Obama News Conference

[Elvis]

I read the article.

Is there proof the fires were started by Islamic terrorists? No. And no need to use quotations btw, these people ARE terrorists. Islamic or not. Arson is arson is arson.

Latest figures from the Victoria state, from the year to June 2006, found police laid 2,926 arson charges in the year, but only 39 people were sentenced by the courts. The most common sentence was one year in jail.

'One of the problems we have is a lot of arsonists are not identified, are not caught and are not prosecuted,' [said bushfire crime analyst Damon Muller, from the Australian Institute of Criminology.] 'It is very difficult to tie a particular person to a particular fire.'

Source: 'Australian arsonists likely to be young and male'

It's not far-fetched to think a terrorist group would use arson as a tactic. However, the evidence provided by Fox News to justify the agenda of the article and it's headline is weak. It's fear-mongering.

Compare the Fox News article to the BBC:

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Arson blamed for Australia fires

Meanwhile, a new report suggested that half of the country's bush fires each year were started deliberately.

[...]The launch of the investigation coincided with a new report from the Australian Institute of Criminology which found that half of the country's 20,000 to 30,000 wild fires each year were started deliberately.

[...]The report said there was a strong link between arson and other forms of criminal behaviour.

It also found that arsonists are often attracted to careers in the fire service, or volunteer to help fight fires.

One explanation is that they get a thrill out of trying to combat the blazes.

Last November, police in New South Wales charged a volunteer firefighter with 13 counts of arson.

The AIC report states that arsonists are often 'attracted to careers in fire service'. So with the empirical evidence compiled by this report, should the headline of the BBC article be, "Australian Firemen love burning kangaroos"?

We all know this criminality isn't beyond a terrorist's sensibilities but it doesn't hold up against the official (government) analysis. So when I posted the article, I was mocking Fox's AGENDA.

The purpose of the Fox News article is to heighten the fear/paranoia that already exists. The BBC article is meant to inform based on analysis of forest fires by the official government agency.

Let me also add, that this isn't the first time Fox News has mentioned this 'Forest Jihad' craziness. During the California wildfires last year, Fox and Friends resident douchebag, Steve Doocy, stated:

DOOCY: You’re looking live at pictures from San Diego — Santiago, CA, where the wildfires continue. We were talking earlier in today’s telecast with Adam Housley and apparently police officers in a hovering helicopter saw a guy starting one of these fires. And Allison Allison Camerota, an FBI memo from late in June of this year is popping up this morning and it is ominous.

'Saw a guy': Thrilling.

http://video.thinkprogress.org/2007/...on.320.240.jpg

The memo Doocy is referring to is this.

So, 6 years later, this same 'Forest Jihad' fear mongering is regurgitated.

A quick look at a report (different from the previously mentioned one) released by the AIC, entitled Using crime prevention to reduce deliberate bushfire in Australia, documents the individuals who typically commit arson.

I think the report states that it's very difficult to profile arsonists in general due to lots of overlap of characteristics with other types of criminals.

Note: CRTL+F and type 'Who commits bushfire arson?' minus the quotations. Hit enter til you get to the correct chapter.

I couldn't find the word 'terrorist' mentioned once. Anyways, the point is that Fox is up to it's usual sensationalist reporting. There is some truth to what they say but it's a framed story OBVIOUSLY. All we have to do is wait until the next bushfire for them to run ANOTHER story on 'Forest Jihad'. Factoring in the FACTS that are laid out in the AIC reports and by AIC spokespeople:

-difficult to identify/capture arsonists
-difficult to profile arsonists

Then it's EASY to 'create' a story out of virtually no substantial evidence. People will keep relying on that 2003 memo of 'Forest Jihad' or omnious 'fire plots' til the cows come home.

You can't for sure say it wasn't terrorists. You can't for sure say it was. But the undeniable facts are that the usual culprits are predominantly poor/uneducated white males (as per the AIC report).

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/570/info1ds5.jpg

Pic taken from the AIC report I cited.

[Kuya]

I'm done playing this game with regardless of how I answer it not gonna be a good enough answer for you. And no matter what sources I cite its not gonna be good enough because it hasn't been translated from a spanish language news sources. Quit trolling.(saving face)



You're so full of shit. You may have been distancing yourself before the election but before it was clear he was going to win you were riding it pretty fucking hard.(a thread in spam) (Remember devil's advocate on shit you know very little on?) yeah That was in reference to that and other things. Like I said You know nothing of Helen Thomas(she gave a nice interview on Bush's legacy, but don't tell him that) besides of what written on wiki and while I know a little more then whats written there still more then you. The presidents haven't taken her serious for awhile now which is why he laughed and joked when he called on her.(they don't take the american people seriously either)

I never called you nor Elvis anti-Semitic fuck didn't even call Helen Thomas Anti-semitic.(except that i never said he called her an anti-semite) The only Anti-semite on this board is Churchill and he doesn't even deny it.(can't tell a trolling from real posting) I just don't believe that Israel is as evil(exaggerated remark, hint at what he really thinks) as you claim it to be the fact that you yourself read more into what I said says alot more about you then it does me. Does that mean I don't think Israel gets special treatment? Of course it does.



Sure it bugs you. which is why you're trolling me and this thread.(criticizing Obama and his supporters is trolling)



misconstrue
Verb
[-struing, -strued] to interpret mistakenly
misconstruction n

wat? (missed the "even be" part)


Didn't we have this conversation about you not looking up the meaning of words before pushing the http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/51/capturehb7.jpg button? I think we did.


anyway I'm done feeding the troll.

So basically, you don't know what i'm talking about.

some imaginary poster in this thread and in the gaza thread

In one of the threads about Israel:

I know of the WUJS, and I'm not a member, but nice try. Kuya you really do like to point at alot of jewish stuff. I know it would be totally jewish of me to accuse you of this but I might aswell since you like pushing the line so much: are you antisemitic?~

How imaginary, and he even confuses Israel for Jews.

To completely absolve the Palestinians from the blame of the shit thats going on is just fucking retarded.

This was when you were blaming the Palestinians for getting bombed.

[Day]

stfu Kuya, you're not even an American

[FNH]

I love how broad criminal profiles are (arsonist profile).