BONE, REPORTER: The Volcker report says the Mercedes was bought in your name. So as the owner of the car, can you tell us what happened to it and where it is now?

Now, my question is, it's true that we missed a lot of stories in the oil-for-food scandal, and the U.N. hasn't made it easy. And even your answer today on the Mercedes so far hasn't made it easy. Some of your own stories, your own version of events don't really make sense.

I would like to ask you particularly...

ANNAN: I think you're being very cheeky here.

BONE: Well, let me...

ANNAN: And I have to tell you -- no, hold on, hold on.

BONE: May I ask my question?

ANNAN: Listen, James Bone, you've been behaving like an overgrown school boy in this room for many, many months and years. You're an embarrassment to your colleagues and to your profession. Please stop misbehaving and please let's move on to a more serious...

BONE: My question...

ANNAN: No, move on to a serious -- move on to a serious journalist.

Constitutional scholar on domestic surveillance

In a Boston Globe op-ed, Harvard Law Professor and former solicitor general Charles Fried shares his thoughts concerning the domestic surveillance program, national safety, and the Constitution.

I am convinced of the urgent necessity of such a surveillance program. I suppose but do not know -- the revelations have been understandably and deliberately vague -- that included in what is done is a constant computerized scan of all international electronic communications. (The picture of a G-Man in the basement of an apartment house tapping into a circuit board is certainly inapposite.)

Programmed into this computerized scan are likely to be automatic prompts that are triggered by messages containing certain keywords, go to certain addresses, occur in certain patterns or after specific events. Supposedly those messages that trigger these prompts are targeted for further scrutiny.

In the context of the post-9/11 threat, which includes sleeper cells and sleeper operatives in the United States, no other form of surveillance is likely to be feasible and effective. But this kind of surveillance may not fit into the forms for court orders because their function is to identify targets, not to conduct surveillance of targets already identified. Even retroactive authorization may be too cumbersome and in any event would not reach the initial broad scan that narrows the universe for further scrutiny.

Fried goes on to ask a pair of critical questions many Americans are asking themselves:

If the situation is as I hypothesize and leads to important information that saves lives and property, would any reasonable citizen want it stopped? But if it violates the Constitution can we accept the proposition that such violations must be tolerated?

Fried then says how we should proceed to make sure we have an effective surveillance program that doesn't violate the Constitution.

We should ask ourselves what concrete harm is done by such a program. Is a person's privacy truly violated if his international communications are subject to this kind of impersonal, computerized screening? If it is not, at what stage of further focus do real, rather than abstract and hysterical concerns arise? And to what extent is the hew and cry about this program a symptom of a generalized distrust of all government, or of just this administration?

If of all government, then we are in a state of mind that renders us incapable of defending ourselves from real threats. If of this administration, then can we afford to disarm the only government we have until the result of the next election, which is likely to be as partisan and closely divided as the last?

The resolution of this dilemma to allow both the use of an important tool of national security and respect for the rule of law needs ingenuity, discretion, and a good faith search for sensible solutions. So far I have heard only alarmist and hyperbolic pronouncements calculated neither to illuminate nor resolve this problem.

Those last two paragraphs bear rereading by us all, but especially by those using news reports of the domestic surveillance program as just one more opportunity to "Get Bush."

Fried's op-ed is here.

(Hat Tip: Realclearpolitics.com )

The Churchill Series - December 29, 2005

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

As a young officer in India, Churchill was very critical of many of the Army's tactics and ranking officers. He put his criticisms into dispatches which he sent off to newspaper editors who were eager to publish them.

Churchill knew he was setting himself up for a great deal of criticism from powerful people with experience much greater than his. But he was prepared for that. He wrote a friend:

There will not be wanting those who will remind that in this matter my opinion finds no support in age or experience. To such I shall reply that if what is written is false or foolish neither age nor experience should fortify it; and if it is true,it needs no such support."

When I read Churchill's remarks, I thought of something President Lincoln said concerning criticism he knew he was sure to get:

If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.

The words of each of the great men resonate with those of the other.
______________________________________________________________
For the Churchill quote and background see William Manchester, The Last Lion (p. 256-260)

For the familiar Lincoln quote I used Google.

David Boyd is back

David Boyd had some tech problems but he's back up and posting.

Go visit. He's always interesting.

The worst and best of American democracy

Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters picks the 10 Worst Americans.

When picking his 10 Worst, Ed says:

I decided that the status of American had to be part of their "crimes". In other words, simply picking someone like Ted Bundy or Charles Manson would be too easy. Their evil, though real and in most cases worse than what you'll read on this list, doesn't have to do with their innate American heritage. I went looking for the people who sinned against America itself, or the ideal of America. Otherwise, we'd just be looking at body counts.

Ed also tried to "avoid picking contemporary political figures, as we do not have sufficient historical perspective to make that kind of determination."

But one contemporary political figure made the list. Ed explains:

The real reason (President) Carter winds up here at #10 is because he singlehandedly almost lost the Cold War and allowed the start of the Islamofascist terror war during his single term in office.

His naiveté in dealing with the Soviet Union, captured perfectly by kissing the jowled cheek of the Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev, led him to believe that worldwide Communism was here to stay and that we could do nothing about it.

(Carter) also assured Americans that we had nothing to fear from the Soviets, who really weren’t bad guys – right up until they invaded Afghanistan. Even then, his response in boycotting the Olympic Games of 1980 has to remain one of the most embarrassing examples of displayed impotence in our nation’s history.

All that's true.

And then, on November 4, 1980, Carter was defeated and Ronald Wilson Reagan was elected fortieth President of the Untied States. His Cold War strategy was "We win; they lose."

American democracy is wonderful for it capacity to often correct our worst mistakes while bringing out our best.

A David Brinkley remark that made me smile.

A friend shared this remark by former news anchor David Brinkley:

“The one function TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were.”

Brinkley died in 2003, age 82.

I thought he was a first-rate reporter and commentator.

NY Times' silence on Annan's Mercedes is telling us a lot

On Tuesday I posted, New York Times silent on Annan’s Mercedes anger outburst, but others report it.

At a recent news conference U. N. secretary-general Kofi Annan lashed out at Times of London reporter James Bone for questioning him about a Mercedes purchased in Annan's name in Switzerland under questionable circumstances. The vehicle was then shipped to Ghana, where it disappeared.

In its press conference story, the New York Times never mentioned the Mercedes. But other news organizations, which have been reporting the story for months, had plenty to say.

And today, the New York Sun has an editorial, Follow That Car:

The tantrum with which Secretary General Annan greeted the now famous question about the missing Mercedes Benz tells us a lot about the tensions that are building at the United Nations.
...
The Mercedes Benz, described as a "sporty green" Jeep-type vehicle, is missing somewhere in Africa, and Mr. Annan, his son Kojo, and their army of spokesmen and lawyers, just don't seem to want to answer questions about: What happened to that car? Who owns it? Where is it parked?

The September 7 report of the Independent Inquiry Committee headed by Paul Volcker has it that the car was bought in Geneva in the fall of 1998, just as the goods-inspection company Cotecna was about to land a fat contract with the U.N.'s oil-for-food program. Cotecna at the time employed Mr. Annan's son, Kojo. The secretary general contributed $15,000 toward the purchase of the car. Another contributor was a Cotecna official and a family friend of the Annans, Michael Wilson, who paid a $3000 deposit. Kojo Annan paid the rest.

There's a lot more before the Sun concludes:

(Mr. Annan’)...bullying...backfired, and reporters are now more interested than ever in the story of the missing Mercedes.

Not all reporters.

A search of the New York Times archives using entries "Kojo Annan" and "Kojo Annan + Mercedes" and "Annan + Mercedes" reveals only one mention of the Mercedes. It's in a September 7 story by Warren Hoge (Annan Failed to Curb Corruption in Iraq's Oil-for-Food Program, Investigators Report).

In one incident, (Volcker) said, Kojo Annan bought a new Mercedes using his father's name, which yielded him a diplomatic discount and enabled him to import the vehicle to Ghana without paying import duty.

Other than that single sentence, the New York Times appears to have reported nothing about Annan's Mercedes, not even that it's now missing.

The Times' silence on this matter is awfully loud.

Suppose instead of Annan and his son we had Vice-president Cheney and his daughter getting a special tax break on a Mercedes partially paid for by a Halliburton executive just before the car was shipped to Texas and disappeared.

You know the kind of news coverage the Times would be giving a Cheney/Halliburton missing Mercedes story, to say nothing of its editorials.

But about what Annan, his son, and an executive and company involved in the U. N. oil-for-food scandal did and didn't do with the Mercedes, the Times has been silent for months.

The Times' silence sure tells us a lot about its claim to report the news “regardless of party, sect, or interest involved.”

My thoughts on the latest Rasmussen poll

The highly respected Rasmussen Reports just released its latest poll findings. They include:

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Americans believe the National Security Agency (NSA) should be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States.

(About) 23% disagree.
.......
Just 26% believe President Bush is the first to authorize a program like the one currently in the news.

Hmm.

What to make of 23% of respondents saying the National Security Agency (NSA) should not be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the U.S.; and 26% erroneously believing Bush is the first president to authorize such a program?

For one thing, I'll bet there's so much overlap between the 23% and 26% respondent groups that they're essentially the same group.

What's more, I'll bet the overwhelming majority of them come from "the Democratic Party base." They wanted Dean and voted for Kerry. They dream of a President Hillary Clinton. They worry President Bush might get credit for doing anything right because that will make it harder for Clinton to win in '08. And, of course, they "support the troops."

Such respondents trust mainstream media to tell them all they want to know; and mainstream media doesn't let them down.

That's what I think. How about you?

Trackbacks at: Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive, Confederate Yankee, Michelle Malkin, and Sister Toldjah.

ABC's John Stossel's Top Ten Foolish Myths

Today at Realclearpolitics ABC's John Stossel begins:

Looking back on 2005, I realize that much of what I heard -- and what the media said -- turned out to be myths. Newsweek reported that U.S. interrogators had flushed a Koran down a Guantanamo Bay toilet. After Hurricane Katrina, reporters said that sharks from Lake Pontchartrain were swimming through New Orleans, and roving bands of armed gang members were attacking the helpless.

Myth after myth. So to celebrate the new year,
I'd like to review my top 10 list of foolish myths. (ABC will broadcast a televised version of this column in "20/20"'s timeslot Friday night.):

No. 10: Americans have less free time than we used to.

No. 9. Money buys happiness.

No. 8: Republicans shrink government.

No. 7: The world is getting too crowded.

No. 6. Chemicals are killing us.

No. 5: Guns are bad.

No. 4: We're drowning in garbage.

No. 3: We're destroying our forests.

No. 2: Getting cold will give you a cold.

No. 1: Life is getting worse.

Stossel follows the list with explanations of how we came to buy into these myths. He ends with some good advice for 2006.

Read his whole column here.

The Churchill Series - December 27, 2005

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

When using his initials Churchill commonly signed "WSC." But some political foes and others who considered themselves wits took delight in playing on WC. So when Churchill was defeated in the 1925 general election, one newspaper said it was sure the members of the new parliament could manage "with one less WC."

Churchill took it in stride. On occasion he would even make a WC remark himself as he did in February, 1940 while on a destroyer returning to England from France.

There were some mines in the ship's path. Guns were fired to destroy them. The gunfire churned the water and set some debris floating past the destroyer. Among the debris was a lavatory door.

Churchill looked at it and said with a grin to those beside him, "That door has my initials on it. They must have known I'd be aboard."
___________________________________________________
Tom Hickman, Churchill's Bodyguard. (p. 88-89)

Remember to cast your Robert Fisk Award ballot

Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs played a leading role in exposing CBS's fraudulent 60 Minute Texas Air National Guard story. Thank you, Charles.

Charles now invites us to visit LGF and cast a vote in the Robert Fisk Award for Idiotarian of the Year competition.

Here are the 20 nominees:

Cindy Sheehan
Harry Reid
Mary Mapes
George Clooney
Sean Penn
Howard Dean
Ward Churchill
Dan Rather
Chris Matthews
Nancy Pelosi
Noam Chomsky
Kofi Annan
Ramsey Clark
Dick Durbin
Hugo Chavez
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
Rep. Jack Murtha
George Galloway
Maurice Hinchey
Kanye West
Cynthia McKinney

All 20 are deserving but if you think there's someone or some organization more deserving than those twenty, you're free to make your own nomination.

Michelle Malkin just did. Here's her nomination:

For its reckless endangerment of national security, unapologetic distortion of our troops' commitment to the mission in Iraq, trashing of 9/11 families who refused to capitulate to political correctness at Ground Zero, routine insipidity and unaccountability, laughable hypocrisy, protectionism for Democrats and liberal pet projects, dishonest Bush-bashing, anti-war pandering, cluelessness by the barrel, narcissism, and skyscraping editorial arrogance and snobbery, I nominate...

THE NEW YORK TIMES

It will be no surprise to JinC readers that the Times will get my vote.

I'll be posting more soon about why I think the Times deserves the Fisk Award.

Meanwhile, don't forget to vote.

New York Times silent on Annan’s Mercedes anger outburst but others report it.

A Mercedes-Benz purchased in U. N. secretary-general Kofi Annan’s name has disappeared in his native Ghana. It was imported there after Annan received on the purchase a large tax break given to diplomats. Annan’s son, Kojo, was involved in the purchase as was an executive for a Swiss company that employed Kojo. Kojo, the executive, and the company are all caught up in the U. N. oil for food scandal.

During the past four months a few dogged reporters, including the London Times’ James Bone, have asked questions about how the vehicle was actually paid for, its intended owner, and why it can’t be found.

At a recent news conference, Annan refused to answer questions about the Mercedes and lashed out at Bone.

But the New York Times, in its story of the press conference, never mentions Annan's Mercedes. And here’s all it tells readers about Annan’s outburst:

Mr. Annan later refused to respond to a question by James Bone of The Times of London after Mr. Bone said, "Some of your own stories, your own version of events, don't really make sense." Interrupting, Mr. Annan accused Mr. Bone of being "cheeky" and said he was "behaving like an overgrown schoolboy."

Now take a look at what The New York Sun tells its readers:

CNN's Richard Roth asked a recurring question about the whereabouts of a Mercedes-Benz that was bought in Mr. Annan's name by the secretary general's son, Kojo.

The son's childhood friend, Michael Wilson, who is an executive at the Swiss-based Cotecna company, which employed the two, and the secretary-general himself contributed to the car's purchase, and Mr. Annan has been unable to say where the car is now.

"You are all obsessed about the car," Mr. Annan said, but refused to add any information beyond: "Please direct your questions to his lawyers or to him."

"I am neither his spokesman nor his lawyer," he said, speaking of his son.

Later, Mr. Annan finally lost his cool when Mr. Bone began a question by following up on Mr. Roth's inquiry about the car.

"Hold on, listen, James Bone," Mr. Annan said. "You have been behaving like an overgrown schoolboy in this room for many, many months and years. You are an embarrassment to your colleagues and to your profession. Please stop misbehaving, and please let's move on to a more serious subject."

(Annan) then refused to allow the reporter to get to his question, which was left unasked. Mr. Bone later told the Sun that he wanted to ask a detailed question about inconsistencies in Mr. Annan's testimony before the Volcker commission.

Why, in its press conference story, did the NY Times decide to make no mention of questions concerning the Mercedes, Kojo, Cotecna, and Annan’s Volcker commission testimony ? Surely they involve news fit to print.

For its part, The London Times began its report of Annan’s news conference:

THE UN Secretary-General has used his end-of-year press conference to lash out at the media in general, and The Times in particular, for their coverage of the Oil-for-Food scandal and his role in it.

Kofi Annan singled out James Bone, New York correspondent of The Times, after he questioned Mr. Annan about a Mercedes jeep that his son, Kojo, imported into Ghana using his father’s diplomatic immunity to avoid taxes.

Saddam Hussein’s manipulation of the UN’s $64 billion Oil-for-Food programme enabled him to circumvent international sanctions and raise hundreds of millions dollars, through kickbacks on UN-supervised sales of oil and imports of humanitarian supplies. Kojo Annan worked for a Swiss firm, Cotecna, that won a lucrative UN contract to monitor those imports.

You can read the rest of the London Times’ story here.

The full New York Times story is here ; the New York Sun story is here.

The Churchill Series - December 26, 2005

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Just a short post tonight. Its been a long, happy, active day, and I'm tired.

It's early January, 1942 and Churchill is taking a few days rest in Florida. He walks down to the beach for an ocean swim. Other than a handful of aides, there are only a few people further down the beach.

At the waters edge, Churchill decides to take off his trunks. He tells his bodyguard, Scotland Yard Detective Walter Thompson:

"If they are that much interested, it is their own fault what they see."

______________________________________
Tom Hickman, Churchill's Bodyguard. (p. 136)

Barone exposes Times' story. Cites MSM "bubble"

If Paul Krugman, Helen Thomas and Frank Rich are your kind of pundits, you won’t like Michael Barone’s latest op-ed. It’s an informed and carefully reasoned evisceration of the New York Times’ latest "Get Bush" effort: its “domestic surveillance story."

Here’s Barone:

What the Times didn't bother telling its readers is that this practice is far from new and is entirely legal. Instead, the unspoken subtext of the story was that this was likely an illegal and certainly a very scary invasion of Americans' rights.

Let's put the issue very simply. The president has the power as commander in chief under the Constitution to intercept and monitor the communications of America's enemies. Indeed, it would be a very weird interpretation of the Constitution to say that the commander in chief could order U.S. forces to kill America's enemies but not to wiretap -- or, more likely these days, electronically intercept -- their communications. Presidents have asserted and exercised this power repeatedly and consistently over the last quarter-century.

To be sure, federal courts have ruled that the Fourth Amendment's bar of "unreasonable" searches and seizures limits the president's power to intercept communications without obtaining a warrant. But that doesn't apply to foreign intercepts, as the Supreme Court made clear in a 1972 case, writing, "The instant case requires no judgment on the scope of the president's surveillance power with respect to the activities of foreign powers, within or without this country."

Barone, a graduate of Yale Law School where he was an editor of the Law Review, reminds us:

Warrantless intercepts of the communications of foreign powers were undertaken as long ago as 1979, by the Carter administration. In 1994, Bill Clinton's deputy attorney general, Jamie Gorelick, testified to Congress, "The Department of Justice believes, and the case law supports, that the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes."

And there's this:

In the Dec. 15 Chicago Tribune, John Schmidt, associate attorney general in the Clinton administration, laid it out cold: "President Bush's post-Sept. 11, 2001, authorization to the National Security Agency to carry out electronic surveillance into private phone calls and e-mails is consistent with court decisions and with the positions of the Justice Department under prior presidents."

Most Americans don't know this legal record. Barone tells us why:

"News stories" in the Times and other newspapers and many national newscasts have largely ignored this legal record. Instead, they are tinged with a note of hysteria and the suggestion that fundamental freedoms have been violated by the NSA intercepts.

Earlier this month, a Newsweek cover story depicted George W. Bush as living inside a bubble, isolated from knowledge of the real world. Many of the news stories about the NSA intercepts show that it is mainstream media that are living inside a bubble, carefully insulating themselves and their readers and viewers from knowledge of applicable law and recent historical precedent, determined to pursue an agenda of undermining the Bush administration regardless of any damage to national security.
...
Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of NSA and now deputy national intelligence director, has come forward to say, "This program has been successful in detecting and preventing attacks inside the United States."

There's more. Read the whole thing. Clip and save it.

If you have a well-intended friend whose been fooled by the Times and other left-wing media, share Barone's op-ed with them.

Doesn't CAIR have two other stories to tell?

At the online site of Daily Times which describes itself as "A new voice of a new Pakistan," we read a story that in one form or another we've been reading since just after September 11, 2001. It begins:

The Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim rights organisation in the United States, has described the revelation that Muslim gatherings and homes around Washington have been electronically “sniffed” for radiation as “disturbing.”

In a statement on Friday, CAIR said, “This disturbing revelation, coupled with recent reports of domestic surveillance without warrant, could lead to the perception that we are no longer a nation ruled by law, but instead one in which fear trumps constitutional rights. All Americans should be concerned about the apparent trend toward a two-tiered system of justice system, with full rights for most citizens, and another diminished set of rights for Muslims.”

If CAIR ever tires of its "we poor Muslims in America" meme, I hope it gives America its explanations for the following:

1) Why so few Muslims choose to emigrate from America.

2) Why so many Muslims have chosen to immigrate to America since 9/11.

If, as CAIR constantly tells us, Muslims are now second-class citizens with a diminished set of rights, why are so few leaving and so many coming?

CAIR should explain these comings and goings.

Surveillance point and counterpoint

Some of the sharpest and most amusing commentary in the blogosphere can be found on the post threads. Here's an example from Chicago Law Professor Cass Sunstein's post, Presidential Wiretaps.

First, this comment:

It seems probable that the administration did not seek FISA authorization for the surveillance because it thought it would not get approval from the special court.(bold added) Approval, including ex post approval, is apparently pretty easy to obtain.

Doesn't that suggest that the surveillance went beyond "those reasonably believed to be associated with Al Qaeda and its affiliates"?

About five comments down, there's a response that includes this:

I agree with most of (the previous commentator's) words but completely disagree with his thoughts and conclusion. Here's my version of his political thoughts-edited for fairness.

It seems probable that the administration did not seek FISA authorization for the surveillance because it thought it unnecessary, even though approval, including ex post facto approval, is apparently pretty easy to obtain. (bold added)

Doesn't that suggest that the administration underestimated its political enemies, the Democrats, and their print arm, the NYT etc.

You just have to smile.

The Churchill Series - December 23, 2005

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Churchill was always interested in mail from the public. Naturally he couldn't read it all, but staff did; and Churchill had staff keep a tally of the letters by categories he determined. The categories were a mix of "perennials" and subjects of current interest.

Here's the list he made and count for the week of April 2, 1955, when his retirement as Prime Minister was widely rumored:

Requests for autographs, photographs - 45

Foreign letters - 23

On the atom bomb and H-bomb - 21

Requests not to retire - 42

Congratualtion and good wishes - 30

"Lunatics" - 76

____________________________________________________
Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill: Never Despair. (p. 1117)

National Review correspondent puts in what the Times leaves out

National Review’s White House corresponedent Byron York provides critical background information as to why President Bush acted as he did with regard to domestic surveillance. York explains that was a lot more involved in Bush’s decision than just the need to “act fast.”

In 2002, when the president made his decision, there was widespread, bipartisan frustration with the slowness and inefficiency of the bureaucracy involved in seeking warrants from the special intelligence court, known as the FISA court.

Even later, after the provisions of the Patriot Act had had time to take effect, there were still problems with the FISA court — problems examined by members of the September 11 Commission — and questions about whether the court can deal effectively with the fastest-changing cases in the war on terror.

People familiar with the process say the problem is not so much with the court itself as with the process required to bring a case before the court. "It takes days, sometimes weeks, to get the application for FISA together," says one source. "It's not so much that the court doesn't grant them quickly, it's that it takes a long time to get to the court.

Even after the Patriot Act, it's still a very cumbersome process. It is not built for speed, it is not built to be efficient. It is built with an eye to keeping [investigators] in check." And even though the attorney general has the authority in some cases to undertake surveillance immediately, and then seek an emergency warrant, that process is just as cumbersome as the normal way of doing things.

Lawmakers of both parties recognized the problem in the months after the September 11 terrorist attacks. They pointed to the case of Coleen Rowley, the FBI agent who ran up against a number of roadblocks in her effort to secure a FISA warrant in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative who had taken flight training in preparation for the hijackings.

Investigators wanted to study the contents of Moussaoui's laptop computer, but the FBI bureaucracy involved in applying for a FISA warrant was stifling, and there were real questions about whether investigators could meet the FISA court's probable-cause standard for granting a warrant.

FBI agents became so frustrated that they considered flying Moussaoui to France, where his computer could be examined. But then the attacks came, and it was too late.

Isn't it interesting to read a calm, fact-based explanation of some very important issues affecting the tracking and capture of terrorist.

As you read York's report, did you find yourself wondering, "Why doesn't the New York Times provide information like this?"

York offers much more. It's all here.

The Secretary General and the "overgrown schoolboy"

Why would United Nations' Secretary General Kofi Annan lash out at a reporter, calling him an "overgrown school boy?"

Because the reporter was asking about the mysterious purchase of a Mercedes-Benz by Annan's son with the use of Annan's name to secure some UN sweetheart "money savers" on the purchase.

According to one press report:

Mr Annan ... lashed out at James Bone, a respected UN correspondent for The Times.

Bone had tried to ask the Secretary-General a question about the whereabouts of a Mercedes-Benz vehicle bought by Mr Annan's son Kojo and shipped to Ghana with the benefit of UN tax exemptions.

But an angry Mr Annan accused Bone of behaving like an "overgrown schoolboy". He then questioned the reporter's professional standards and, as he has done for months, refused to address the issue of the mysterious Mercedes.

"You are an embarrassment to your colleagues and to your profession," Mr Annan told Bone. "Please stop misbehaving, and please let's move on to a more serious subject."

Mr Annan's tirade came just minutes after he said a thick skin and a sense of humor were essential character traits for any future secretary-general.

I can't wait to see how the New York Times, Washington Post and other liberal news organizations report this story.

And what will liberal and further left pundits say about this latest from one of their favorite world leaders?

Stay tuned.

No Chruchill Series post - December 22, 2005

The will be no Churchill post today becasue of many other activities.

I'm sorry.

The Churchill Series - December 21, 2005

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Readers’ Note: This post is the second of a two-part post. The first can be found here.

On the morning of December 15, 1943 Churchill remained in bed. His temperature was still 101. There were no signs that his pneumonia had lessened.

Throughout the day, specialist physicians were flown from Cairo and Italy to Tunisia. They administered tests and prescribed medications. They told Churchill to cancel his work schedule. He reduced it somewhat, agreeing to see only one person at a time.

On December 16, Churchill summoned his personal physician, Lord Charles Moran. “I don’t feel well,” he said. “My heart is doing something funny – it feels to be bumping all over the place.”

Churchill was suffering a heart attack, at least his second in less than two years. (The other occurred during the night of December 26/27, 1941 when he was staying with President Roosevelt in the White House. News of that attack was not made public at the time.)

That evening he was “weak but cheerful.” He asked his daughter Sarah to read to him from Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice.

The following day Clementine reached him. They had not seen each other for almost six weeks. That evening they dined alone. The next day, Churchill suffered another heart attack.

Let us stop the narrative here to reflect a bit before continuing.

During the course of a single week (December 12 to 18) Churchill, age sixty-nine and with a coronary history, had pneumonia all the week and suffered two heart attacks.

No wonder his physicians feared for his life. In retrospect, it seems extraordinary that he survived at all, to say nothing of his living on for another twenty years.

From what source comes such vitality? We can only wonder.

Then there is the matter of Churchill’s behavior as a patient. In that, as in so many things, he wasn’t at all like most others.

Standard medical treatment at that time called for complete bed rest of six weeks or more following a heart attack. And the time was to be spent very quietly with no work or upset.

Churchill, as we’ve seen, would not accept such a routine. So was he reckless to press on with his extraordinary work schedule with all its enormous strains?

Well, before you answer, consider this: Moran says that Churchill repeatedly asked doctors who prescribed bed rest and quiet whether they had any evidence that such a regimen benefited a patient. They had to tell him no. He even asked if any of them knew of a single case where someone had gotten out of bed a day or two after a heart attack and been the worse for it. Again, the physicians said no.

So Churchill saw no reason for not going on with his schedule as his energy permitted.

He decided to continue meeting with people one at a time. He told his doctors he would get out of bed as soon as he felt strong enough.

Now back to our narrative.

By December 19 Churchill’s temperature was normal and Moran said “the signs of pneumonia are disappearing.”

In the succeeding days his strength returned even as he continued to work beyond the limits the doctors thought wise.

By December 24 he felt strong enough to get out of bed for the first time in two weeks.

On Christmas Day Churchill attended a brief religious service and then hosted a luncheon for military commanders. “His doctors are quite unable to control him,” his Private Secretary John Martin wrote, “and cigars etc have now returned.”

During the rest of December and into January Churchill maintained an active but reduced work schedule while also relaxing with painting and visits from friends.

On January 14, 1944 Churchill left North Africa by plane for Gibraltar where he boarded the battleship HMS King George V for the trip back to England. The ship arrived at Plymouth on the night of January 17. The King had sent his train to meet Churchill and take him on to London.

Of Churchill’s arrival in Plymouth an aide recorded, “There were no political, strategic or diplomatic dramas – the atmosphere was one of immense relief that the PM was back alive and well and truly in control of events.”
______________________________________________________________________________
For references to Lord Moran, see his Churchill: Stuggle for Survival. (pgs. 17-18 and 161-170)

For other references, see Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life (pgs. 762-767)

Senator Reid and WaPo team to distort Bush remarks

For Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and the Washington Post, teaming up to claim President Bush said something he didn’t say is as easy as one, two, three.

If you doubt that, read the first three paragraphs of this Post story, Democrats Criticize Bush For Saying DeLay's Innocent. Then look at what the President actually said.

Here are the paragraphs:

(One) Democratic leaders sternly criticized President Bush Thursday for saying former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, is innocent of felonious campaign finance abuses, suggesting his comments virtually amounted to jury tampering before DeLay stands trial.

(Two) "The president of the United States said a jury does not need to assemble, that Tom DeLay is innocent," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "To have someone of his stature, the president of the United States, prejudge a case is something I've never seen before."

(Three) During an interview Wednesday on the Fox News Channel, Bush was asked whether he believed DeLay was innocent of the charges of money laundering and conspiracy that led to his indictment and resignation from the House Republican leadership in September. "Yes, I do," the president replied.

It all sounds pretty bad until you look at what the Fox News Channel’s transcript reveals President Bush actually said about DeLay’s trial and his innocence during the Fox News interview with Britt Hume (Scroll about a quarter of the way down to get to remarks cited here):

HUME: You know a thing or two about Texas politics. What is your judgment of the prosecutor in the case, Ronnie Earle?

BUSH: I'm not going to go there, simply because I want — I want this trial to be conducted as fairly as possible. And the more politics that are in it, the less likely it's going to be fair. (Bold added)

HUME: Do you just — do you believe he's innocent?

BUSH: Do I? Yes, I do.

The President never said, as Reid charged, that “a jury does not need to assemble”. He said just the opposite: He wanted a “trial to be conducted as fairly as possible.”

As for the President's "he's innocent" comment, there is in America a presumption of innocence until proven guilty, something The Post often reminded us of during the Clinton administration.

But it's understandable that the Post didn't tell its readers what the President actually said about DeLay's trial or remind them of the presumption of innocence.

If the Post did those things, Reid’s charge and its story would be seen for what they are quicker than you can say, “one, two, three.”

Jay Leno on Iraq and the New York Times

“More Iraqis think things are going well in Iraq than Americans do.

I guess they don’t get the New York Times over there.” —Jay Leno

The Liberal Bubble

The American Thinker editor Thosas Lifson writes today on The Liberal Bubble.

To a remarkable degree, America’s liberal elites have constructed for themselves a comfortable, supportive, and self esteem-enhancing environment. The most prestigious and widest-reaching media outlets reinforce their views, rock stars and film makers provide lyrics and stories making their points, college professors tell them they are right, and the biggest foundations like Ford fund studies to prove them correct.

And has all of that helped liberals to thrive? No, Lifson says:

It has been a disaster for them.

Why is that? Because:

American liberals are able to live their lives untroubled by what they regard as serious contrary opinion. The capture of the media, academic, and institutional high ground enables them to dismiss their conservative opponents as ill-informed, crude, bigoted, and evil.

The memes are by now familiar. Rush Limbaugh and the other radio talkers “preach hate.” Evangelicals are “religious fanatics” comparable to the Islamo-fascists in their desire to impose “theocracy.” Catholics observant of the teachings of their church are “hypocrites” and their priests possible “pedophiles.” Jewish conservatives are members of the “neocon” cult, a suspicious lot schooled in the esoteric works of Leo Strauss.

Liberal elites tend to cluster themselves in the biggest cities, coastal blue states, and if marooned in a red state, liberal enclaves like Austin, Texas, Missoula, Montana, Lawrence, Kansas, and Moscow, Idaho. Ensconced in their turf, they feel free to utter causal epithets directed at the President, Republicans, or conservatives in general, as if no person worthy of respect would dare to disagree.

As a result, liberal discourse has become an in-group code, perfectly understandable and comforting among the elect, but increasingly disconnected from everyone else.

Lifson has a lot more to say. You can read it all here.

The Churchill Series - Dec. 20, 2005

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

November 30, 1943 was Churchill's sixty-ninth birthday. He was in Teheran attending a Big Three conference with Roosevelt and Stalin.

Because it was his birthday, Churchill hosted that night’s dinner for the three leaders and their aides. Toasts were drunk to his health, with many remarking on his great good spirits and inspiring energy.

But a few weeks later, Churchill's medical condition was critical and his personal physician, Lord Charles Moran, feared he would die.

This post and tomorrow’s post tell something of the battle for Churchill’s life and his remarkable recovery, even as he repeatedly defied doctors’ orders and engaged in activities which placed his life at greater risk.

On December 2, Churchill flew from Teheran to Cairo where he immediately launched into a series of troop inspections, Allied strategy conferences, and diplomatic negotiations while in off moments reading correspondence from London and elsewhere, and dictating letters, memos, and planning documents.

By December 9, Churchill was so exhausted he lacked the energy after his bath to dry himself. Instead, he lay on his bed and wrapped a towel around himself. But he pressed on with what he often called "my duty."

On December 10, after another long and active day, Churchill had a private dinner with a young British officer. The officer had just returned to Cairo from months behind German lines in Yugoslav where he'd helped coordinate British support for the partisan Tito, whose hit-and-run attacks were tying down many German divisions Hitler wanted to use against the Russians or to bolster the Atlantic Wall he knew the Allies would soon attack.

With dinner over and Churchill satisfied he had learned all the young officer could tell him, Churchill's day had not yet ended. There was still the matter of a trip to the airport and an eight-and-a- half-hour flight to Tunisia to meet the next day with Eisenhower.

After the kind of day Churchill had put in, an eight-and-a-half-hour flight would be an ordeal for anyone, especially under wartime conditions. But for a sixty-nine year old man with a poor health history?

There were the problems with the flight. The plane landed the wrong airport. For about an hour, Churchill sat on luggage beside the plane in a cold December dawn.

When matters were finally straightened out, there was another hour-and-a-half flight before he finally meet up with Eisenhower on December 10.

Later that day, Churchill sent Eisenhower a note:

I am afraid I shall have to stay with you longer than I had planned. I am completely at the end of my tether and I cannot go on to the front (for an inspection) until I have recovered my strength.

For most of December 11, he remained in bed while dictating to secretaries and meeting with military planners. He didn’t appear at all well.

On December 12 his temperature was 101. His physicians told him he had pneumonia and must cease work activities.

Churchill ignored them. He continued meeting with military officers and dictating letters and memos to staff.

Churchill’s biographer, Martin Gilbert, says that by the night of December 14:

Churchill’s heart began to show signs of strain. Lord Moran feared that he was going to die.

Churchill himself was philosophical, telling (his daughter) Sarah, “If I die, don’t worry – the war is won.”

Tomorrow we’ll see how Churchill’s life-threatening health crisis worsens before he begins a recovery, and goes on to lead in a war whose outcome was a great blessing to us all.
__________________________________________________________________________________
For references to Lord Moran, see his Churchill: Stuggle for Survival. (pgs. 151-162)

For other references, see Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life (pgs. 760-763)

Wise words on the NSA surveillance story

A Betsy Newmark post reminds us “I really don’t know” can be very wise words:

I haven't blogged about the whole NSA surveillance story, because, frankly, the combination of not knowing exactly how this procedure worked along with not having the legal background to understand all the laws and precedents seems to dictate that I shouldn't be pronouncing on this. In fact, I wish that most non-lawyers would just calm down before they start pronouncing this some terrible expansion of presidential power. And given, that we don't know much about whom was eavesdropped on and for how long and if a warrant was sought at some point after the fact, it seems that we have ignorance compounded in some of the discussion on TV and on blogs.

Betsy says the post that’s been most helpful to her is George Washington University Law School Professor Orin Kerr’s at the Volokh Conspiracy.

She also links to National Review’s White House correspondent Byron York who details problems the administration faced when using the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Betsy ends with a summary and link to commentary by political pundit
John McIntyre of Realclearpolitics.com along with some comments of her own.

Betsy and John agree Democrats who see political advantage for themselves in the surveillance debate don’t realize their party doesn’t do very well when it jumps into the National Defense and War on Terror end of the pool.

Read the whole thing. It’s a great post.

Should the AP help the Dems? My Opinion

The Associated Press must believe the Democrats are not doing a very good job attacking President Bush. Why else would the AP run a story: Bush Leaves Out the Bad News in Iraqi Poll? (Dec. 19, 2005)

It’s not news that President Bush is using poll results that suggest his policies are succeeding. Presidents of both parties always do that, just as the opposition party always points to poll results that cast doubt on the President and his policies.

News organizations are supposed to report what the President and his opponents say about polls, and let voters decide between them. And surely the Democrats are up to attacking Bush’s use of poll results.

But while the AP's news story sounds like the sort of thing you expect from Democratic Leaders Sen. Reid and Rep. Pelosi, it's all from the AP itself:

President Bush is making selective use of an opinion poll when he tells people that Iraqis are increasingly upbeat.

The same poll that indicated a majority of Iraqis believe their lives are going well also found a majority expressing opposition to the presence of U.S. forces, and less than half saying Iraq is better off now than before the war.

Now if Reid and Pelosi had made those remarks, it would have been reasonable and informative for the AP to ask questions such as: “Do either of you know what percentage of Iraqis support the immediate withdrawal of American and coalition troops from their country?”

But how can the AP ask the questions and report when it’s making the statements?

That question deserves consideration. Personally, I hope the AP stops trying to help the Democrats.

The AP and the country will both be better off if the AP develops into an unbiased news organization.

Readers’ Note: I’m pretty sure the AP would want me to say it already is an unbiased news organization.

No Churchill Series post on Dec. 19

Because of my work load, there'll be no Churchill Series post today.

I'm sorry for that.

The Series resumes tomorrow, December 20.

I usually have the Churchill post up by about 11:30 PM Eastern.

John

Reuters Plays a Democratic Party Game

In a story headlined, House approves $39.7 bln spending cuts (Dec 19, 2005), Reuters helps the Democrats play one of their favorite games. In the process, it misleads the public.

The story begins:

The House of Representatives on Monday narrowly voted to cut $39.7 billion from federal spending over five years, including health care and other social welfare, as part of a conservative push to contain these growing programs.

By a vote of 212-206, the House, at the end of a rare overnight session, approved the spending cuts, which were opposed by Democrats.

The House really didn’t make any spending cuts to health care and other social programs. It voted multi-billion dollar spending increases for them all, only by a slightly smaller percentage than earlier proposed.

But Reuters partners with the Democrats and calls the reduction in proposed spending increases “program cuts.”

Once an MSM news organization reports such “program cuts,” a game rule requires it to quote Democrats hammering Republicans for “hurting the poor and helpless.”

Reuters followed the rule:

Democrats criticized spending cuts to student loans, child care and other programs. Rep. John Spratt (news, bio, voting record) of South Carolina, the senior Budget Committee Democrat, complained that Republicans were negotiating last-minute deals to help medical equipment manufacturers and suppliers, while maintaining reductions in some programs for the poor.

Rep. Chet Edwards (news, bio, voting record), a Texas Democrat, said, "This bill under the Republican leadership makes Scrooge look like a philanthropist."
...
Additional savings would come in student loan programs, which Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat, called "the biggest cuts to student aid programs ever."

Ther's also a rule that allows MSM news organizations to report terrible things about Republicans without any supporting evidence. So Reuters can report Rep. Spratt accused Republicans of “negotiating last-minute deals to help ... manufacturers and suppliers, while (reducing) programs for the poor” without a quote from Spratt or anything else to support what it claims he said.

Some game!

Reuters waits until the sixteenth paragraph before reporting the $39.7 billion decrease in spending growth is part of a five year, $14 trillion dollar budget proposal. And it never reports the $39.7 billion represents only one-third of one percent of that $14 trillion.

Why does Reuters wait until the sixteenth paragraph? Why does it fail to report "one-third of one percent?"

Because that’s the way an MSM news organization plays the Democrats’ game.

More, Mr. President, Lots More!

I give President Bush a 10 for his press conference performance today. He was clear and forceful. Here he is on the New York Times' disclosure:

My personal opinion is it was a shameful act, for someone to disclose this very important program in time of war.

The fact that we're discussing this program is helping the enemy.

You've got to understand, and I hope the American people understand, there is still an enemy that would like to strike the United States of America, and they're very dangerous.

And, you know, the discussion about how we try to find them will enable them to adjust.

The President's words won't go down well with the liberals who dominate MSM and their Democratic Party friends in Congress, but most folks on Main Street will understand what he's saying and agree.

Michelle Malkin and Ankle Biting Pundits have extensive coverage, including links to other bloggers.

The White House transcript and webcast are here.

Bush got a big, unintentional assist from an obviously hostile, partisan press corps. If I were running the Republican National Committee I'd be working right now to place ads on TV and the internet highlighting the press corps' performance. I liked this reader comment at Michelle Malkin:

The press corps reminded me of that Saturday Night Live skit that ran in the beginning of the 1st gulf war. The press kept asking “ When exactly will we attack, from which direction and what forces will be used” and “What secret code do we use and how does it work?”.

These people are so clueless and blinded by partisanship that they actually expect the president to let everyone know what methods we use to track the communications of people that want to kill us all.

Most of MSM will continue to distort the President's words and actions. The only way for him to counter that is by talking directly to the people.

So more, Mr. President, lots more!

The Churchill Series - Dec. 18, 2005

(One of a series of daily posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

A few random facts concerning Churchill:

The former cavalry officer who loved polo and fox-hunting rode to his Sept. 12, 1908 wedding in an electric automobile.

During Churchill’s time, the Prime Minister’s official country residence, Chequers, lacked central heating. Eisenhower referred to it as "that damned icebox."

Churchill once told Eisenhower: "All I want is compliance with my wishes, after reasonable discussion."

Of Churchill and Eisenhower, historian Carlo D'Este says:

Although the two men would engage in numerous heated debates during the course of the war, neither ever lost his respect for or friendship with the other.

________________________________________
Randolph S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman for photo and description of automobile (after p. 222)

Carlo D'Este, Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life for other references (pgs. 328-331)

The Washington Post, domestic surveillance, and the Robert's children

The Washington Post editorializes today on government eavesdropping to determine whether people in this country are in contact with terrorists overseas. The editorial concludes:

Congress must make the administration explain itself. In the aftermath of the revelations, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said hearings on the matter would be a high priority in the coming year. That's good. It should be unthinkable for Congress to acquiesce to such a fundamental change in the law of domestic surveillance, particularly without a substantive account of what the administration is doing and why.

But the Post says nothing about domestic surveillance of some of American citizens' most private records. For instance, the adoption records of the Robert's children.

Remember? The New York Times decided it needed to take a look at the children's sealed adoption records. Blogger Michelle Malkin covered the story here.

To my knowledge, the Post never expressed any concern about the Times' domestice surveillance.

It's not too late for the Post to say whether it believes a private, powerful, partisan organization such as the Times should be able to secretly gain access to the adoption and other private records of American citizens, including children. And if so, under what circumstances, and with oversight by whom?

It would also be helpful if the Post explained how the new national shield law it and other newspapers are demanding would have operated in the case of the Times' snoop at the Roberts children's records. Would the law have prevented the public from learning what the Times was up to? Does the Post favor the public knowing when news organizations do such snooping?

Does the Post see any need for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter to hold hearings on what the Times did?