HURRICANE KATRINA DEATH TOLL

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A doctor has offered to perform free abortions on hurricane evacuees, saying it may be too dangerous for them to wait until they return home.

Despite protests from abortion opponents, Little Rock Family Planning clinic director Dr. Jerry Edwards said he has already performed six free abortions. The clinic usually charges between $525 and $600 for a first-trimester abortion.

"If we didn't provide it now, they would get it later — a late-term abortion that would give greater risk to the mother's health," Edwards told KTHV-TV in Little Rock.

Edwards, who runs the only abortion clinic in central Arkansas, was unavailable for further comment Tuesday, a clinic employee told The Associated Press.

Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life, said Edwards is risking further traumatizing women who have already lost their material belongings. "This just adds to the devastation these women already have in their lives," she said.

But Marvin Schwartz, spokesman for Arkansas-Oklahoma Planned Parenthood, said Edwards is providing women with a needed service.

"The timing of the abortion procedure is, of course, extremely critical. The earlier in the pregnancy, the less critical it is," he said.

My question is:

Will the murders of these unborn children be included in the official tally of the Hurricane Katrina death toll?

Liberal Media Cropping

Do mainstream media outlets have an agenda?

Some people actually trust the MSM to provide an "objective" presentation of events. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of those people are Democrats.

According to Gallup's annual Governance survey, conducted September 12-15:

[T]he other significant changes recorded this year are a slight increase in public trust in media and a slight decline in trust in public officials.

Americans' trust in the media has partially rebounded after declining from 54% in 2003 to 44% last year. (The cause of last year's drop is not clear, but the most visible news controversy at the time involved CBS News anchor Dan Rather's reliance on faulty documents in his report that was critical of President Bush's service in the National Guard.) Today, 50% say they have at least a fair amount of trust and confidence in the news media.

Interesting.

Now check out the breakdown of those numbers.

% Trust a Great Deal/Fair Amount by Party ID

News/Mass media

Republicans-----31%

Independents----49%

Democrats-------70%

That trust gap is enormous. Although Gallup is quick to blame Dan Rather and CBS as responsible for last year's dismal 44% figure, the organization does not give any analysis, other than those numbers, as to why the majority of Republicans and Independents still continue to distrust the media.

Remember, this poll was taken before major media outlets pointed out that a significant amount of the Hurricane Katrina coverage was based on rumors and distortions.

Why would Democrats so strongly approve of the media's performance, while Republicans and Independents remain highly skeptical?

It's obvious. The MSM are mouthpieces for the Dems.

Remember this revealing bit of misrepresentation in the media?

Here's a photo that accompanied a Washington Post story detailing the appearances of Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Sheen at the August Crawford protest.



The caption read:

Cindy Sheehan, left, holds Rev. Al Sharpton's hand, center, as Evan Bright reaches over to comfort her as they lay roses at the crosses at Camp Casey 2 near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005. Both women lost their sons in the war in Iraq.

It seems like it was quite a prayerful moment, a time of solemn remembrance.

The photo above certainly makes it look like a touching, intimate scene.

Looks were deceiving.

Upon zooming out, it became evident that the moment was an event manufactured for the media. Of course, they dutifully ate it up.




That intimate, heart-wrenching moment came off a little differently when viewed from this perspective, didn't it?

Once again, we have yet another example of liberal cropping.

This time it comes from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Zombie exposes the truth.

This photo appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle as part of its coverage of an anti-war protest in San Francisco on September 24, 2005.



This closely cropped photo shows what the protester is against--war. However, it does not show what the protester is for.




Zombie snapped the same photo, but gives its larger context. "You can see that the girl's protest contingent also sported Palestinian flags and obscene placards."

One more step back reveals an even clearer picture of the protester's group.



Zombie writes:

Here's my full original photo, uncropped. Now we can see that the girl is just one of several teenagers, all wearing terrorist-style bandannas covering their faces.

But, as you'll notice, the bandannas are all printed with the same design. Was this a grassroots protest statement the teenagers had come up with all by themselves?

When people picked up the San Francisco Chronicle and saw its photo of the protester, they received a distorted portrayal. They were not given the full context, that the teen was part of a group of terrorist wannabes.

It becomes clear that the person in the photo doesn't seem to be saying "No to war" at all. In fact, the protester comes off as promoting war against Israel. That's the part that the San Francisco Chronicle didn't want the public to see.

Thanks to the New Media, we saw it.

Sheehan and McCain

There was no meeting of the minds at this meeting of media whores.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Peace mom Cindy Sheehan didn't change her opposition to the war in Iraq after meeting Tuesday with one of its supporters, Sen. John McCain a Vietnam veteran whom she called "a warmonger."

Sheehan thanked McCain for meeting with her, but she came away disappointed.

"He tried to tell us what George Bush would have said," Sheehan, who protested at the president's Texas home over the summer, told reporters. "I don't believe he believes what he was telling me."

First, why does the AP keep calling Sheehan a "peace mom." Why not "anti-Semitic mom"? Why not "nutjob who thinks our troops are occupying New Orleans mom"?

Perhaps "mind reader mom" would be most appropriate. Sheehan believes that she knows what McCain REALLY believes about Iraq, and it's not what he's been saying in public.

She is starting to sound like John Edwards channeling the words of an unborn baby girl. "She speaks to you through me...I feel her presence. She's inside me, and she's talking to you."

Is that a power that all liberals have?

McCain, R-Ariz., also seemed disappointed in the meeting, which he said had been misrepresented as including some of his constituents. Only one person in her small delegation has ties to the state, and that person no longer lives there.

The two exchanged views about the war, and McCain described the conversation as "a rehash" of opinions already well known. He said he might not have met with Sheehan had he known none of his constituents was in the group.

So, McCain was looking for a meeting with his constituents and wasn't particularly interested in Sheehan?

I find that hard to believe. Would McCain meeting with a few of his constituents from Arizona have brought out the press? I don't think so.

If a meeting is held, and the press doesn't cover it, does McCain call it a meeting?

..."He is a warmonger, and I'm not," Sheehan said after meeting with McCain. "I believe this war is not keeping America safer."

"She's entitled to her opinion," McCain said. "We just have fundamental disagreements."

There's breaking news. Stop the presses!

...Sheehan and McCain had met once before, shortly after the funeral of her son. Sheehan said Tuesday that McCain told her then that her son's death was "like his buddies in Vietnam" and that he feared their deaths were "for nothing." McCain, however, denied he made such a statement.

I'm inclined to believe McCain on this one.

Sheehan could easily be confusing McCain with another Vietnam vet senator. Maybe John Kerry.

Media Disgrace

Worldwide, reports went out that there was anarchy in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. While there was tremendous suffering in the city, the lawlessness was GREATLY exaggerated and a pack of rumors were completely fabricated.

Rumors often run wild in times of crisis. However, when the news media report the rumors as facts, there's a problem.

The September 4, 2005, New York Times trumpeted the fabulous reporting of Brian Williams on Hurricane Katrina. The paper declared his work a "career-maker."

As it turns out, Brian Williams and others solidified their journalistic credentials as befitting tabloid TV.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Maj. Ed Bush recalled how he stood in the bed of a pickup truck in the days after Hurricane Katrina, struggling to help the crowd outside the Louisiana Superdome separate fact from fiction. Armed only with a megaphone and scant information, he might have been shouting into, well, a hurricane.

The National Guard spokesman's accounts about rescue efforts, water supplies and first aid all but disappeared amid the roar of a 24-hour rumor mill at New Orleans' main evacuation shelter. Then a frenzied media recycled and amplified many of the unverified reports.

Frenzied is an excellent way to describe the state of the media after Katrina.

Do you think that there's a chance Oprah will do a show on how irresponsibly Louisiana officials and the media behaved?

Is she upset about their actions which directly led to greater hardships for the hurricane victims?

...The New Orleans Times-Picayune on Monday described inflated body counts, unverified "rapes," and unconfirmed sniper attacks as among examples of "scores of myths about the dome and Convention Center treated as fact by evacuees, the media and even some of New Orleans' top officials."

Indeed, Mayor C. Ray Nagin told a national television audience on "Oprah" three weeks ago of people "in that frickin' Superdome for five days watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people."

Journalists and officials who have reviewed the Katrina disaster blamed the inaccurate reporting in large measure on the breakdown of telephone service, which prevented dissemination of accurate reports to those most in need of the information. Race may have also played a factor.

The wild rumors filled the vacuum and seemed to gain credence with each retelling — that an infant's body had been found in a trash can, that sharks from Lake Pontchartrain were swimming through the business district, that hundreds of bodies had been stacked in the Superdome basement.

Where were all the investigative reporters? Wasn't anyone able to get to the truth?

Nagin was tossing around unsubstantiated reports like a writer for Newsweek.

...Times-Picayune Editor Jim Amoss cited telephone breakdowns as a primary cause of reporting errors, but said the fact that most evacuees were poor African Americans also played a part.

"If the dome and Convention Center had harbored large numbers of middle class white people," Amoss said, "it would not have been a fertile ground for this kind of rumor-mongering."

What a thoroughly racist statement!

Amoss said that middle class white people are more capable of sorting fact from fiction than poor African Americans.

Can you imagine if Bush said that?

Some of the hesitation that journalists might have had about using the more sordid reports from the evacuation centers probably fell away when New Orleans' top officials seemed to confirm the accounts.

Nagin and Police Chief Eddie Compass appeared on "Oprah" a few days after trouble at the Superdome had peaked.

Compass told of "the little babies getting raped" at the Superdome. And Nagin made his claim about hooligans raping and killing.

State officials this week said their counts of the dead at the city's two largest evacuation points fell far short of early rumors and news reports. Ten bodies were recovered from the Superdome and four from the Convention Center, said Bob Johannessen, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

(National Guard officials put the body count at the Superdome at six, saying the other four bodies came from the area around the stadium.)

I've said it before. Nagin is no Giuliani. I wonder how much suffering could have been prevented or at least alleviated more quickly if a better qualified individual was the mayor of New Orleans.

At least Compass resigned on Tuesday.

Nagin's reaction:

"It's a sad day in the city of New Orleans when a hero makes a decision like this. He leaves the department in pretty good shape and with a significant amount of leadership."

A hero?

Right.

...The media inaccuracies had consequences in the disaster zone.

Bush, of the National Guard, said that reports of corpses at the Superdome filtered back to the facility via AM radio, undermining his struggle to keep morale up and maintain order.

"We had to convince people this was still the best place to be," Bush said. "What I saw in the Superdome was just tremendous amounts of people helping people."

But, Bush said, those stories received scant attention in newspapers or on television.

Gee, sounds similar to the MSM's coverage of conditions in Iraq. There's no time to report the good news of schools and hospitals opening, but plenty of time to dwell on Abu Ghraib.

The "inaccuracies" of the media made matters worse for hurricane victims in the Superdome. The media were actually doing a disservice and adding to the problem.

It's funny how often the Drudge Report, which for the most part is a page of links, is degraded by the MSM. Matt Drudge and his "Sludge Report" is looked down on as sensationlist rumor-mongering.

Who's rumor-mongering now???

Members of the MSM are agenda-driven. They cannot say that they are better than Drudge or better than tabloid reporters.

They have very, VERY little to be proud of regarding their coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Let's face it. It has been shown to be an utter embarrassment.

Arrested Development

I've never been arrested. Maybe I should try it. Cindy Sheehan makes it look like so much fun!

She should be careful. I think getting arrested can be quite addictive for some people.

For example, the delusional President Martin Sheen has been arrested over sixty times!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Cindy Sheehan, the California mother who became a leader of the anti- war movement after her son died in Iraq, was arrested Monday along with hundreds of others protesting outside the White House.

Sheehan, carrying a photo of her son in his Army uniform, rallied with other protesters in a park across the street from the White House and then marched to the gate of the executive mansion to request a meeting with President Bush.

The protesters later sat down on the pedestrian walkway in front of the White House _ knowing they would be arrested _ and began singing and chanting "Stop the war now!"

The protesters have had days of different events. Was it really necessary to manufacture an activity that would assure their arrests?

I guess something drastic needed to be done for Sheehan to continue to hold the media's attention.

Police warned them three times that they were breaking the law by failing to move along, then began making arrests. One man climbed over the White House fence and was quickly subdued by Secret Service agents.

Sheehan, 48, was the first taken into custody. She smiled as she was carried to the curb, then stood up and walked to a police vehicle as protesters chanted, "The whole world is watching."

As the photo shows, Sheehan was very pleased with herself, all smiles. Apparently, this grieving mother takes solace in breaking the law.

Perhaps she enjoyed the crowd chanting, "The whole world is watching."

They're right. The world is watching, including terrorists, our enemies that want to carry out attacks that will outdo the carnage and destruction of 9/11.

This is exactly what they want to see.

Protesting, while certainly a right of all Americans, isn't always the right thing to do.

Cindy Sheehan may be the face of the anti-war movement; but she has also become the face of the anti-American movement.

Al Jazeera loves her!

Some samplings of how Sheehan's activities are being reported in the Arab world:

Thursday 22 September 2005 -- Sheehan was joined by about 30 supporters in her march down Pennsylvania Avenue on Wednesday to deliver a letter to Bush urging him to pull the troops out of Iraq.

"We want to hold this administration accountable. Nobody's asking them the hard questions but you know what, we're willing to come here," said Sheehan, the California mother whose son Casey was killed in combat in Iraq.

"We're willing to spend weeks out of our lives and ask them the hard questions," she added after handing a poster-sized petition through the iron gates of the White House to a staff member who promised to deliver it.

..."There's still a war on," Sheehan said on Capitol Hill. "Nine Americans were killed yesterday in Iraq. We will end this war. We will bring the troops home."

Sunday 25 September 2005 -- Opponents of the war in Iraq have rallied by the tens of thousands to demand the return of US troops, staging a day of protest, song and remembrance of the dead in marches through Washington and other cities in the US and Europe.

A mile-long procession of demonstrators marched through downtown San Francisco on Saturday to demand President George Bush be ousted from office and US soldiers brought home from Iraq.

..."We have to get involved," said Erika McCroskey, 27, who came from Des Moines, Iowa, with her younger sister and mother for her first demonstration, travelling in one of the buses that poured into the capital from far-flung places.

"Bush lied, thousands died," said one sign. "End the occupation," said another.

..."We believe we are at a tipping point whereby the anti-war sentiment has now become the majority sentiment," said Brian Becker, national coordinator for Answer, one of the main anti-war organisers.

Monday 26 September 2005 -- Cindy Sheehan, the American woman whose son was killed in Iraq and who has spurred the anti-war movement in the US, has been arrested while protesting outside the White House.

...Sheehan, 48, was the first taken into custody. She was led to a police vehicle while protesters chanted: "The whole world is watching."

I think what makes Sheehan particularly attractive to Al Jazeera and other anti-American propaganda outlets is her strong opinions against Israel.

The Muslim American Society, a group that played an important role in the weekend's protests, was especially pleased with the anti-Israeli rhetoric that permeated the events.

From its website:

Protestors, many of whom were first-timers, came from all over the country, representing a wide spectrum of age, ethnicity, political views and faith traditions. What fused this sea of humanity descending upon our nation’s capital was a unity surrounding the opposition to the war in Iraq, and the current domestic and foreign policy of President George W. Bush’s administration.

...The September 24 March on Washington was initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, which included a broad coalition called the September 24 National Coalition for the March on Washington.

The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation served as the Muslim community representative on the Coalition’s Executive Committee, and played a significant role in organizing the event. However, MAS Freedom played a more pivotal role in insisting and negotiating that the cause of the Palestinian struggle not to be relegated to a side- or non-issue in the demonstration.

Additionally, MAS Freedom Executive Director Mahdi Bray spoke and emceed a significant portion of the rally, which was broadcast live on C-SPAN. MAS President. Dr. Esam Omeish, also spoke to the rally and national C-SPAN audience, followed by an evening appearance on Al Jazeera from live at the rally site.

Yes, the world is watching.

That's what makes the grandstanding Sheehan and her cohorts so dangerous to our safety.

They are helping America's enemies.

How NOT to Support the Troops

Surely, there must be some people who are capable of articulating their opposition to the Iraq war in a reasonable fashion.

If any were in Washington for Saturday's anti-war protest, their presence was lost amid the antics of the looniest of the Leftist loons. They were out in force.

That's unfortunate.

Saturday's rally succeeded in marginalizing the anti-war movement. Rather than an impressive show of thousands of concerned people committed to the cause, the gathering illustrated the extremist nature of many groups in attendance. It was far from impressive. It was embarrassing.

Maybe that's why so many wore masks. Apparently, those participants borrowed that strategy from the KKK and Hamas playbooks--cover your face.

There's no polite way to say this. The event attracted a lot of nutjobs.

Some protested capitalism. Some protested the police. Some promoted conspiracy theories. Some called for the impreachment of Bush and depicted him as Hitler. Some called for the incarceration of Cheney and urged his castration.

Some chose to honor the troops by displaying the American flag upside down, the flag that drapes the coffins of the fallen.

It was a diverse bunch, with varied agendas; but they were united by one thing:

HATE

29 Years Ago in Larry's Kitchen

Bono, September 25, 2005

It was a miserable Sunday night, as far as the weather goes. There was a driving rain, with occasional flashes of lightening and crashes of thunder.

It was the kind of night that you would not want to be on the road, the kind of night to stay snuggled inside; but not for me.

I'd been looking forward to this late September Sunday night for months and all I cared about was what was going on inside the Bradley Center.

Last night, U2's concert was a celebration. Each of their concerts are celebrations of sorts. This one, however, was special. It was an anniversary.

After opening with "City of Blinding Lights," then going into "Vertigo," and following with "Elevation," U2 revisited the early days.

Twenty-nine years ago, in Larry's kitchen, the four lads gathered for the first time and played together as a band.

There's a lot of history in twenty-nine years. It's more than a third of a lifetime.

Bono said from the stage, "Twenty-nine years to this day, this band met for the first day. Little boys with big ideas - probably just big heads."

Those little boys, with their big ideas, and heads, grew up to become one of my all-time, must see, favorite bands.

As a special nod to their anniversary, U2 performed some oldies but goodies from Boy, their first album. It was great to hear "Electric Co." and "The Ocean."

I'm not certain exactly what Bono said just before launching into "Electric Co. It was something to the effect, and I paraphrase, "Some of you may not know these songs, but who cares?" As a longtime fan, I enjoyed that. I knew them well.

I don't know if this was intentional, but after dipping into their distant past, the band performed "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." I think there was a message there. The band took us all the way back to the beginning and then reminded us that twenty-nine years and tremendous success don't necessarily mean complete fulfillment.

That was followed by "Beautiful Day" (which it was, in spite of the rain); and then three songs from their most recent release, all of which were fantastic.

I'm not sure when this happened, but it wasn't all that long into the show. After finishing a song, Bono took a swig from a bottle of water. Then, he splashed the remainder out onto the crowd. It made me think of a priest blessing the faithful with Holy Water.

Our seats were GREAT, on Edge's side at mid-circle of the stage.

They all genuinely seemed to be enjoying themselves. Of course, U2 never phones in their shows, at least not ones that I've attended. The energy is always there; but I sensed a greater closeness between them last night. Maybe it was because this time I was close enough to really see the smiles they exchanged with each other. None of it seemed forced. It smacked of sincerity.

I last saw a U2 show in May. Many of the elements of that performance were the same as this one.

Naturally, Bono talked about Africa and strides being made to alleviate poverty there. He thanked everyone in the audience that had signed on to the One campaign.

He also spoke of the suffering and devastation here at home with Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Bono said that one of the reasons the four members of the band were so fond of America is because when our country gets hit, we all pull together to help.

An interesting little twist--Bono sang a few lines of "Old Man River," from the musical Showboat.

I didn't see that one coming!

At one point, I think after "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," holding the Irish flag, he talked about the pride he felt for his home country. Today, the Irish Republican Army is expected to announce that it has destroyed its arsenal of weapons. Bono applauded these men and women for taking this bold step to end "the Troubles" in Ireland.

Bono said that years ago, he would cut the green and orange strips from the Irish flag and just hang onto the white portion. On the eve of the disarmament, Bono claimed to finally be comfortable with what the entire flag represented.

As in May, with Edge playing keyboards, Bono dedicated a song to the "brave men and women of the military." In May, it was "Running to Stand Still." This time, it was a haunting version of "Miss Sarajevo."

A U2 concert wouldn't be a U2 concert if Bono didn't run off at the mouth a bit; but that was kept to a minimum. He presented a positive message and acted as a cheerleader for his causes without being condescending or offensive, like the Dixie Chicks and Kanye West, for example. The list of celebrities who use their status to ram their politics down their audiences' throats is a long one. Bono, in recent years anyway, has learned to gently slide it down, making it far more effective.

With age, Bono's pontificating has taken on a much mellower tone. I think he wants to be a uniter, not a divider. If only others were willing to adopt his approach.

As always, the fifth band member on stage was God. Again, sincerity of personal convictions was in abundance.

The encores offered some endearing moments.

The first encore began with one the band rarely plays live, "First Time." It was a simple arrangement, with Edge playing acoustic. Absolutely lovely.

Then, a very funny, yet sweet thing happened on the next song. Again, with Bono and Edge standing at the tip of the circular walkway, they went into "Wild Horses." There were some miscues. Bono was a bit lost on the lyrics.

The song came to a complete stop. With Bono saying, "Just give us a minute," he and Edge had a little conference and started over. After finishing that one up, Bono shrugged his shoulders and made a thumbs up and a thumbs down sign, in effect asking the crowd, "What did you think?"

I gave it two thumbs up. Although it seemed like I was witnessing a rehearsal rather than an encore, I loved it.

For "With or Without You," Bono pulled a woman on stage with him. He embraced her for the entire song and bowed down to kiss her hand at the end.

The second encore had a terrific, high-energy version of "All Because of You."

That was followed by a beautiful, stripped down rendition of "Yahweh." As a believer, that one really hits home. Bono altered the lyrics a bit at the end.

Instead of "What no man can own, No man can take, Take this heart, Take this heart, Take this heart, And make it break," he sang:

What no man can own,
Only God can take,
Take this heart,
Take this heart,
Take this city's heart,
And keep it safe.

The show ended just as it did in May, with "40" and Bono shining a hand-held spotlight on the crowd.

After saying his final goodbye, Bono exited first. The three remaining on stage continued as the crowd sang. Adam was next to say goodbye and leave. Edge and Larry played on. Then, the music stopped. Edge left, with Larry sitting at the drums, silently staring at the crowd. He then punctuated the night with a solo blast, came out in front and waved his goodbye.

After all these years, U2 is still a band in every sense of the word.

Last night displayed what an incredible journey it's been for those four teenage boys who met in Larry's kitchen twenty-nine years ago.

I'm so glad I've been along for the ride.





Set List

City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
Cry / Electric Co.
The Ocean
I Still Haven’t Found What I'm Looking For
Beautiful Day
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can’t Make it on Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (In the Name of Love)
Where the Streets Have No Name
One

First Time
Wild Horses
With or Without You

All Because of You
Yahweh
40