FNC's Sub Rosa Ciaos

Fox News' motto is "We Report. You Decide." Too bad they don't report to their loyal viewers personnel changes. First, Linda Vester was promoted with "that face, that face" for her midday program as if she were something to be vaunted: happily, her voguing visage is no longer visible with no reasons provided by FNC. Then the larger but brilliant Rita Cosby simply disappeared from her FNC program to reappear on MSNBC with no explanation.  Lately, Julian Phillips, the Bryant Gumbel of Fox News, who co-hosted Fox & Friends Weekend with the ever lovely Kiran Chetry and the spicy Alyson Camarotta, was sacked in favor of minister and chanteur extraordinaire Kelly Wright: not even a courteous comment was proffered. Since Fox News has purged its morning weekend show of the ostentatious, obnoxious display of personal aggrandizement of a spoilt elitist, all is forgiven. However, if they get rid of Kiran Chetry, I will be a less loyal viewer.

Defense News: China Blinds U.S. Satellites

According to the U.K.'s Telegraph, the Defense News, a military affairs publication, reported Monday that sources reveal that Chinese can and have blinded American spy satellites as they passed over Chinese territory. These Chinese tests indicate that U.S. intelligence satellites could be rendered useless to gather information over Chinese soil. One erstwhile Pentagon senior official said, "The Chinese are very strategically minded and are extremely active in this arena: they really believe all the stuff written in the 1980s about the high frontier." So did Gorbachev: remember the Oslo summit and the subsequent fall of the Evil Empire?

Cf. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/26/wchina226.xml.

WTFWJD Accidental? Yeah, Right!

Mocking "Passion of the Christ" producer, Mel Gibson, GS & Game Show Network created the new Internet game "So You Think You Can Drive, Mel." It places you behind the wheel as Mel with a bottle of tequila with the goal of making it home from a restaurant while avoiding rabbis swinging Stars of Davis (representing the Jewish community according to spokesman, John Roberts) and state troopers. You gain points by picking up tequila bottles in the process which continue to impair your ability to navigate, and your game ends after you hit five state troopers. On the license plate of Mel's video game sports car are the letters "WTFWJD." When I saw it on yesterday's Fox & Friends First, I was reminded of the bracelets with "WWJD." Of course, I also thought of what "TF" interjected therein meant and was appalled at the apparent blasphemy.

Clinton Steams Rice

Secretary Condoleeza Rice heatedly rebutted former president Bill Clinton's finger-wagging rantings on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace that he was the only one who tried to kill Osama bin Laden, that he left a all-encompassing anti-terrorist strategy, and that the Bush administration had fired top anti-terrorist official Richard Clarke. Condi asserted, "What we did in eight months was at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did in the preceding years" and that Clinton's allegations that the Bush administration had not lifted a finger to stop terrorism was  "flatly false." She added, "We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda." As to Clarke, Rice stated, "Richard Clarke was the counterterrorism czar when 9/11 happened, and he left when he did not become deputy director of homeland security, some months later."

Cf. http://www.nypost.com/seven/09252006/news/nationalnews/rice_boils_over_at_bubba_nationalnews_.htm.

Chavez: Bush the Diablo

Venezuelan Prez Hugo Chavez addressed the U.N. General Assembly today calling President Bush "the devil." "The devil came here yesterday: he came here talking as if he were the owner of the world," huffed Castro's protege. Chavez pleaded, "We appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our head." U.S. Ambassador John Bolton responded that it was "too bad the people of Venezuela don't have free speech." He added, "I'm just not going to comment on this because his remarks just don't warrant a response: People can listen to what he had to say and if they do they will reject it."

Cf. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/09/20/D8K8P6J00.html.

Thailand's Thaksin Overthrown

Today army chief General Sondhi Boonyaratkalin ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as the PM was in New York to address the UN. Sondhi sent the Thai military into Bangkok's streets, cordoned off Thaksin's offices, took control of the television stations, and declared a provisional government loyal to the king. The constitution was revoked, martial order was declared, and governmental, business, and academic institutions were closed. On the street people emptied the normally bustling markets and red light districts. Thaksin, popular with the country's poor but less so with its cosmopolitan city dwellers, had recently been on the defensive with the nation's voters. Thaksin had called a snap election earlier this year after coming under heavy fire for his family's very profitable, controversial tax-free sale of shares in a large corporation. The election was boycotted by the opposition and invalidated by the nation's courts. Now it appears that the armed forces have attempted to remedy the situation after consulting with the country's revered monarch.

Cf. http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7938267 and http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060919/D8K87US00.html.

Poland Remembers the Gipper

President Ronald Reagan is revered in Poland for his stalwart stand against communism and his role in its defeat in Europe. Admirers of the Gipper from Poland, Canada, and the United States plan to unveil a 11.5 foot stone-and-bronze statue across from the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw on July 4, 2007 to honor the 40th American president. One of them, Janusz Dorosiewicz, stated, "Reagan was the person who defeated the communists and opened the way for freedom in Poland: The statue is a way for his legacy to live on." Thank you, President Reagan, for being the West's Cincinnatus.

Cf. http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2006-09-18T155914Z_01_L18839909_RTRUKOC_0_US-POLAND-REAGAN.xml&src=rss&rpc=22.