My gut impression is that the kids were ’shopped in, but I don’t see any added value for doing so. Not a big deal either way. Palestinian civilians believe that hamas and hezbollah are doing the right thing by being embedded among them, then they have to accept the risk. They know Israel fights back, and my sympathy for them is thereby limited.

EF,

Dude, get over yourself. Try and get away with that garbage aimed at the manager of most blogs. You only pull that with AP because you know how thick-skinned and reasonable he is. Taking advantage of it, or weakly attempting to, is just sad.

EF is no EFG.

Thank, God!

And y2, I’m not impressed with your tone, either.

It’s always a pleasure to read some of the great posts and comments I read here.

Never thought about how much difference a “cap g” could make – until now.

I don’t know who was here first, but man… EF/EFG can get confusing some times. But hey, the tone/quality of the posts usually gives it away.

My 2 cents about the “trophy baby:” This usage of a tragically deceased baby to engender outrage is inhumane, perverse, and indefensible. We all know what a dead baby is, and have some idea what it looks like, and we all agree that it is a tragic element of warfare. We dont have to watch you desecrate the child for your politically gainful purposes.
Don’t confuse this with anti-abortionists using pictures (or cadavers? or whatever you’d classify an aborted baby as) to make their political point. The whole anti-abortion point is that this is (was) a living child. Many pro-choicers NEED to see these pictures to “cure” the disconnect that has been caused by 30 years of “it’s a choice” indoctrination. It’s not a choice, it is (was) a baby, and here’s a picture to prove it. That’s radically different than the loser in that pic holding up an accidental casualty of war for all the world to gauk at.

The hole in the wall gets bigger the more you scroll down the page. The shape of the hole changes, and not because it’s viewed from different angles. Head on, it’s bigger further down.

Is it faux-tography? I doubt it.

Look at the structure. Folks in that part of the world build their homes out of graham crackers, for one. Things have been moved on both sides of the hole, for another. I also know that any missle which would’ve killed any significant number of people would’ve made a damned-sight bigger hold than that.

I look and look, and still all I see around the site are the usual Middle Eastern cannon fodder.

…and I didn’t see any dead babies in any of the pictures, Palestinian or other wise (do they label their offspring?)…home-made or delivery…

That said, folks are killed in wars. If the Palestinians — who love faux-tography so because they are a faux-nationality — want to reduce the number of times they’re handed their a$$es by Shlomo and Ari, they need to learn to get along…not dance around in the public square, alternately cheering for the deaths of others and slapping themselves on the tops of their noggins at the deaths of their own….

The Israelis didn’t thwart the national ambitions of the Palestinians or any other psuedo-nation. What’s got some of these bozos steamed is that the Israelis founded a nation and took large swatches of land, particularly on the West Bank…land in the families of these Christian and Muslim Arabs for hundreds of years…land, especially on the West Bank, which has water under it. A *LOT* of ‘em don’t look at it as a contest of governments or borders but of getting Grandpa’s acreage back so’s they can go back to pasturing their goats.

…this is land that Israel took…largely because these folks grandparents were in effect ordered to get off of it and out of the way of the “victorious” Arab Legion and assorted other tools of assorted other dictators. They split, and they haven’t been back…and we’re still waiting for the “victorious” Arab Legion to win something.

Mind you, the Israelis aren’t exactly a nation of Pollyanas. They play hard-ball. They *HAVE* ripped people off. They don’t play well with others. They chase guerillas down and shoot them out of trees…with attack helicopters. That said, they’re only doing what we *should* be doing: taking their enemies at their word. These hummus-smelling goons and comic-drama field marshals keep talking about “Death to the Zionists”, to the point that many of their clerics won’t even bring themselves to use the word “Israel”, I can’t blame the Israelis for being less than sympathetic.

…and, truth be told, the Israeli armed forces are the most unsympathetic group of people on the planet.

These Lebanese/Palestinian/Whatever-European-Socialists-Are-Buying-This-Week were subletting their houses out to a hostile armed force, allowing the Hezbos to launch missles from *within* their homes. That’s apt to provoke a response from the aforementioned unsymathetic Israelis. Again…they take Hezbollah at its word. “Death to Israel” means, for them as for the jihadis, that they want to destroy, kill, and dance on the ashes of Israel. ‘Nuff said.

I’m still waiting, months along not, for the media to cast a more critical eye on the Lebanese. The “civilians” represented by “Green Helmet”, the “Amazing Chest-Slapping Woman”, a pile of dead children near-at-hand, and a dust-free wedding dress were part authors of their own ruin. The British didn’t weep for the Dresdners, no did we or should we weep for the citizens of Hiroshima or Nagasaki. As Paul Tibbets said, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time…supporting, by and large, the wrong side.

If San Diego were to suddenly be rocketed by drug-lords/coyotes/jihadis from Tijuana, I’d expect our armed forces to flatten Tijuana. They wouldn’t, of course. Our bombs are getting smarter day by day, and when we use smart munitions we can pick which pane of glass in whichever window we want to the bomb to enter in the building we want to make disappear. The Israelis have the same stuff. America’s response would be too little, often too late.

Can we then blame Israel for being more johnny-on-the-spot, maybe even killing some of the guilty?

Maybe they widened the hole … for structural reasons? Because somehow that would make it easier to repair?

As someone noted earlier. Concrete is brittle so before they could start to repair the damage they’d have to get rid of the cracked and damaged material.

When repairing a damaged structure the first thing done is to strip back the damaged material to a stable starting point, whether it’s concrete or wood-rot you’re dealing with the principles are the same. You don’t start building on a faulty foundation.

That being said. It looks like the damaged material has been removed and photo’s snapped to show the increased damage.

If they’re in the process of repairing the building once the damaged materials have been removed they’ll remove some of the “good” material to square edges of the hole. From there its drill holes insert rebar pour concrete.

At least that’s the process used around here when bridges / buildings get damaged.

A host makes a tactful suggestion to a commenter about the appropriateness of a comment.

Oh, can it. Allah’s a big boy. I think he could withstand the comment that it was he who set the tone for the thread.

Suddenly, the host gets attacked and accused of hypocrisy by his guest.

No, the host was referred to a joke he made in another thread several days ago.

I just love people who pretend to call for peace while throwing gas cans around. You want the subject dropped? Then drop it.

;-)

EFG on November 10, 2006 at 3:53 AM

I won’t waste any more time . . .

Oh, I doubt that. If your track record proves anything, it’s that any chance you get, you are going to whine about having a post removed.

A host makes a tactful suggestion to a commenter about the appropriateness of a comment.

Suddenly, the host gets attacked and accused of hypocrisy by his guest.

And now commenters are flinging insults back and forth at each other.

Super.

Yeah, I can be a sarcastic jerk at times. But I hope I don’t come off like this. Attacking the host. Poo flinging insults at fellow commenters. Etc.

I’m asking everyone, not telling you all, to please consider your comments a little more carefully.

Thank you.

Very respectfully,

But as to the pic, I think the fauxtography assertion might be a bit weak here, although maybe some of those benevolent Jihadist pilgrims have picked at it a bit, for panoramic effect.

-T

Poofer? Whiner? The inner child in you reverts to name-calling when challenged. And you’re a therapist of some kind? Pretty pathetic.

Oh, and I knew you wouldn’t be man enough to apologize for your brazen remark.

The real telling thing is that all the pictures feature are women and children. They are strategically placed in the photos to convey an idea of vulnerability and oppression.

The dead baby parade is just grotesque and shockingly enough I just had a liberal friend I IMed with the picture say, “Whats the big deal pro-lifers use kids in their rallies too?”

But, unlike you, fogw, if he did, I wouldn’t whine about for days, you big poofer.

EF on November 10, 2006 at 10:52 AM

My what a short memory you have. Don’t like it much when the shoe is on the other foot, do you?

I eventually apologized to AP for crossing the line with my sarcasm.

Waiting for your apology now, Mr. Hypocrite ……..