Our friends at OpiniPundit are on to the latest news about Ward Churchill – plagiarizing another Prof’s work. Does that come within the protection of “academic freedom” too?
UPDATE: Also check out Scared Monkeys.

Apparently the new Star Wars movie will not be suitable for young children. That’s just great! My five year old son’s room is littered with Star Wars toys, posters, even underwear. He’s defined the importance of this spring as the season of his birthday, Easter, and the new Star Wars movie.

Lucas admits that the movie is too dark for young children, but says that he is happy with the product. Hellooooo….Mr. Lucas……remember us, your customers. I’m glad you find the movie so artistically fulfilling, but isn’t the point of making these movies to provide a product that your faithful audience wants to see?

I know this isn’t earth shattering stuff here, but I know one little guy who’s going to be disappointed with the rug being pulled out from under him.
Hat tip: Outside the Beltway

Take a look at the rise in the blogosphere and the reasons for its success. Much has been written about it including an extensive book by Hugh Hewitt (I must admit I haven’t read it yet- please don’t shun me) but when you get right down to it, the blogosphere rose because it filled a void.

Prior to discovering the blogosphere, we would watch the Sunday morning news shows in search of real political news and debate where both sides were truly represented. Too often the two sides of the debate were the far left and the moderate left, with the right excluded. Our views were not being covered. Personally, I would spend Sunday mornings arguing with the T.V., expressing my opinions to an inanimate object, while my sweet wife would pat me on the back saying “that’s O.K. dear.” Then came the blogosphere, and in an instant all that changed. Suddenly there was this forum which provided a nearly seamless exchange of unfiltered news and ideas, and unlike the T.V., it allowed us to participate. Notwithstanding the fact that we are living in a Western democracy and we are supposed to be “free”, it was liberating.

Now consider the young Iranian. I say young, because most of them are. Unlike North America’s aging population, Iran’s “boom” generation is under 30 – a technically savvy, computer driven group. Consider how the feelings of emancipation described above must pale in comparison to a young Iranian living in a mullahcracy discovering the blogosphere for the first time. Of course, I may be suffering from a bit of ethnocentrism – judging other peoples cultures by the standards of my own. I’m sure most liberals would make the condescending argument that the Iranians are not “us” and “we” can’t presume that the blogosphere would have any sort of liberating influence on the Arab world. But we’ve heard that before haven’t we.

Here’s a quote by Afshin Molavi, a writer who’s extensively covered Iranian political developments over the years from within Iran:

It?s increasingly apparent that Iran?s young are tuning out a preachy government for an alternative world of personal Web logs (Persian is the third most commonly used language on the Internet, after English and Chinese), private parties, movies, study, and dreams of emigrating to the West. These disenchanted ?children of the revolution? make up the bulk of Iran?s population, 70 percent of which is under 30. Too young to remember the anti-American sentiment of the ?70s, they share little of their parents? ideology. While young Iranians of an earlier generation once revered Che Guevara and romanticized guerrilla movements, students on today?s college campuses tend to shun politics and embrace practical goals such as getting a job or admission into a foreign graduate school.

And then there’s this nugget:

Meanwhile, Iranian intellectuals are quietly rediscovering American authors and embracing values familiar to any American civics student?separation of church and state, an independent judiciary and a strong presidency.

With the rise of the blogosphere amidst the pent up, unexpressed appreciation of American values, its only a matter of time before Iranian bloggers take down their own Dan Rather or Eason Jordan. But I suspect that they will have their sights set a little higher than an anchorman or news executive.

Tony Blankley of the Washington Times, gives one of the best sports analogies I’ve seen in awhile. Take a look at this snippet and then go read the whole thing:

President Bush plays politics the way my friends and I used to play pick-up football when I was a kid. In the huddle, the quarterback would tell everyone else to go out long. On the snap the quarterback would dance around in the backfield until one of us five or six receivers got open, at which point he would complete the pass. With both sides going long all the time, we often ended up with basketball scores.

The Democrats, on the other hand, when on offense, merely receive the snap and fall on the ball. When on defense, they put all their men on the line, trying for a quick sack of the quarterback. If the quarterback is too agile for them, they are vulnerable to be scored upon, given their lack of a pass defense.

When two such teams meet, the best score the all-defense Democrats can hope for is a 0-0 tie. The best score the all-offense Republicans can expect is at least a 56-0 win. So far, since 2001 the score is about 42-0…

Tony’s bang on.

Kofi Annan just came out with his views on how the world should react to Hezbollah’s attempt to assert control over Lebanon:

Annan said the world needs to accept that in every society different groups may hold different views. “Of course, we need to be careful of the forces at work in Lebanese society as we move forward,” he said.

“But even the Hezbollah — if I read the message on the placards they are using — they are talking about non-interference by outsiders… which is not entirely at odds with the Security Council resolution, that there should be withdrawal of Syrian troops,” Annan told reporters.

“But that having been said, we need to recognise that they are a force in society that one will have to factor in as we implement the resolution,” he said.

The basic premise of the U.N. is that all nations and regimes are considered equal. All countries have a vote whether they are democratic or despotic. Totalitarian countries such as Cuba sit on special human rights bodies. No regime is good or bad, only different, and deserving of respect. So while we shake our heads in disgust at the above quote we must remind ourselves that Kofi’s statements are far from radical. In fact, they sit squarely in the center of U.N. philosophy. Let’s not shoot the messenger. Let’s get rid of the great world moral equalizer we call the U.N.
More at Polipundit.

Today is Dan Rather’s last day as the anchorman for CBS News. There will be lots of posts about it today on many different sites. Here’s my connection – Rathergate was my first exposure to the blogosphere. Like so many others, I didn’t even know blogs existed prior to that event. The first blog I ever visted was Rathergate.com. I went there today and thanked them for introducing me to this amazing new world. Dan Rather stories will come and go, but the blogosphere is here to stay.

It was just a few short months ago that I started checking out the links at Rathergate.com. I did so again today, clicking on PoliPundit, a site I started going to regularly soon after my exposure to Rathergate.com. And there, just a few lines from the top of PoliPundit’s site, was a link to Musing Minds.

Things move fast around here.

“Zoinks Scoob, Miss Sgrena said she was shot at by a hail of bullets,” said Shaggy. “But there’s no bullet holes.”

“Rhosts Raggy??”

“Jinkies Scoob I don’t think a ghost shot at her, after all there is one bullet hole. But where’s the rest? Something funny is going on here,” Velma added.

“That’s right Velma, this story doesn’t add up,” noted Fred.

“Look here, these articles by Miss Sgrena are all about how evil Americans are,” Velma said pointing to her computer screen.

“I’ve got it!” said Daphne. “Miss Sgrena just wants us to believe that the U.S. soldiers tried to kill her. See, she’s been writing for years about how bad the Americans are, so she’s using the accidental death of one of her countrymen to convince the world she’s right.”

“Wow, exploiting this unfortunate death to push her own political agenda, that’s really creepy Daphne, but I think you’re right,” said Fred, shaking his head in disgust.

Just then the local Sheriff showed up with Sgrena. “We found her about a half mile away, she was just about to give another statement to CNN when we caught her.”

“Ok, you figured it out. But I would’ve gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling kids with your lap top computers,” Sgrena wept.

Welcome Jawa Report readers. Please look around. Welcome also to No Easy Answers readers.

Below I posted about the Italian journalist Sgrena. According to the Washington Times, the U.S. may have been kept in the dark about the release because the Italians were paying a hefty ransom. The U.S. (the adult in the family) disapproves of such practice because it only serves to create a “market” for hostages in the future. Not to mention the fact that now the terrorists have that much more money with which to buy explosives.

If I’m a journalist in Iraq right now I’d be thinking how much I’m worth on this market…..and wondering if my government would be willing to pay that price. Be sure to check out the links to the post below, there’s lots more.

You would think Assad was in a strong bargaining position by the way he’s currently acting. As reported by the LA Times:

Speaking to the Syrian parliament in Damascus, a defiant Assad seemed determined to display Syrian imperviousness to foreign pressure, refusing to say how soon the soldiers would pull out. The troops would first move to the Bekaa Valley, a strip of villages and farmland near the Syrian border, the president said. Then the Syrians and Lebanese would negotiate a move to the frontier between the two countries, but Assad didn’t say which side of the border they would occupy.

I like this quote from Assad:

“They may say this isn’t enough,” Assad told lawmakers. “But we say it’s enough.”

Really. I suggest Assad contact his real estate agent to start looking for a nice luxury spider hole because if Bush is willing to stand up to France, Germany, Russia (and a whole lot of other countries) to oust Saddam Hussein, he sure as heck isn’t going to back down against little Assad here, especially when Assad’s only backer appears to be our international darling Iran.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, a French commando supply ship has quietly slipped into the region. Hat tip Instapundit.

There are a lot of really good questions being asked about the Sgrena “abduction” and release. Check out Malkin, Jeff Goldstein and the Jawa Report. Hat tip PoliPundit.

Regardless as to what the facts ultimately show, what is remarkable (though not surprising in the least) is the complete lack of scrutiny Old Media is giving Sgrena. Given that she appears to be a radical anti-American communist whose track record indicates she’s more of a propagandist than a reporter, one would expect some mention of this by the media in recounting her position. But her position comes from the left, the same direction as her mainstream colleagues, and she’s telling the story that her colleagues desperately want to re-tell.

On the other hand there’s the scrutiny given the Swift Vets. Many had no track record whatsoever which would cast doubt on the veracity of their statements. Some even swore affidavits under oath, in effect putting their collective careers and reputations where their mouths were.

Yet completely opposite to the media’s treatment of Sgrena, not only were the motives of the Swift Vets discussed, they were the centerpiece of the story. The facts of the story were delved into only so much as to provide a background on which to base an attack against them. In the case of the Swift Vets, it was the story they were telling that made them unbelievable to Old Media and nothing more. No doubt if those very same individuals had come out with some revelations against the Bush administration instead of against Kerry they would be treated exactly as Sgrena is being treated today. Except unlike Sgrena, the Swift Vets would be deserving of such treatment.

UPDATE: Check out OpiniPundit, lots of goods stuff on this subject.

UPDATE II: LGF has pictures of the “bullet riddled car” except that there’s no bullet riddles – not any visible ones anyway and the windshield is completely intact. Sgrena claims that U.S. troops fired between 300 and 400 rounds. Lets see, a history of anti-US bias and now what seems to be an obvious misstatement. Oh, yes, she’s also claiming the troops intentionally targeted her.

UPDATE III: Apparantly the picture that the Associated Press used in its report was not the car that was shot at, but the car from which Sgrena was first taken. I’d still like to see that “riddled car” though.