Mark Bossingham

By any other name ...

REUTERS SURE has a way with words. One might, gosh golly, think they are trying to, as we like to say in the editing biz, baffle 'em with bullshit. The terrorist outfit Hamas has the destruction of Israel codified in its charter or as al-Reuters so delicately puts it:
    Hopes for peacemaking have been pushed further into limbo since Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel's replacement by an Islamic Palestinian state, scored a crushing victory over the long-dominant Fatah party in Wednesday's parliamentary election.
    Of course the definition of peace depends on the beholder. Once the fence went up Palestinian mayhem in Israel was cut ten-fold. A result far less bloody than during the ridiculously over-hyped Oslo peace process. Having no one to "negotiate" with has it's advantages. Draw your own borders, finish the fence, Israel. Strength equals peace. Appeasement equals death.

Democrats are ...

SOFTONTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerrorSoftOnTerror!

Reuters = Negligent journalism

FORT CARSON, Colo. (Reuters) - The highest-ranking U.S. Army officer charged with killing a detainee in Iraq was found guilty on Saturday of negligent homicide but not guilty on the more serious charge of murder of an Iraqi general during an interrogation.
    A jury of six Army officers convicted Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. in charges resulting from the suffocation death of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush.
    This gives you a pretty good understanding of level of competence of Reuters editors. Warrant officers are neither fish nor foul, somewhere between the enlisted ranks and the officer ranks. A measly 2nd Lt., the rank fresh-faced kids receive straight out of Officer Candidate School or West Point OUTRANKS a Chief Warrant Officer (of which there are a few grades).
    Put another way, if the "highest ranking U.S. Army officer" charged with killing a detainee in Iraq is a warrant officer, no other officers at all have been charged. Reuters should have just been content with the "highest ranking solider" but that really isn't sexy enough is it? Regardless, they are guilty as charged--of negligent journalism.
    If I know this stuff, they, your news source, are certainly obligated to.

Hellfire from above

"ZAWAHIRI, IF he slept three hours on a normal night, he's sleeping an hour and a half right now with his eyes wide open," Cloonan said. "He's looking around right now and wondering who handed him up. Not a nice feeling."

UPDATE – Crazy Noise

YO, A bit late but here's Chapter 12. Terrorized by the cops, Manny is driven from his squatter's abode near Nishi-Funabashi, Chiba, in the middle of the night. After barely escaping, he makes it back to Tokyo. Sam offers some help and Manny learns how to rent an apartment. I would say he learns the hard way, but there is no easy way. As usual, action-packed, marvelous writing and clever insights into Japan. You doubt? Read it, or better yet, buy it! I think there are some discounted copies now on Amazon, so you have no more excuses.
    Moonbats are exempt, of course, I don't think I address any of your religious beliefs, be they moral relativism, global warming or evil corporations. Well, on second thought, I do take a few pokes at relativists here and there. There are good guys, bad guys and, now that I think about it, no Americans at all. On second thought, knowing how you actually prefer to be miserable, there is much in the novel that could drive you into a snit. (I mean, let's face it, what doesn't?)

Listen up WaPo, NYT, al-AP

SOME GOOD advice for U.S. publications from an unlikely source, a European:
    "One of the best ways to maintain security is not to talk about it," culture ministry under-secretary and Turin Games chief Mario Pescante told Reuters in an interview.

She passes my test

FOR ALL of you (few) idiots that flunked the test below, Rep. Jane Harman top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, passed. She said on Dec. 21:
    As the Ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, I have been briefed since 2003 on a highly classified NSA foreign collection program that targeted Al Qaeda. I believe the program is essential to US national security and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities.

Moonbats! Take this test

BELOW IS an excerpt from a Reuters story:
    Revelations that the National Security Agency was secretly monitoring phone calls between people in the United States and al Qaeda suspects abroad has sparked an outcry from Democrats and Republicans. Many questioned whether it violates the U.S. Constitution.
    Now answer this question: Should the government monitor communications between al Qaeda suspects abroad and people in the United States?
    a) Yes.
    b) No.
    The correct answer is a. If you answered b you are a suicidal nutter and should be turned over to al Qaeda so you can learn what a legitimate civil rights violation is. Chop-chop.

Moonbat Virus

IT'S THE second day of the year and not much has changed. Tokyo is cold. The mutt won't leave me alone for more than a few minutes at a time (It's OK, she's getting old. The only thing I require these days is that she stick around), and the loony left has already provided a few chuckles.
    Somehow, God knows why, some Liberal blundered on to my site and posted a selected quote on what appears to be a well-traveled nut site. I have no problem with that. That people who disseminate top secret information should go to jail seems like a no-brainer to me. I actually don't think these people even understand the concept, or have ever seen classified material. To hold it in your hand is to instinctively know that some obligations are due. I simply can't imagine someone spilling the beans on info classified TS or higher for political gain.
    Anyway, who cares. I never read their sites. I already know their position on every issue, however poorly expressed. Unfortunately, I now I see their teeny metrosexual footprints here and there when I check my site traffic. Yuck, it's like a virus or more properly an invasion of the geeky undead.
    Regardless, snow is in the offing and I will not be forgiven if I don't take the Beast out immediately.

Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW Year. Your first dream of the New Year is called hatsuyume around these parts. A dream of Mount Fuji is supposed to be lucky. I didn't.  My dream may not have been lucky, and probably not suitable for all readers, but it was at least it was fun.
    Actually, I'm spending the New Year's weekend on a sort of meditation retreat, though I retreat no further than my den. With he wife out of town, it's good time for a bit of nonreflection.
    Also out of town (Washington) are the Democrats, so I am not subjected to more of their gibberish. It has been fun to watch them drive themselves off a cliff but a break is in order. Attacking an enemy at his point of strength is lousy strategy and the idiots in the Democratic Party are doing just that, trying to hammer Bush on security issues. Good luck.
    Yesterday, it was reported that the felonious leakers of top secret information are under investigation by the Justice Department. AP with its now childish bias, is calling the criminals that leaked top secret national security information to the NYT and the WaPo "whistleblowers" and digging up leftist professors to assert that the public has a "right to know" our methods and practices to identify terrorists within the U.S.
    Unfortunately for the reporters involved, precedent was set in the Valerie Plamme affair. Valerie, one of our most important national security assets, at least according to the NYT, was a desk jockey at Langley. Certainly this was comparable to revealing the location of secret prisons in Eastern Europe. These reporters can now expect to either cough up their sources or do some hard time. I can hardly wait.
    Of course, the NYT and the Washington Post think the American public is going to join them in quaffing down the Kool Aid. Apparently not. The latest poll has over two-thirds of the U.S. public just fine with NSA intercepts.
    Must end this with a joke. I expect the delusional AP writer didn't see the humor but, pleeze...
    By ED JOHNSON
    Associated Press Writer
    Dec 31 6:21 PM US/Eastern
    LONDON - Partygoers scrambled to get around London on Saturday night thanks to a New Year's Eve strike by subway workers, while French authorities worried a youthful tradition of burning cars could get out of hand just weeks after widespread urban riots. In parts of Asia, the threat of terrorism loomed large, and a bombing at a market in Indonesia killed eight people and wounded 45.
    You gotta be kidding me--"a youthful tradition of burning cars"? Only in a liberal-elitist universe can a bunch of junior Jihadists torch private property and their actions be called a youthful tradition. What a scream. Thanks, Ed, for starting off the year as foolishly as you ended it.
    Anyway, a Happy New Year to everyone. This includes people that retain the ability to think with some logic and those pitiable sufferers of BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome.) I love you all.