CNN Telling It Like It Is

I'm shying away from coverage of the very major and current troubles involving Iran,

but I will take a moment to point out the fact CNN has been crazy lately in their semi-graphic (but eye-catching) coverage:

But what graphic stuff am I really talking about? This.

U.S. official: N. Korean Ship May be Moving Weapons, Technology

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military is tracking a North Korean ship believed to be carrying illicit weapons or technology, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.

The ship, the Kang Nam, is a North Korean-flagged ship, according to two senior U.S. officials, and is currently in the Pacific.

While the United States does not know what specifically is on the ship, the Kang Nam is a "repeat offender," known for having carried "proliferation materials," one senior defense official said.

Without speaking to any details of the Kang Nam report, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that the United States would not forcibly board a North Korean ship but, in accordance with the recent United Nations resolution, would request permission to search the ship or press any port the ship docks in to inspect it for illegal materials.

Mullen told reporters at a news conference that neither the United States nor any other navy would board a ship without permission.

"The United Nations Security Council resolution does not include an option for opposed-boarding or noncompliant boarding with respect to that," he said. "We expect compliance."

North Korea has warned that any effort to stop one of its ships would be considered an act of war.

"To further isolate itself, to further noncomply with international guidance and regulations in the long run puts them in a more difficult position," Mullen said.

'Historical Keepsake Photo'

(click if you wish to enlarge)

(My blog title is the same title as the email; I am NOT trying to be funny..)

(CNN) -- The chairman of Tennessee's Democratic Party wants a Republican legislative aide fired for sending out a "reprehensible" e-mail depicting President Obama as two cartoonish white eyes peering from a black background.

Obama's image is in the last square of a collage containing portraits of the previous 43 U.S. presidents. Copies of the e-mail were posted on the Internet on Monday.

Sherri Goforth, an administrative assistant to state Sen. Diane Black, R-Gallatin, has admitted she sent the e-mail May 28 with the title "Historical Keepsake Photo." She said, without elaborating, that she mistakenly sent it "to the wrong list of people."

According to The Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper, a note on the e-mail said it was paid for by the Tennessee Republican Party, but GOP officials denied that they produced it. Black chairs the Senate Republican Caucus.

"I want people to know that the communication was sent without my knowledge, and that ... this does not reflect my beliefs or my values or my opinions, and I won't tolerate those kind of communications coming from my office," Black told CNN affiliate WKRN-TV in Nashville.

Black rebuked Goforth but didn't dismiss her.

CNN left phone messages Tuesday for Goforth and Black.

"Is this indicative of what Senate Republicans think about our commander in chief?" asked state Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester in a statement posted on the party's Web site.

"I am calling on Senator Black to reject this racist smear and fire this staffer who, on state government time, on state government computers, using a state government e-mail account, launched this bigoted attack on our president," Forrester said. "Keeping her on the staff would send the message that this type of behavior is condoned by the Senate Republican Caucus."

"This e-mail is reprehensible, insults the office of the president, and is embarrassing to all Tennesseans regardless of political party," Forrester said.

Goforth told Christian Grantham of the Web site Nashville Is Talking that she had received a letter of reprimand from her superiors but will remain on the job.

Grantham said Goforth told him she felt "very bad about accidentally sending it to the wrong list" of people.

"I went on the wrong e-mail and I inadvertently hit the wrong button," Grantham quoted Goforth as saying. "I'm very sick about it, and it's one of those things I can't change or take back."

Forrester, in his Web posting, said, "Ms. Goforth does not seem to understand what she did wrong. She has apologized for 'sending [the e-mail] to the wrong list of people.' I believe that any list of people would have recognized this e-mail as offensive and hateful."

State Rep. Johnny Shaw, D-Bolivar, a member of the black and Democratic caucuses, told WKRN-TV that Goforth should be fired.

"I don't think a reprimand is enough. I think this lady needs to go. I don't think she should be a part of the people who represent the state of Tennessee," Shaw said.

He told CNN that Goforth and Black, as well as Republican Lt. Gov. and Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey, should make public apologies for the incident.

"I am appalled. It's despicable. It's disgusting. It should not have happened but it does happen," Shaw said. "It is the president of our country that we're talking about."

Forrester added: "Unfortunately, Sherri Goforth's e-mail joins the list of shameful episodes by Tennessee Republicans, from the infamous 'Birds of a Feather' direct-mail piece that featured black crows with the heads of Barack Obama and [African-American] Rep. Nathan Vaughn, to the "Barack the Magic Negro" song that former Tennessee GOP Party Chairman Chip Saltsman sent to RNC members during his failed campaign for RNC chair."

Purported Bin Laden Tape Slams U.S. Role in Pakistan

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden purportedly issued another statement Wednesday, saying U.S. policy in Pakistan has generated "new seeds of hatred and revenge against America."

Al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language TV network, aired segments of what it said was a "voice recording by bin Laden." This message comes as President Obama begins his trip to the Middle East, where he is visiting Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and, in Egypt on Thursday, is to make a major speech to the Muslim world.

This would be bin Laden's first assessment of an Obama policy. CNN analysis of the audiotape as it aired indicates that the voice on the tape sounds like bin Laden's.

Since the message was not posted on the usual radical Islamist Web site that carries statements from al Qaeda, it is believed that this latest message was hand-delivered to the TV network, based in Doha, Qatar.

Watch what the speaker says on the tape »

It was believed to have been recorded several weeks ago when the mass civilian exodus occurred because of fighting in northwestern Pakistan.

The message refers to the conflict in Pakistan's Swat Valley -- where Pakistani troops are taking on Taliban militants -- and it argued that Obama is proving that he is "walking the same road of his predecessors to build enmity against Muslims and increasing the number of fighters, and establishing more lasting wars."

The speaker cited strikes, destruction and Obama's "order" to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari "to prevent the people of Swat from implementing sharia law."

It was believed to have been recorded several weeks ago when the mass civilian exodus occurred because of fighting in northwestern Pakistan.

The message refers to the conflict in Pakistan's Swat Valley -- where Pakistani troops are taking on Taliban militants -- and it argued that Obama is proving that he is "walking the same road of his predecessors to build enmity against Muslims and increasing the number of fighters, and establishing more lasting wars."

The speaker cited strikes, destruction and Obama's "order" to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari "to prevent the people of Swat from implementing sharia law."

"All this led to the displacement of about a million Muslim elders, women and children from their villages and homes. They became refugees in tents after they were honored in their own homes," the message said.

"This basically means that Obama and his administration put new seeds of hatred and revenge against America. The number of these seeds is the same as the number of those victims and refugees in Swat and the tribal area in northern and southern Waziristan."

The message added: "The American people need to prepare to only gain what those seeds bring up."

In March, bin Laden also issued purported messages. He called for Somalia's new president to be overthrown and called Israel's recent offensive in Gaza a "holocaust."

Bin Laden has delivered many messages over the years, but the last video message from him was in early September 2007.

In the video message, he criticized U.S. Democrats for failing to stop the war in Iraq; spoke of the anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II; the troop surge in Iraq; and world leaders such as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

On that tape, bin Laden's appearance was artificially changed for the first time. He dyed his beard from grayish white to black, leading analysts to believe that he is only sending audio messages because he is altering his looks and doesn't want people to know what he looks like. Analysts also believe that bin Laden hasn't made videos lately because they are more labor-intensive to produce.

There have been gaps between videos from bin Laden, with many audiotapes in between, prompting analysts to theorize he might be dead. The last two videos of bin Laden himself delivering an address were the 2007 tape and another in 2004.

Al Qaeda's second in command issued an audio statement Tuesday that said Obama is not welcome in Egypt.

Ayman al-Zawahiri said relations with the United States cannot be mended so long as the administration maintains its alliance with Israel.

In a message called "Tyrants of Egypt and America's agents welcome Obama" that was posted on Islamist Web sites, al-Zawahiri once again lashed out at the United States. Obama's message to the Muslim world, he said, has already been delivered with his support for "Zionist aggression."

In the 10-minute audio message, al-Zawahiri said Obama had already made himself an enemy of Muslims by sending more soldiers to Afghanistan, ordering bombings in the tribal areas of Pakistan and administering a "bloody campaign against Muslims" in Pakistan's Swat Valley.

White House joins Facebook, MySpace, Twitter

"Awesome, totally awesome!"
The official White House Blog calls it "WhiteHouse 2.0." The administration is unveiling its membership in a trio of the social-networking leaders today: Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. How do the accounts look shortly after launch?

The Facebook page already has more than 38,000 fans, and the number appears to jump another thousand every few minutes at this hour. The MySpace page is a highly stylized version of designs typically seen on the service, with 5,300 friends and counting. "A quick glance at the profiles shows that they mostly just link to or copy entries on the existing WhiteHouse.gov blog, but they welcome comments and are quickly gathering thousands of fans," PaidContent.org says.


TechCrunch offers initial analysis of the MySpace page: "There are no ads on the page, but if you click through to photos page, then you do get some ads. The add beside this photo of the president running down a hallway with his daughter's puppy has an ad that says, 'Pimp My Profile.' Not very Presidential. On Facebook, there is an ad slot on the actual page, but I only saw a house ad for Facebook's gift shop with a penguin. ... The Facebook page basically has the same information, but presented as a stream. Which one do you like better?"

The @whitehouse Twitter feed so far has more than 10,000 followers and retweeted a swine-flu alert from the CDC. Information about the H1N1 virus is the most common theme across the White House's uses of the services today.

"Hopefully, these pages will follow the same pattern as the administration's other web efforts -- they start out underwhelming, but improve eventually," Venture Beat writes. The blog's underwhelmed headline is "Meet White House 2.0, same as White House 1.0 (but on Twitter!)"

HAHAHA Look At That Face!

"After becoming steeped in controversy for trying to sell Obama's Illinois senate seat, Rod Blagojevich has signed a 6 figure book deal with one of the largest independent book publishers in a bid to tell his side of the story.
Six figures! For that creep!!!!!!!!!

In addition to trying to explain his senate selection um, "process," Blago will also recount his journey to office while "exposing the dark side of politics."
Please, we don't need a book to know that politics has a dark side!
Blago decided to go with indie publisher Phoenix Books so that the book's content would not be restricted by money-making agendas. Blago claims he won't go for any low blows and will reveal information that will "at times be embarrassing to himself as well as to others."
The book, which is tentatively titled The Governor, is set for an October release.
Still pushing those 15 minutes of fame, huh? "

Harvey Milk Day

"Oscar winner Sean Penn is pushing for the late, great gay politician Harvey Milk's birthday, May 22nd, to be recognised as a 'day of significance' by the state of California.
Penn won this year's best actor Oscar for his performance as Harvey in Gus Van Sant's Milk.
California state senator Mark Leno plans to reintroduce a bill with Sean by his side designating Milk's birthday a 'day of significance.
The governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, vetoed the same bill last year.
Arnold said Milk should be honored in San Francisco but not statewide.
Hopefully, Arnold will be less lame this year and will show support for the bill!" - perezhilton