What a delicious piece of irony. Bush killed jobs here, but at least he created a few in Iraq!

Their deployment as a makeshift missile robbed President George Bush of his dignity and landed their owner in jail. But the world's most notorious pair of shoes have yielded an unexpected bonanza for a Turkish shoemaker.

Ramazan Baydan, owner of the Istanbul-based Baydan Shoe Company, has been swamped with orders from across the world, after insisting that his company produced the black leather shoes which the Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi threw at Bush during a press conference in Baghdad last Sunday.

Baydan has recruited an extra 100 staff to meet orders for 300,000 pairs of Model 271 - more than four times the shoe's normal annual sale - following an outpouring of support for Zaidi's act, which was intended as a protest, but led to his arrest by Iraqi security forces.

Orders have come mainly from the US and Britain, and from neighbouring Muslim countries, he said.

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Natasha Chart at Open Left:

Glenn Hurowitz recently wondered who's going to help Tibet bring down China, like the Russians were brought down in Afghanistan and the British in India.

International pressure and protest seems to carry no weight among the Chinese. Their government is still arresting monks for "unauthorized gatherings", they're still shooting and killing Tibetans. They've also been shipping weapons to Zimbabwe's dictator, who's currently ignoring the results of an election that voted him and his party out of power. They buy 90 percent of Sudan's exported oil, and sells them small arms destined for Darfur. Darfur, where the Sudanese government is carrying out air attacks against helpless civilian targets. Oh yes, and they're now the world's top carbon polluter, though the US still remains the top carbon polluter per capita.

Yeah, that Chinese government, complete jerks, tyrants, to put it charitably. People are surprised that the Olympic torch protests seem only to have stirred Chinese nationalism, surprised that the Chinese don't understand why people are angry. Still, I think Glenn asks the wrong question. Because who is it that raised China up? The lack of self-awareness in this situation isn't exclusive to the Chinese, people everywhere have an amazing capacity to accept almost anything as normal.

Indeed, let's cut right to the heart of the matter: whom else will we buy our shoes from?

I looked this up once when I was working at my community college paper in 2005. There was an editorial insistence on doing a fashion insert, so I contributed something about sweatshops and the offshoring of clothing manufacture. (I know, total killjoy.) I found a copy of that article in my old files, and according to the research that I'd done at the time, the US had lost over 860,000 textile and apparel jobs since 1993, and China was making 80% of the world's shoes.

Sure, if you have (usually) more money to spend, you can find shoes made somewhere else. But not everyone has that kind of time or latitude. Funny thing, though, now shoe manufacturers are closing down in China. Now that "many factories have to meet social obligations" and workers have been agitating for better pay, manufacturing jobs are slowly starting to leave China as they once left the US. Read on...

Despite spending three hours crying about how unfair Spocko and us "evil liberal bloggers" are last week, that just wasn't enough time for Melanie Morgan to wail about how victimized she is. Call the Waaaahhhmbulance!

WorldNetDaily:

I've been the target, as have a number of other conservative talk-radio hosts, of an effort by liberal bloggers to get me fired for engaging in what these far-left activists are calling "hate speech."

The move by liberal activists to silence conservative radio hosts comes after the failure of the left-wing Air America radio network. Given that liberalism couldn't compete and win in the marketplace of ideas, liberals now want to silence conservative radio hosts.
[..]Over the course of all these years, I have of course said things I regretted, or worded things in a way I wished I hadn't. When that happens I've retracted the statement and made a public apology, such as I did concerning comments made about Sen. Barrack Obama. You should read my statement on this matter here.
Despite the efforts by liberal censors to silence me, I will never back away from what I believe in: a strong national defense, respect for the men and women of the United States military, a secure border and enforcement of our nation's immigration laws, lower taxes, less government regulation in our lives and in business, respect for the values of decency, honesty and morality.

Any efforts to silence me are just further proof of how desperate and pathetic liberals have become.

For the record, Melanie, there was no attempt to silence you. Spocko went to the advertisers on KSFO and made them aware what their ad dollar was sponsoring. You can say every little hateful, bigoted thing in your little shriveled black heart. But Visa doesn't have to sponsor it. You know, kind of like your little campaign against Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11. Doesn't feel good when the shoe is on the other foot, does it?

Media Matters: Morgan & Co. accuse David Brock of "extortion." Um, okay. Can someone send these idiots a dictionary? They're embarassing themselves.

Michelle responds to John Cole : "Unhinged critics have gone ballistic over the fact that I linked to this news, which was first broken by another site called Dang If I Know over the weekend. In response, this blogger spewed profanities left and right."

Cole replies: And quit pretending you are just breaking the news of her divorce. You are breaking the news of her divorce as an active attempt to discredit her. Have some decency. Try, just once, to be better than Chris Lehane."

Dc Media Girl has her say: Michelle Malkin has demonstrated, clearly and concisely, what I was trying to point out below: That these wingnuts will say anything and stop at nothing to win, while putting on a great show of taking offense when the shoe is on the other foot...read on.

Mykeru has some advice for her husband: "Dude, one day she's going to snap. Sleep with one eye open."

While Greg at the Talent Show has the pay-per view event of the month going on: Michelle vs. Michelle.

Ezra Klein: Malkin's got one year left. She's got a story to write, a soldier to understand, and a body of statements to defend. Her husband can take care of their kids for awhile, it's time for Michelle to fulfill her responsibility to her country, to the truth, and to those who want a serious counterattack on Cindy Sheehan...read on

For some reason Michelle has to bring Air America in all of this because you can smear two for the price of one. Most 24/7 shows are doing segments on her, but apparently they don't count in MalkinWorld. She complains that Randi Rhodes wants to go to Crawford. Why no mention of another "lower being" Mike Gallagher? He just drove down there to drink a glass of lemonade, chant an imbecilic mantra, have a photo-op, figured thirty minutes was a real protest and drive away before one of the neighbors filled his bus with buckshot.

From the right The Political Teen joins in.

La Shawn Barber writes: Lay Off Cindy Sheehan

This is getting uglier by the minute as Bill O'Reilly pitted the step mother of Dolores Kesterson's son against his own mother. Bill had another "%^^&*(&*^" moment when he asks her who raised him. Newshounds has the wrap up on it.

The Carpet Bagger Report has some cool photo's of Frist and this report:

Apparently, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist swung by an Allen-Edmonds shoe store today, and like many working families in Tennessee do all the time, picked up two pairs of shoes totaling $530. What he didn’t realize, however, was that the Allen-Edmonds was located in the same building as the offices of Americans United to Protect Social Security.

So, while Frist shopped, AUPSS staffers got organized. By the time he was done, dozens of protestors had assembled to chant, “Senator Frist Don’t Privatize” and “Hands Off My Social Security.” He doesn’t look like he’s having a good time. And, as an added bonus, according to my source, Frist had parked his SUV in front of Allen-Edmonds illegally, blocking traffic. The Majority Leader not only was berated by those who support Social Security, he was ticketed. (Though, one has to assume, Frist spent more on his new shoes than he will on his parking ticket.) read on

Protester Throws Shoe at Former Pentagon Adviser Perle As He and Dean Debate in Oregon

Video

Perle: Oregonians may have perished disproportionately in fighting this war, and it is sad when anyone is killed in war, and I can only share the sense that many of you feel here, of how costly this war has been. All wars are costly.

Perle: We went into Iraq on the basis of the best information we had..

Then came the shoe, and shouts of liar, liar..

Perle was forced by one of the questioners to recast a comment he made on Sept. 22, 2003, in which he predicted that within one year, there would be "a grand square in Baghdad named for President Bush."

"I'd be a fool not to recognize that it did not happen on the schedule I had in mind," Perle said, adding that he did not deny that the administration had made mistakes in Iraq.

Perle seems to come out of the Dick Cheney school of "no emotion" and "condescension" public speaking. A dispationate, monotone voice that is slow in cadence while weighing words carefully. As I listened to this brief clip, I got the feeling that war and death is business as usual.

Fox News:

The following is a list of known terror plots thwarted by the U.S. government since Sept. 11, 2001.

• December 2001, Richard Reid: British citizen attempted to ignite shoe bomb on flight from Paris to Miami.

• May 2002, Jose Padilla: American citizen accused of seeking "dirty bomb," convicted of conspiracy.

• September 2002, Lackawanna Six: American citizens of Yemeni origin convicted of supporting Al Qaeda. Five of six were from Lackawanna, N.Y.

• May 2003, Iyman Faris: American citizen charged with trying to topple the Brooklyn Bridge.

• June 2003, Virginia Jihad Network: Eleven men from Alexandria, Va., trained for jihad against American soldiers, convicted of violating the Neutrality Act, conspiracy.

• August 2004, Dhiren Barot: Indian-born leader of terror cell plotted bombings on financial centers (see additional images). Read on...

The blog where I found this list brings up some good points. How many of these were actual, valid terror threats and what price did the American people pay to feel protected? We know our government will try to scare the pants off of us at every opportunity, they don't even need credible evidence to do it. I don't like to link to FOXNews' website, but I did just in case someone thought I was making this up or it was a joke. For those of you who don't want to give them the hits, I've posted the entire list below the fold. As always, I'm sure the C&L faithful with will have this fact-checked in no time. Sincerely, Logan Hussein Murphy

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