I won’t be blogging until Tuesday morning, so I wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks.

Thanks to all of you who’ve ever worn the uniform of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard.

Thanks to all of you who’ve served in the National Guard or Reserves.

Thanks to all of you who’ve fought to keep this country free.

And most importantly, to the friends and family of those who’ve paid the ultimate price for our freedom… may God bless you and your loved one, and may all of us take a moment to say a silent “thank you” to those you’ve lost in service to this great nation.

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I’ve called and talked to Michael Moore’s receptionist and left a message for him to call NRAnews.com. We’ll see if he calls… and if he doesn’t, we’ll give him another call.

Heck, now that I know his address I might just show up.

It’s a good thing it’s Friday, because I’m ready to quit reading the paper for a day or two. This is what’s passing for journalism these days.

In recent years, the government has told Americans it has credible evidence of impending terror attacks, of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and of collaboration between al Qaida and Saddam Hussein. But “credible” doesn’t mean the same thing to every government official, and even credible information can be wrong.

The warning this week from Attorney General John Ashcroft of a possible impending al Qaida attack in this country has set off a new debate among ordinary citizens, on the presidential campaign and inside the government over the meaning of “credible.”

Even some intelligence professionals were confused and suspicious of possible political motives for the announcement because there were no specifics about time, location or method of attack and no new information about the seven terrorist suspects. They also noted the Homeland Security Department did not raise the national alert level from yellow, midpoint on the five-color scale, to orange.

Of course, when you read the story, it’s readily apparent that the only debate the writer is referring to has nothing to do with the recent press conference by John Ashcroft and Robert Mueller. Instead, the story seems designed to raise questions about the timing of the press conference, insinuating that there are only political motivations, not national security concerns, behind the recent briefing.

This is getting old quickly, and I’m quite convinced that the media spin will only get worse the closer we get to November.

The grandstanding gasbag known as Michael Moore says he has footage of Nicholas Berg that he didn’t use in his film.

The footage, of an interview with Berg, “is approximately 20 minutes long. We are not releasing it to the media,” Moore said in a statement. “It is not in the film. We are dealing privately with the family.”

Neither Moore nor his representatives would describe the nature or contents of the interview with Berg, who held staunch pro-war views.

So why bring it up, Michael? Why mention to the press that you have this footage, but you’re not going to release it to anyone? So you can get a few column inches of free publicity? You’re using the death of a U.S. citizen to help sell your movie. You should be ashamed.

you people don’t really watch American Idol, do you? I mean, seriously now… that’s just wrong.*

*I’ve seen the show twice. I thought it was a horrendous pile of poo… yet I could also see how it could be horribly addictive. My advice to those who want to save their brain cells is avoid “reality shows” like the plague.

… just don’t have anything interesting to say today.

That could be bad, considering I have to do a three hour talk show in 54 minutes.

There’s nothing fun about being 1500 miles from your stressed out wife, unable to anything to help relieve her stress.

We had the home inspection today, which turned up several pre-existing problems with the home… problems that were there when we bought the home. Problems that our home inspection five years ago didn’t turn up. I’m more than angry. I’m incredibly pissed, as well as more than a bit stressed myself.

New intelligence indicates the increased possibility of a terrorist attack on American soil. Therefore, this must all be a Republican plot to re-elect George W. Bush.

From an internet message board on text gaming (not some political message board) that I visit:

When you can’t win the election any other way, try fear.

Republican ‘04 Political Platform:

God, Guns, Gays, “Terrorism”

Don’t get me wrong, I do think Al Qaeda’s a threat, particularly sinch BushCo’s been ignoring them for over a year to fight his *Short Victorious War* in Iraq, but the timing of these “alerts” certainly is interesting.

My goodness, he’s right. I mean, after all, we’re only five months away from the election! I’m sure it’s all just a ploy to keep us scared until October, when it’s announced that we’ve captured Osama bin Laden (whom we’ve secretly been holding since last February), thereby causing the sheeple of the United States to hold hands and dance around the maypole while joyously shrieking, “Dubya! Dubya! Dubya!”.

Or it could have more to do with the fact that we’re heading into the summer travel season, we have two party conventions, a major WWII memorial celebration, the G-8 summit, and the 4th of July all coming up within the next few months.

Nah. That makes too much sense. Let’s go with the October Surprise theory.

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I can’t explain it, but I seem to be suffering from an abundance of broken things lately. Obviously the website has been having some server problems, but I’ve also been dealing with a broken dishwasher and a broken freezer at the house. I get in to work today and find that storms have knocked out power to the building, so I’ve been dealing with spotty connectivity today. And, of course, the building’s air conditioning is broken.

Should be a fun show.

ack.

Good news and bad news on my concert-going experiences in Washington, D.C.

Bruce can partake of some selfish glee in knowing that Wilco is sold out, so I won’t be going to see them on June 9th. I think I’m going to be out of town that day anyway, so chances were actually slim that I could have made it.

But my displeasure is missing Wilco has been lessened by the fact that I just bought a ticket to see Grant Lee Phillips and John Doe at a little club here in Alexandria on June 13th.

If I feel like driving three hours, I might even go see Fountains of Wayne in Dewey Beach, Delaware on Saturday. Anybody up for a road trip?

Dean says we need more of this kind of anti-war protest. I’m guessing the fantasy is much better than the reality, Dean. Imagine Rosie O’Donnell in one of those thongs.

hat tip to Dean’s World.

On Tuesday’s Cam & Company (seen 2-5 p.m. EST on NRAnews.com), Tim Graham from the Media Research Center and National Review’s The Corner will be on to talk about how the big media covered President Bush’s speech last night.

I’ve really got to start posting these show previews earlier than fifteen minutes before we go on the air, but a couple of interesting guests on today’s show.

Emily Miller is with the Committee of Concerned Journalists, and one of the authors of the media study mentioned below. She’ll be on the program at 2:40 p.m EST. Also, White House Deputy Press Secretary Trent Duffy will be on the program at 3:40 p.m. EST.

As always, you can tune in from 2-5 p.m. EST at NRAnews.com. If you miss the live show you can catch the on-demand replay until 2 p.m. EST the next day.

I received a very odd email today.

6060.6 more terrorists per day.

Ok here are the calculations.

Arab populations:
Algeria - Population: 31,193,917 (July 2000 est.)
Bahrain Population: 634,137 (July 2000 est.)
Egypt Population: 68,359,979 (July 2000 est.)
Iran October 1986 census listed total population as 48,181,463
Iraq Population: 22,675,617 (July 2000 est.)
Jordan Population: 4,998,564 (July 2000 est.)
Kuwait Population: 1,973,572 (July 2000 est.)
Lebanon Population: 3,578,036 (July 2000 est.)
Libya Population: 5,115,450 (July 2000 est.)
Mauritania Population: 2,667,859 (July 2000 est.)
Morocco Population: 30,122,350 (July 2000 est.)
Oman Population: 2,713,462 (July 2000 est.)
Palestine Population ??
Qatar Population: 744,483 (July 2000 est.)
Saudi Arabia Population: 22,023,506 (July 2000 est.)
Sudan Population: 35,079,814 (July 2000 est.)
Syria Population: 16,305,659 (July 2000 est.)
Tunisia Population: 9,593,402 (July 2000 est.)
UAE Population: 2,369,153 (July 2000 est.)
Yemen Population: 17,479,206 (July 2000 est.)

Other Muslim countries:
Indonesia - 195,683,531 in July 1992
India - The Muslim population as of 1991 was 12.1% or 101.6 million people

I could list them all but this is enough… probably about 80% of Muslims are listed above

from list above:
622.4 million people in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries Let’s say average 80% are Muslim

That = 497.92 million Muslims in the world (on our list of countries, sorry to those I let off)

about 80% of Muslims around the world view the U.S. with disdain, 40% higher than BEFORE THE GOP TOOK complete control of the U.S. government. Those are the poll numbers, sorry to neocons, facts hurt.

497.92 x 40% = 199.17 million more Muslims hate the US now. That’s 119.17 million people with bad will toward Americans.

199.17 million more people dislike America today than 2 years ago. Those are the poll numbers. 80% now dislike the U.S .compared to 40% before Bush and the GOP took over our government.

Let’s see… of 199.17 million, how many would like to do us harm? Let’s say only a low 10% would like to harm U.S. citizens. That’s probably about the same number of radical right neocons that would like to harm Muslims but won’t fess up to it.

that’s 19.91 million Muslim extremists.

let’s be generous again and say only 10% of the extremists would actually carry out a harmful event towards Americans.

1.99 million would actually be bold enough to carry out a terrorist plan. That’s only 0.03% of all Muslims on my list. Ok, maybe that’s too high. let’s say:

1 million more extremists want to hurt us today than wanted to hurt us 2 years ago.

How many days has George Bush been in office?

years 2000 - 366 days
2001 - 365
2002 - 365
2003 - 365
2004 - 144 up to May 22, 2004
grand total = 1605 days

1 million more terrorists / 1605 days = 6060.6 terrorists per day

GW and the GOP have created 6060.6 new terrorists for every day of their administration.

By any measure, this is a total failure and the U.S. IS NOT SAFER TODAY THAN IT WAS 4 YEARS AGO!!

Next time you hear a neocon tell you that John Kerry is weak on terror and weak on defense just remind them of…

6060.6 new terrorists per day

And I’m sure if you had polled them, more Germans hated the United States in 1942 than in 1939. Just because public sentiment has changed doesn’t mean you’re doing the wrong thing. this is one of those typical emails with much blame and no solution. What would the emailer have us do differently?

Just for the record it’s been over two and a half years without another successful terrorist attack on American soil. That’s the opposite of a total failure in my book.

Sen. John Kerry’s poking fun at President Bush’s fall from his mountain bike over the weekend.

“Kerry told reporters in front of cameras, ‘Did the training wheels fall off?’ ” Mr. Drudge reported on his Web site, www.drudgereport.com.
Interviewed by The Washington Times yesterday, Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter would say only that the words Mr. Drudge reported were “off the record.”
Mr. Drudge said the debate among reporters over the on-camera “training wheels” remark has been “whether to treat it as on or off the record.”

Why am I not surprised that the news media is debating whether or not to report this. After all, Senator Kerry also fell off a bike recently, and I don’t remember President Bush making any snide remarks to the press about the spill.

More evidence of a media bias?

Those convinced that liberals make up a disproportionate share of newsroom workers have long relied on Pew Research Center surveys to confirm this view, and they will not be disappointed by the results of Pew’s latest study released today.

While most of the journalists, like many Americans, describe themselves as “moderate,” a far higher number are “liberal” than in the general population.

At national organizations (which includes print, TV and radio), the numbers break down like this: 34% liberal, 7% conservative. At local outlets: 23% liberal, 12% conservative. At Web sites: 27% call themselves liberals, 13% conservatives.

This contrasts with the self-assessment of the general public: 20% liberal, 33% conservative.

The survey also shows many reporters aren’t happy with their profession these days.

More than half of all national journalists (51%) and almost as many local journalists (46%) believe that their profession is off the mark and headed down the wrong path, according to a comprehensive study released today by The Pew Research Center, The Project for Excellence in Journalism and The Committee of Concerned Journalists. The study surveyed 547 national and local journalists from print, online and broadcast media.

Yet it’s not the perceived media bias that has reporters disgruntled. Instead, they tend to blame financial pressures.

Many journalists believe that increased financial pressure is “seriously hurting” the quality of news coverage — 66% of national news people and 57% of local journalists see it this way. That percentage is climbing when compared to past surveys. In 1995, for example, 41% of national and 33% of local journalists expressed this view.

Something tells me a survey of the general public would find that more readers, viewers, and listeners are more concerned with the slant of stories than the financial considerations of the news corporations.

I completely missed this story about Columbine killer Dylan Klebold’s parents finally speaking out. Maybe it was a good thing, considering what they had to say.

In their first interview since the Columbine High School massacre, the parents of one of the killers said they feel no need be forgiven and didn’t realize their son was beyond hope until after he was dead.

“Dylan (Klebold) did not do this because of the way he was raised,” Susan Klebold told columnist David Brooks in Saturday’s editions of The New York Times. “He did it in contradiction to the way he was raised.”

Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 13 people on April 20, 1999, before taking their own lives.

The couple took issue with people who say they forgive them for what happened.

“I haven’t done anything for which I need forgiveness,” Susan Klebold said.

They acknowledged they missed signs that their son was in trouble. Klebold and Harris were in a juvenile diversion program for breaking into a van and stealing tools and other items in January 1998.

Evan Todd might have something to say about these comments. He was shot by Klebold and Harris, but survived the shotgun blast and was able to save two fellow students that day.

Evan Todd’s father Dale is going to be on NRAnews.com this afternoon to talk about Mr. and Mrs. Klebold’s comments, who’s to blame, and what he’s learned over the past five years.

Ever since I moved to NoVa I’ve been waiting for something cool to happen… something that I couldn’t do in Oklahoma City. Okay, going to the Smithsonian on the weekend can’t happen in Oklahoma City… but that’s not what I’m talking about.

What I’m talking about is something like this: Wilco, one of my favorite bands, playing the 9:30 Club. I am so there.

Jonathan Alter (senior editor at Newsweek) goes on Air America to go off on President Bush:

The level of incompetence is so staggering here, and yet there’s this gap between how astonishingly incompetent — and we can go over particulars in the last year if you want to — how astonishingly incompetent they’ve been and the perception is still of them as solid citizens.
…

The only way you can sort of start to let the public know is to say, no, they don’t know what they’re doing. They’re clowns.

thanks to Patterico’s Pontification and The Corner for the info.

For I am a Grammar God!

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!

If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be.
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My wife will probably fall out of her chair when she sees this. She’s constantly emailing me to let me know of my spelling and grammatical errors on the blog.

Is on NRAnews.com right now.

**update**

Chief was great, and if you missed it you can catch it in the archives until tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Just go towards the end of the show… Chief Wiggles was on from about 4:30 to 4:50 (although the rest of the show was pretty darn good as well, of course!)

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Okay… so I haven’t heard back from Chief Wiggles as to whether or not he’s calling us or we’re calling him, so I have to assume for the moment that the interview will be rescheduled. If Chief Wiggles calls, that’s wonderful. If he doesn’t, Matt Evans from Operation Give will be coming on to talk about that wonderful organization.

Also on today’s show, columnist Ben Shapiro on Michael Moore, and a bizarre debate in the California State Senate. Plus, musical guest “The Pixies”!*

*okay, that last part wasn’t real. it just started to sound like a tease for The Tonight Show or something.

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Instapundit says he’s hearing from media types who are getting depressed about the lack of credibility in the profession these days.

A JOURNALIST I KNOW emails that the loss of credibility his profession is suffering is “seismic,” and that he’s considering quitting. What’s more, he’s hearing depressed comments from quite a few colleagues.

Another reader — who probably doesn’t want his name used because he works for a major newspaper — emails: “I’ve tuned out the MSM and rely on the ‘Net — bloggers, Lucianne.com, etc. — to keep me informed, which it does quite well. That way I get all the info but don’t have to endure Dan, Tom and Peter, Wolf, etc. I miss nothing that’s happening but I gain all the stories that the mainstream media simply ignore.” If you saw his address line, you’d know how striking a statement this is.

I’m seeing red over the lack of coverage regarding the sarin gas, the overcoverage of Abu Ghraib (in comparison to the death of Nick Berg), and the general tenor of reporting when it comes to Iraq. And I find it very interesting that vast majority of those who say there’s not a problem with the media are those left-leaning individuals who are hoping for nothing but bad news between now and November.

Has Andy Kaufman returned from the dead?

Twenty years ago, on May 16, 1984, most of the world believed that we had lost a comedic legend forever. This has turned out to be what will inevitably be known as the greatest comic prank ever conceived. Andy Kaufman, by all accounts, is alive and well at age 55 and is now living in New York City on the upper west side. To his loyal supporters and fans, Andy says “sorry about faking my death,” in a recent interview with ABC News at his apartment. In order to reach legendary comic status and seal his place in the history of performance art, he said it was “necessary to go away for twenty years.”

So what do you do when you return from the dead? You start a blog.

I’m not buying it. For one thing… it’s not funny. Go pretend to be Red Skelton, whoever you are.