All the News that's Fit to Fake

The New York Times' motto is, "All the News that's Fit to Print". My title for this post tells you all you need to know what I think about that. I don't know the exact figures, but very few of today's journalists have been in the military or have any military expertise... and it shows.

The other day, an unmanned CIA drone aircraft fired a missile at a residence where Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man was thought to be dining. The missile found its mark and blew up the residence (and a couple houses around it). On her blog, Michelle Malkin posted the above after-photo of the damage, and what is said to be the remains of the missile. Standing around these remains are several Pakistanis with forlorn looks on their faces. One problem - that ain't no missile. That is an old artillery shell, probably 152-155 millimeter. Some people say, "So what", to which I would patiently explain that reporting the facts correctly is the same as being pregnant. Just as you cannot be "sorta" pregnant, you also cannot "sorta" report the facts correctly. Either the report is correct or it is not. If the caption of the photo is incorrect, and it is obvious that the reporter has been had, it begs the question: what other lies did this reporter not only believe, but also report?

It reminds me of Dan Rather talking about the George W. Bush National Guard memo scandal, where he acknowledged that while the memos might have been fake, the story was still correct. IT DOESN'T MATTER!! Since the memos were fakes, it tainted the entire story, bringing into question everything else they reported!

Once upon a time, reporters like Robert Capa and Ernie Pyle knew their stuff militarily and wrote wonderful pieces and took accurate photos. Today, most journalists are powderpuffs who know jack-crap about the military.

Good Day to You, Sir