M.A.W.B. Squad

Love Those Condi Boots

Eloise is right, of course, backed up by Rew, Doug, and Kathy the Cake Eater, (who is fund raising by the way).  Meanwhile, Jeff is secretly hoping this will lead to mud wrestling.  So, I'm left to explain the soft pedal in my original post about the article.

1.  Relief:  I accepted the interview knowing that Minnesota Women's Press promotes a "transforming feminist worldview."  They're open about the fact that they have an agenda.  As a realist, there was no question the article would be written with a Femspeak perspective.  My first reaction was enormous relief that the portion that featured the M.A.W.B. Squad dealt with the local blogger scene.  (I excel at compartmentalization.)

2.  Discovering My Inner Media Whore:  Taylor left out the part about M.A.W.B. leaning right, giving her readership no reason to avoid us.  Bring on the feminists!  As long as they're civil, I look forward to the debate.

I did mention during the phone interview that I wouldn't consider myself a feminist, (my personal policy is "please put me on a pedestal anytime"), and that the M.O.B. blogroll is mostly conservative, but more center and left blogs are joining.  (Although they didn't mention our leanings, I do give them some credit for not excluding M.A.W.B. Squad from the article even though we don't fit their politics.)

3.  My Future as Secretary of State: Years of working in the corporate world have led me to hone the fine art of diplomacy.  For example, instead of saying:

"Jeff in accounting wouldn't recognize a new idea if it slapped him upside of the head."

The corporate diplomat says:

"We want to thank Jeff for the contributions he's made, all of which will be taken into consideration."

I can sense your shuddering through my keyboard.  Diplomacy?  In blogging?  Say it isn't so!  Blogging is supposed to be the wild, wild, west of media!

True.  But, remember M.A.W.B. is not only a blog.  It's also a plot for world domination.  On our journey to the top, diplomacy will be required.  It's a high-flying, lavish state dinners, traveling kind of lifestyle, but I'm willing to sacrifice for the team.  Besides, I love those Condi boots.  Note to self.  Must include in wardrobe budget.

4.  An Explanation in Song:

What would you think if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me.
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song,
And I’ll try not to sing out of key.
I get by with a little help from my friends,

Was there any chance I could link to that article and not expect a reaction?  None. Nada. Zip.  Thanks for doing the heavy lifting.

Pyongyang Times of Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Times has joined the ranks of famous propagandists; Tokyo Rose, Hanoi Hanna, Baghdad Betty.  In a front page story, North Korea, Without the Rancor, the Times bureau chief in South Korea, Barbara Demick, brings us "Mr. Anonymous", a "business man with close ties to the government", who in an "informal conversation" gives us a "personal" perspective of North Korea and their relations to the U.S. that is straight out of DPRK propaganda manuals.  The L.A. Times story was also reprinted in the New Hampshire Union Leader.

My interest in Korea began due to my work. The history of splitting a nation along an imaginary line, families that never see one another again, the most closed society in the world, is all fascinating.  I've overlooked the DMZ, and wondered what it must be like to be trapped in the cult society of Dear Leader Kim.  I'm an average American with an interest in North and South Korea, and it's been obvious to me by simply following the news how brutal the North Korean regime has been to its people.

It's unfathomable to me that a reporter assigned to cover Korea would turn in a story dictated by an obvious North Korean government agent and that a major paper like the L.A. Times would print it on the front page as "news", with not even a disclaimer.

Hugh Hewitt has canceled his subscription and updated with the Times response today.

Hugh refers his readers to a report on the detainment camps in North Korea, The Hidden Gulag.  The complete report, based on interviews conducted in 2002 and 2003 with thirty North Koreans who received asylum in South Korea, is 122 pages long.  If you want the Cliff Notes version, I blogged excerpts of it when it was released in October of 2003.

In another post, Eyes on Korea, I reported on North Korea's propaganda being repeated in South Korea broadcasts:

North Korean propaganda also has been given a huge boost by the sunshine policies. Once unthinkable, South Korean media now regularly feature pro-North Korean propaganda on both electronic and print outlets. "We'll see reports from KCNA [the official North Korean news agency] replayed on South Korean media shortly after they come out," the senior officer said.

Apparently the L.A. Times has been swept up in the same phenomenom.

In Feb. 2004, the BBC aired a documentary, Access to Evil, with reports of gas chambers and human experimentation.  The contents are chilling:

But Kwon Hyok had something else he wanted to tell.

He says he witnessed chemical experiments being carried out on political prisoners in specially constructed gas chambers.

"How did you feel when you saw the children die?", I asked.

His answer shocked me.

"I had no sympathy at all because I was taught to think that they were all enemies of our country and that all our country's problems were their fault. So I felt they deserved to die."

Reporter Olenak Frenkiel obtains corroborating documents from an independent source:

They are headed Letter Of Transfer, marked Top Secret and dated February 2002 . They each bear the name of a male victim, his date and place of birth. The text reads: "The above person is transferred from Camp 22 for the purpose of human experimentation with liquid gas for chemical weapons."

So we have detainment camps, torture, gas chambers, and human experimentation, all the elements that we revile from the Holocaust.  In addition we have new evidence that Kim's regime may have sold uranium to Libya.

Yet, on the front page of the L.A. Times they report:

The most important point the North Korean said he wanted to convey in the conversation was that his nation was a place just like any other.

"There is love. There is hate. There is fighting. There is charity…. People marry. They divorce. They make children," he said.

"People are just trying to live a normal life."

It's outrageous for a major U.S. newspaper to put propaganda like this for a brutal dictactor on its front page when the evidence of his crimes are so overwhelming.

In spite of the Times, there is some hope for the North Korean people evidenced by the first known sign of protest against Kim, (via Instapundit), and rumors of Kim losing total control, (also via Instapundit):

According to exiles, North Korean agents in Beijing and Ulan Bator are frantically selling assets to raise cash — an important sign, says one activist, because “the secret police can always smell the crisis coming before anybody else”.

As a christian, I was especially pleased to read this from a North Korean:

Yet North Koreans confirmed that they knew that escapers to China should look for buildings displaying a Christian cross and should ask among Korean speakers for people who knew the word of Jesus.

“The information blockade is like a dam and when it bursts there will be a great wave,” said Shin, the crusading pastor.

I can't think of a more important country, with more important stories to tell.  The Times blew it big time.

Dan Rather on Letterman

Dan Rather steps down as anchor of CBS news on Wednesday.  Dave Letterman asked him about Memogate on his show last night.

"We put it on the air with what we thought was credibility.  We had other things besides the documents, but for whatever reason, rightly or wrongly, the focus became the documents.  We were not able to authenticate the documents as thoroughly as I think we should have.  Given more time perhaps we could have. But, you know...I don't...my experience with elections is there's no one thing (that) turns them around."

How fortunate for us that Dan continues to be a source of amusement.  For the benefit of the reality based community, the M.A.W.B. Squad offers this translation:

"We put it on the air with what we thought was credibility. 

Translation:  After a lifetime in the news business, I'm still unable to distinguish between a credible story and a totally fabricated political hit piece.

We had other things besides the documents, but for whatever reason, rightly or wrongly, the focus became the documents.

Translation:  We worked 5 years trying to nail George Bush on his National Guard service and had nothing.  The forged documents finally gave us a story we could air.  Why anyone would focus on the forged documents is a mystery to me.

We were not able to authenticate the documents as thoroughly as I think we should have.  Given more time perhaps we could have.

Translation:  Even though it cost me the anchor spot and four others their jobs, we still haven't authenticated the documents because they're obvious forgeries.  I can't admit that, of course, so I'll have to continue to lie about it.  From experience, I know that the portion of the public that wants to believe the AWOL story will continue to believe me rather than face reality.

But, you know...I don't...my experience with elections is there's no one thing (that) turns them around."

Translation:  It's not my fault that John Kerry lost the election.

Thank you Dan for being the gift that keeps on giving.