Scared Monkeys Media Alert

Tom will be appearing on the Andy Thomas Show today a little after 3 pm.

Andy Thomas’s show is heard throughout the Carolinas, and also on the internet.

They will be discussing the Natalee Holloway story and how blogging has interacted with it.

FOR ALL THAT MISSED TOM ON THE RADIO WITH ANDY THOMAS HERE IS THE LINK COURSETY OF A GREAT FRIEND OF THE MONKEY, THE POLITICAL TEEN.

Australian Hostage Rescued In Iraq

Douglas Wood, the Australian hostage was rescued this morning following a military operation according to the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard.

Australian hostage Douglas Wood has been rescued in a military operation in Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard says.

“I am delighted to inform the House that the Australian hostage in Iraq, Mr Douglas Wood, is safe,” Mr Howard told Parliament.

“Mr Wood was recovered a short while ago in Baghdad in a military operation that I am told was conducted by Iraqi forces in cooperation in a general way with force elements of the United States.”

This is tremendous news from a situation that looked rather grim at times. News of the release has the family on cloud nine. What a fantastic outcome to a very difficult situation.

A spokesman for the Wood family, Neil Smail, says the family is “elated”.

“The family is delighted that Douglas is now free,” he said. “It’s been a really horrifying ordeal for him.”

Mr Smail says the family wants to thank the Australian Government, as well as agencies in Iraq and Sydney-based Muslim cleric Sheikh Taj El-Din Al-Hilaly for their efforts in trying to free the engineer.

“The family is greatly relieved and it really does appreciate all the work that’s been done toward his release,” Mr Smail said.

According to Fox News the rescue took place as part of “Operation Lightning“.

The raid took place as part of Operation Lightning — a broader counterinsurgency operation that began in Baghdad on May 29, Warner said. He added there “was specific intelligence and tips that provided a hint at what might be found at that location.”

Wood was freed by the Iraqi army’s 2nd battalion, 1st Armored Brigade, with assistance by U.S. forces in Ghazaliya — one of the most dangerous Sunni Arab neighborhood of Baghdad, Warner said. He added that “no ransom was paid” despite a request for a “very large” amount of money.

Wood was found under a blanket and the insurgents told troops he was their sick father, said Gen. Naseer al-Abadi, Iraq’s deputy chief of staff. The operation also resulted in the arrest of three insurgents and release of an Iraqi hostage.

Lessons From A Court Room

I have promised myself this is the last post I will do on Michael Jackson. The verdict is in and although many may not agree, we all have to live with it. I think we can learn two very valuable lessons from the charade that was the Michael Jackson trial.

1. Settle your case and do not ever let a jury “of your peers” decide your fate.
2. ‘Don’t snap your fingers’ in Court.

“I disliked it intently when she snapped her fingers at us,” said Juror No. 5, a 79-year-old great- grandmother.

“That’s when I thought, ‘Don’t snap your fingers at me, lady.’ “

Jury of your peers. Who’s peer’s?

But somehow juror #5 did not dislike intently the idea that a 40 year old man admittedly sleeps with boys that are of no relation to him in a palatial mansion with how many bedrooms? Juror #5 better get a sense of perspective. Oh, but know his lawyer says, he is not going to do that anymore. Atty. Mesereau, do what, exactly?

Then there was juror #1 who made this brilliant comment,

“I feel that Michael Jackson has probably molested boys,” Hultman said on CNN. “To be in your bedroom for 365 straight days and not do something more than just watch television and eat popcorn, that doesn’t make sense to me.

But that doesn’t make him guilty of the charges that were presented.”

WHAT!!! This man just admitted he thought he was a child molester and thinks that it only happens on occasion. This jury put the mother ahead of a suspected child molester that many of them though had in fact committed the crime? (Red just shakes his head in disbelief).

The Moderate Voice asks, “will he change his lifestyle”? Red says, “nope, his handlers will just do a better job of covering it up in the future. Or maybe Michael will just buy an island with no media accessibility”.

CNN, Attorney: Jackson will be more careful

Michael Jackson’s lead defense attorney said Tuesday that he believes his client’s behavior will change now that Jackson has been acquitted of charges including child molestation.

Yeah, I bet he will. Atty. Mesereau, Gee ya think?

VP Cheney; Dean Has Never Won Anything

Yesterday, Vice President Cheney basically called Howard Dean a horse’s a$$. Wait a minute I can’t use dollar signs after the amount of money that Dean has raised as compared to counterpart, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman. Howard Dean has made his Chairmanship all about himself instead of about the Democratic party. Dean wants to use the excuse that Republicans are trying to distract from the real issues. Howard, YOU ARE THE DISTRACTION! In a verbal tapestry of political drive by insults, VP Cheney let Dean have it.

Howard Dean is “over the top,” Vice President Dick Cheney says, calling the Democrats’ chairman “not the kind of individual you want to have representing your political party.”

“I’ve never been able to understand his appeal. Maybe his mother loved him, but I’ve never met anybody who does. He’s never won anything, as best I can tell,” Cheney said in an interview to be aired Monday on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes.”

I guess we know for Dick Cheney stands on the Green Mountain state of VT. No maple syrup for you Mr. Vice President.

“So far, I think he’s probably helped us more than he has them,” Cheney said in the interview taped Friday. “That’s not the kind of individual you want to have representing your political party.

The vice president added: “I really think Howard Dean’s over the top. And more important … I think many of his fellow Democrats feel the same way.”

As much as the Democrats want to look the other way, Dean is a liability to the party. And why shouldn’t he be? Dean is really a Carl Rove mole.

NOT GUILTY?

Michael Jackson acquitted on all counts of child molestation. As the AP reports, “vindicating the pop star who insisted he was the victim of mother-and-son con artists and a prosecutor with a vendetta”.

Because its completely normal to have little boys admittedly sleep in your bed.

Does it really seem appropriate to cheer a man or whatever who admits to sleeping with boys?

A number of Jackson’s family members accompanied him to the courthouse to hear the verdict and flanked him as he exited the courthouse as fans cheered.

Kevin at Wizbang, I was with you on the alcohol charge and even that was not guilty?

Another Rovian Conspiracy I could not have said it better myself I just could do it. You are correct on every count. A must read.

Michelle Malkin has the “releasing of the doves” and a prayer that LA will not burn. One would almost think it was sarcastic. I think it is.