It's time for some rants.

I've never much cared for Newsweek. The reporting has always seemed slanted to me, and they have a habit of using isolated pieces of information to write major, "authoritative" articles based on very little. The Koran-flushing article is a prime example.

I don't think Newsweek should disappear. After all, it takes all sorts of people to sell a magazine. Not just the reporters and editors, but hogs like me to operate the presses, drive the trucks, sell advertising and so forth.

But having said that, some people need to pay for this mistake. Newsweek published a piece based on hearsay and people died.

Right from the outset, you have to be careful when you write of things that affect the Islamic world. They have a different take on things than the western world. Just ask Salmon Rushdie. If an article were published alleging that Muslims were wiping their posteriors with pages from the bible there would be much head shaking and several nut cases would come forth to demand death to the A-rabs, but that's as far as it would go. But anyone who has been conscious for more than a day or two knows that Muslims take things far more profoundly than we do and allegations like that can have serious consequences. Newsweek simply wanted a scoop and damn the consequences.

Well, now it's time for consequences. Sloppy reportage resulted in the deaths of human beings and damage to the US that will take years to repair.

Some people at Newsweek need to go.

Now for Part II of this rant.

If you really want to know just how deranged the left is...Just how unhinged people like Kurt Nimmo, Ollie Willis and the Orcs at Democratic Underground are... Just how rotted through with hate the left is, then here we go.

This has got to be some sort of official Left Wing Nutcase talking point. It's repeated almost verbatim at the above sites as well as others.

Anyway, word in the sewers of the left is that since the US entered Iraq based on "a lie" (their opinion) and deaths ensued, it's ok that Newsweek published a lie that got people killed. Can you believe that?

They actually claim that because the US killed people over "a lie", it's ok that more people got killed over another lie. They are some sorry, twisted people.

Oh, and another reason I know that they communicate these "talking points" to each other is that in every instance the allegation that there were WMDs in Iraq is referred to as a "f**king lie". Never just as "a lie". I guess if I ever become a Democrat I'll have to learn to let loose with the F-word without regard to who might be within hearing or reading radius.

As far as the alleged "lie", several points. First, Saddam had poison gas. Period. We know he had it and he used it. That's a matter of record. Poison gas is a WMD. Next, we got intelligence re. Saddam's nuclear program from British intelligence. We have long had a "special relationship" with British and Canadian intelligence which enables the three of us to share very high level intelligence. When one country provides intelligence to another, you can bet that the intelligence is vetted at the very highest levels. It would be a huge embarrassment to provide garbage intelligence to another country. Given that, when we receive intel from the Brits or Canadians, we can pretty much assume that it's good. The Brits had every reason to believe that the intel they had was good. It was well vetted and provided to us. We had no choice but to assume that it was good intel. Even if it turns out to be wrong, the onus is not on the US government. And fact is, the intel probably was good.

There is some evidence that a French operative had something to do with some false notions about the yellowcake/Niger thing, but I haven't heard anything about that in some time. I guess if it can't be used to trash the US the media lose interest in the story. But beyond that, there is every reason to believe that WMDs did exist. Poison gas, for example. And every reason to believe that research programs were in place for other WMDs. Yes, we've searched the country, but unless and until we put the entire US military shoulder to shoulder across the country and sweep every millimeter who can say we didn't miss anything? Like the fighter jets we found buried in the sand. And who can say that in the weeks preceding the invasion while we stamped our feet and made noises they didn't ship everything to Syria? Who can say they never had anything? You can't prove a negative.