I recall reading in The Economist, many years ago, a leader (editorial to the Yanks) that described an anecdote about the British Foreign Service, in which one of the people was describing some benighted Third World former colony. “The problem they have, is that they lack a sense of irony.”

Apparently Reuters has the same problem.

Hey, one man’s anti-violence protester is another man’s Jihadist.

Any of my trolls going to try to defend this one?

And let’s see how long it stays up in that form.

[Update]

Oh, ye of little faith.

Here’s the link, Bill, from Yahoo. I’ll keep a screen shot of it, for when they decide to memoryhole it.

In the wake of the shootings, our friends across the Pond once again proudly put their ignorance on display:

“I think the reason it happens in America is there’s access to weapons — you can go into a supermarket and get powerful automatic weapons,” Keith Ashcroft, a psychologist, told the Press Association.

You can’t legally purchase “automatic” weapons anywhere, let alone in a supermarket, but that doesn’t prevent Dr. Ashcroft from pontificating about a country he knows nothing about. And the WaPo reporter can’t be bothered (and likely is just as clueless) to correct it for the reader.

Brian Williams is once again stupidly throwing stones from within his glass house:

I especially enjoy the risible self-regard of a guy who refers to his tireless development of

Brian Williams is once again stupidly throwing stones from within his glass house:

I especially enjoy the risible self-regard of a guy who refers to his tireless development of

Brian Williams is once again stupidly throwing stones from within his glass house:

I especially enjoy the risible self-regard of a guy who refers to his tireless development of

John Wixted isn’t impressed with the media reporting from Iraq.

Howie Carr thinks that it’s time to stick a fork in Imus. And he seems pretty happy about it.

Iain Murray has some good news on the environmental front–the restoration of the Aral Sea. And as Iain points out, this was unquestionably a tragedy caused by man–not by global warming, but by a Stalinist command economy. And it reminds me of the fatuousness of the Pope’s comments the other day, that “no good came out of the war in Iraq.” (Michael Novak has his own thoughts on that.)

One could probably write a book on the many good things that have come out of removing Saddam from power, but just one is the reversal of another environmental catastrophe, also caused by oppression and a Stalinist-style government–the draining of the Euphrates marshes. With Saddam’s removal, plans to restore them began almost immediately, and the progress has been impressive, if not perfect:

The restoration of southern Iraq’s Mesopotamian marshes is now a giant ecosystem-level experiment. Uncontrolled release of water in many areas is resulting in the return of native plants and animals, including rare and endangered species of birds, mammals, and plants. The rate of restoration is remarkable, considering that reflooding occurred only about two years ago. Although recovery is not so pronounced in some areas because of elevated salinity and toxicity, many locations seem to be functioning at levels close to those of the natural Al-Hawizeh marsh, and even at historic levels in some areas.

Nothing good from the Iraq war? Ask a Marsh Arab.

It’s sad that Popular Mechanics has to waste any bandwidth and pixels responding to Rosie O’Donnell’s incandescent idiocy, but that’s the world we apparently live in. How much longer is ABC going to embarrass itself with this moron?

[Afternoon update]

The steel industry is running scared, now that Rosie is on to their scam, that has been going on for well over a century.

Heh. As a commenter notes, the Iraqis must be part of the vast right-wing conspiracy. Well, it is vast, after all.