This is funny. I'll bet that the same people who ran with the original hostage story AFTER looking at the GI Joe picture are the same news rooms who ran the CBS Air National Guard papers, hoping to get a scoop on the story rather then trusting its integrity. I can't believe how easily fooled these 'professionals' are.

I have an idea... someone doctor up a photo of a fleet of martian ships headed towards earth, and just sit back and see what happens. Oh wait, they already fell for that one years ago.

How about some crop circle pics!

Man, that Bush is one tough customer- taking him singlehandedly.

(I'm waiting for the Barbie pictures ... SURELY someone is gonna do a barbie photo.)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/1/131821/9585

The Kos thread on this is somewhat instructive. What started off as an Armando post along the lines of 'See what Gonzalez hath wrought ... our poor soldier..."

Is identified in mid-comment thread as a potential hoax... and other commenters in the thread use their own life experiences to figure out if maybe the pictures shown are not what the MSM say they are.

Hmmmmmmmm............

I guess Kossacks played with dolls, while Repubicans played with typewriters.

The parallels between RatherGate and GIJoeGate are striking ... the left will miss them entirely, preferring to think of EEEEEvil Karl Rove involvement.

But, hey ..... that's why Repubicans won.

YO ACE!
Army looking at "possible alternative" handguns on Freeper. Interesting debate. I hope DANGEROUS DAVE weighs in on this one.

To get serious for a moment. . .

-- Who originally posted this picture out there? Methinks it may have been the A.P. If so, man, how did they get fooled? I looked at the photo for two seconds and thought, "something ain't right." How come my standard of excellence is so much higher than professional journalists?

I mean, this isn't dragging out an old typewriter to test. . . it's a fucking doll.

-- Who here wants to take bets on which MSM journalist points to this event as proof that Al Qaeda isn't the bogeyman George W. Bush portrays it as? My bet's on Slate's Fred Kaplan, or Frank "Scare Quote" Rich.

-- Does anyone know how the "kidnapping" info got posted? The reports say it's on a known jihadi site, but is it like an official announcement, or is it more like a "group blog"?

I ask because I wonder if the source was actually real Jihadis-- either thinking they can fool us, or playing one helluva Punk'd prank-- or just the Jihadi version of a Freeper comment, i.e., never intended to be "official."

Wow. I mean, wow. Just how more fucking bizarre is this war gonna get before it's all over?

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

Dave, not to change the subject but the article on Freeper on changing the 9mm contains this:

The decision to switch was strictly logistical,” he said. “The United States was trying to move toward NATO joint operability, and we were fighting the Cold War. Target effect wasn’t a factor in that decision. Now it is.”

Wow, is that really true? And what do you think of the .45 vs 9mm?

Yup, the U.S. military moved to 9mm pistol cartridge to increase "interoperability" with NATO.

It wasn't actually a bad idea, as long as nobody fought a war.

Actually, I'm being too flip-- nobody worried too much about pistol ammo when facing down Warsaw Pact tank armies. Folks were willing to trade the decline of combat power represented by the 9mm in return for easier logistics.

Of course, using that argument, we could have moved *everybody else* to .45 ACP, but we didn't fight it.

Today, however, in the Iraqi streets, stopping power is a more pressing consideration. Hence the ongoing controvesy over what type of ammo to use, either in pistols or service rifles (5.56mm versus a 6.8mm cartridge).

Personal opinion? Somewhat ambivalent. We've got lots of cash, and guns are comparatively cheap (compared to air and tank support). Buy the guys whatever they want.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

I've read there is a new cartridge being tested, the .224 BOZ. It's a .223 bullet on a 10mm cartridge.

Interesting ...

Dave,

don't leave out the 7.62x51 NATO (.308), used by our sniper teams and spec ops in the venerable M14 and M24.

Sorry. Since I own the civvie version of the M14 (M1A), I'm partial. Only a 7.62 is a guaranteed incapacitator at almost any point on the body. Even teh 6.8 is going to be a little light for real stopping (though the ballistics are impressive)