Overwatch

Once again, I'm going to rely on my fellow sentries to send up a warning.

JunkYardBlog has a post concerning the erroneous reporting on Katrina, and the somewhat surprising fact the New York Times is aware of it.

A great opening paragraph:

If your only source for news is the New York Times, you're always the last to know anything unflattering to Democrats or the press. And when the Times finally gets around to telling you about it, there's a good chance that they're leaving quite a bit out.

The heart of the post, though, is this:

But that sentence I quoted above is as close as the Times gets to delivering any understanding of the actual role the rumors of violence and mayhem played. The rest of the story is devoted to debunking many of those rumors. That's a useful thing to do, if a little late. The rumors should be debunked, and the new ones coming from Nagin and Farrakhan about bombs destroying the levees might deserve a little attention as well. Perhaps the Times will get around to that one sometime next spring.

Additionally, the Times never--not once--addresses the media's role in taking the unverified rumors, reporting them as fact and then using them to smear FEMA and the Bush administration. The Times never examines whether or not the media's own rumor mongering contributed to the loss of a single life (hint: it did). The Times never casts its critical gaze back upon itself or any of the many journalists and pundits who got the story wrong and still get the story wrong.

Power Line has a post on cultural illiteracy, and...

it sometimes reveals a stunning lack of high school-level knowledge of history, science and literature on the part of Times reporters and editors. Today's Corrections include a mind-blowing example of this genre:

"The About New York column yesterday, about an imagined conversation with God at a Manhattan diner, referred incorrectly to the Bible to which the thickness of the menu was likened. It is the King James Version, not St. James."

I'm speechless.

Did these reporters grow up with a Bible around the house?

The MAWB Squad has a sobering post about what the media can do with its editorial power:

Beth at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy received an e-mail from a Marine in Iraq, which says in part:

"The trick here is to convince the bad guys they have been beat. The idiots at the peace rallies are what’s really hurting since the stated goals of the insurgents is to break down public support for the war in the US."

Take note peace protestors. The troops say you are giving aid and comfort to the enemy trying to kill them. If you really support the troops you will support Victory.

Contrast all this with Michael Yon's latest post. Yon first wrote about a girl named Rhma here (under Days 11-16).

Rhma has a heart condition, and is in need of serious medical attention. Efforts have been made to bring Rhma to the United States. As Yon writes, there is...

a team of good doctors and nurses in New Mexico willing to help Rhma free of charge

However, there have been delays in getting Rhma to the United States.

As it happened, however, the US Embassy staff in Jordan had actually been quietly but persistently putting a great deal of work into getting Rhma to New Mexico.

The confusion and glitches were caused by “little gremlins” such as Rhma’s parents incorrectly filling out paperwork. Computers are computers; there were delays caused not by the staff, but rather resulting from misunderstandings about what needed to happen and when it needed to happen. These gremlins caused the delays, but the moment the Embassy staff realized these issues resulted from communication gremlins, they rectified them and got Rhma on her way.

With the help of Michael Yon, the Deuce Four, and many people working behind the scenes, this girl will get the help she needs.

Folks, this is what kind of nation the United States can be. This is the kind of military we have. As Yon says though,

Perhaps a local journalist in New Mexico will pick up the thread of this story. Many of us would greatly like to follow Rhma’s journey to better health.

Perhaps the media will some day discover the good the United States is doing in Iraq, the millions of lives that have changed for the better because the US military removed a brutal dictator from power. Some day. Until then, I'd be happy if the media simply stopped giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

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Hugh Hewitt has a great column at The Weekly Standard about the faulty reporting.
Betsy Newmark noticed the NY Times story as well.
Don Singleton has a roundup on the NY Times story.
Mark Tapscott, too, appreciates what the Yon story says about America.