LittleJudy.com

French TV Apologizes For Gaza Photo Goof

No word about this in the U.S. media. Yet. (Not holding my breath.)

From Ha'aretz via Fark:

French public television network France 2 on Tuesday revealed they had aired photographs that allegedly showed destruction caused by the Israel Air Force during Operation Cast Lead, which were in fact taken during a different incident in 2005, one in which Gaza civilians were killed by an explosion caused by militants in the Strip.

Ha'aretz link: French TV claims photos from 2005 showed damage from Israel's Gaza operation - Haaretz - Israel News.

And if you read French: http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2009/01/06/france-2-s-excuse-apres-la-diffusion-de-fausses-images-de-l-offensive-israelienne_1138578_3236.html

W's Duck Ain't Lame

Maybe going hunting with Cheney has given the President good reflexes (duck!)

Day Without A Gay

Today (Wednesday) is a "Day Without A Gay." It's similar to the movie "A Day Without A Mexican," where Mexican workers in California suddenly disappear.

Here are the details about tomorrow's protest. Are you going to call in gay or know someone else who is?

Day Without A Gay seeks to shift our strong feelings about injustice toward service! Let's fight for equality by out-loving those who would deny us rights. Call in "gay" on December 10th (International Human Rights Day) and volunteer for your local LGBT and/or human rights organizations.

Our Mission - Day Without A Gay.

NY Times Op Ed: What They Hate About Mumbai

A very moving OpEd in the Times from Suketu Mehta, a professor of journalism at New York University and author of “Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found.”

MY bleeding city. My poor great bleeding heart of a city. Why do they go after Mumbai? There’s something about this island-state that appalls religious extremists, Hindus and Muslims alike. Perhaps because Mumbai stands for lucre, profane dreams and an indiscriminate openness.

Mumbai is all about dhandha, or transaction. From the street food vendor squatting on a sidewalk, fiercely guarding his little business, to the tycoons and their dreams of acquiring Hollywood, this city understands money and has no guilt about the getting and spending of it. I once asked a Muslim man living in a shack without indoor plumbing what kept him in the city. “Mumbai is a golden songbird,” he said. It flies quick and sly, and you’ll have to work hard to catch it, but if you do, a fabulous fortune will open up for you. The executives who congregated in the Taj Mahal hotel were chasing this golden songbird. The terrorists want to kill the songbird.

Just as cinema is a mass dream of the audience, Mumbai is a mass dream of the peoples of South Asia. Bollywood movies are the most popular form of entertainment across the subcontinent. Through them, every Pakistani and Bangladeshi is familiar with the wedding-cake architecture of the Taj and the arc of the Gateway of India, symbols of the city that gives the industry its name. It is no wonder that one of the first things the Taliban did upon entering Kabul was to shut down the Bollywood video rental stores. The Taliban also banned, wouldn’t you know it, the keeping of songbirds.

Read more: Op-Ed Contributor - What They Hate About Mumbai - NYTimes.com.

No Justification Whatsoever

I've been too busy to blog in the last several weeks but today's terror attacks in India have me so steamed I had to speak up.

There is nothing NOTHING to justify these acts of terrorism. I don't care what wrong they think has been done to them or the people they claim to represent, I don't care what war they think they're fighting, there is no justification at all. Attacking a hospital (update: CNN reports it's a hospital for women and children) for crying out loud? That's just evil. Pure evil.

If rebel fighters want to fight soldiers, that's one thing and a whole different discussion. But the deliberate slaughter of civilians and attacks that are planned to maim and kill with maximum effectiveness in areas where civilians congregate for peaceful means is just sick.

If you sympathize at all with these people, you need to do some serious soul searching. They need to be stopped. The governments that support them need to be stopped. And the world needs to band together to get he job done. It's naive to think that if we give in to whatever demands they're making the bloodshed will stop. It won't. They'll find another reason because it's all about power.

Terror attacks in Mumbai; 80 dead, over 900 injured-India-The Times of India.

Mumbai: In one of the most violent terror attacks on Indian soil, Mumbai came under an unprecedented night attack as terrorists used heavy machine A policeman stands guard after shootings by unidentified assailants at a railway station in Mumbai. (Reuters) More Pictures guns, including AK-47s, and grenades to strike at the city's most high-profile targets -- the hyper-busy CST (formerly VT) rail terminus; the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway and the luxury Oberoi Trident at Nariman Point; the domestic airport at Santa Cruz; the Cama and GT hospitals near CST; the Metro Adlabs multiplex and Mazgaon Dockyard -- killing at least 80 and sending more than 900 to hospital, according to latest reports. ( Watch )

What Is It With Mayor Nagin?

Does New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin even have a press person to keep comments like these in check? If so, he may need a new one.

Seems that Baytown, Texas resident Mary Jane Bernard tried to check in to a New Orleans asking for the "Ray Nagin pecial rate."  Only trouble was, the front desk clerk had no idea what he was talking about. From the Times-Picayune:

In a news conference Thursday afternoon, Mayor Ray Nagin had encouraged Texas evacuees to book hotel rooms in New Orleans by requesting the "Mayor Ray Nagin special rate." The offer was designed, the mayor said, "to say to our friends in Houston and Texas that we want to take care of you, since you have taken care of us, " according to a transcript of his remarks. Thousands of New Orleanians evacuated to Texas shelters and hotels because of Hurricane Katrina. Trouble is, as Bernard found out, the special rate doesn't exist.

The mayor's comments and ensuing calls from potential guests requesting the special rate caused the Greater New Orleans Hotel & Lodging Association to issue a harried e-mail to hotels urging them "in the spirit of cooperation" to make any appropriate accommodation they could to callers requesting Nagin's rate.

Link: Hotel seekers ask for 'Nagin special' - Breaking News from New Orleans - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com.

"Lipstick-gate"? Hogwash!

Any idiot who watches the full clip of Barack Obama in his "lipstick-on-a-pig" speech knows that the senator was not referring to Sarah Palin in any way, shape or form. The Republicans know damn well that he didn't and I really hate this kind of false outrage when there are plenty of things going on in the world that warrant getting upset.

The folks at Politifact agree:

"It is simply impossible to view the complete remarks by Obama and conclude that he’s making a veiled and unsavory reference to Palin. Her name never is used in the preceding sentence. In fact, it’s hard to see how one could interpret Obama’s lipstick-on-a-pig remark as referring directly to McCain, either. We think it’s very clear that Obama was saying McCain’s effort to call himself the “candidate of change” is like putting lipstick on a pig, trying to dress up a bad idea to look better. Agree or disagree with Obama’s point, but his remark wasn’t the smear that McCain’s people have tried to make it.

If anyone’s doing any smearing, it’s the McCain campaign and its outrageous attempt to distort the facts. Did Obama call Palin a pig? No, and saying so is Pants on Fire wrong."

Link: PolitiFact | If there's lipstick on a pig, it's this McCain ad.

Red Cross Gearing Up for Gustav - Please Donate

Hurricane Gustav is bearing down on the Gulf Coast and my fellow volunteers at Red Cross have already mobilized, sending disaster assistance teams to the region to open up shelters and prepare for what looks to be a very powerful storm.  I'll be working at the call center starting on Thursday on the 1-800-REDCROSS  (1-800-733-2767) disaster assistance line, answering questions and directing people to shelters, feeding sites, service centers and other resources.

Between the wildfires out west and the midwest floods it's been a busy year for the ARC.  Gustav is currently a Category 4 hurricane and they've already begun evacuations from New Orleans. 

'Disaster relief ain't cheap, and ARC is going to need more funds to cope with Gustav (and whatever follows -- hurricane season is not over yet!) Please consider sending a donation to the Red Cross Web site. 

By the way, I realize there were misconceptions about what Red Cross does during Katrina. ARC does not do search and rescue. They do not open shelters directly in the disaster area during a storm (people were upset that ARC wasn't in New Orleans last time ... but, shelters have to be outside the disaster area so people in the shelters are kept safe.)  The immediate concern is to provide for basic  needs during and directly after a storm like this. The next phase is to help with the recovery process.

I became a volunteer because i was a client after 9/11 (I lived in Lower Manhattan). I didn't need much in the way of material things -- just food because all the stores were closed. At the time, I was being strong for my niece who had lost her husband and took two months off work to be there for her and her family. But when I would walk home past the "pile" and back to my apartment, it was great to get a granloa bar, a hug and a chat from one of the many Red Cross workers in the neighborhood. I'm so grateful I get to pay that forward when I speak to clients on the phones now. 

Link: American Red Cross - Preparing Communities for an Emergency and Keeping People Safe - Preparedness.

Julia Child: Chef ... And Spy!

In between making creme brulee and coq au vin, (or the other way  around I guess), legendary TV chef Julia Child apparently made time to spy during World War II. The Associated Press reports that Child was one of thousands who spied for an early incarnation of the CIA created by FDR. Information about the spy ring is being released by the National Archives Thursday:

They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters. But for several years during World War II, they were known simply as the OSS. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops.

Some of those on the list have been identified previously as having worked for the OSS, but their personnel records never have been available before. Those records would show why they were hired, jobs they were assigned to and perhaps even missions they pursued while working for the agency.

Read more here.

My Heart Breaks For My Hometown

The mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick is in the slammer tonight. Stephen Henderson of the Freep writes:

"Kilpatrick has ruled us as Caesar did Rome. He has turned our fair city into a renegade's playground where his ego, rather than the rule of law, reigns supreme."

Henderson accuses business, religious and civic leaders of remaining quiet during yet another unsavory chapter in the history of Motor City politics.

I just hope there's a way back.

Link: Question to Detroit: How long will you be Kwame Kilpatrick's fool? | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press.