media watch
Just to let everyone know how "liberal" Hollywood is, the Oscars are blacklisting anti-war stars from hitting the stage, lest they say something with anti-war sentiment that could piss off the Oscar advertisers. Yes, we all know that we can't peeve our corporate masters..

The global wave of anti-war protesters splashes onto Washington DC today, where 40,000 people marched aginst the invasion of Iraq.

"I want our troops to return home safely. I want them to live. Like a good German watching my countrymen march into Poland and Belgium and Luxembourg and France, I don't want them to win and I don't want them to lose." Ted Rall, Don't support our troops.

This headline says it all: Greeks demand Bush be rocketed into outer space

Protesters in the UK take matters into their own hands and trashed a military jet with a hammer, hopefully rendering it unflyable. "I took my hammer to the nose-cone, the cockpit, the fuselage, the wings, the tailplane and other parts of the plane which it was safe to damage. I don't see it flying again." If this war starts, you can expect to see the anti-war movement to perform more acts of direct action, like blocking intersections and staging strikes, until the war stops. Protesters since that since the massive worldwide protests have been ignored thus far, direct action is "the next logical step."

Ralph Nader writes about the civic groups who are against war and have requested a meeting with the President, only to be ignored. If you wouldlike to read their letters to Bush, goto essentialaction.org.

The Independent Media Center reports on dissention within governments by those who do not argee with war with Iraq.
Make sure to keep your homefront pledge, serf!

millions to be ignored
Millions of Europeans stopped working midday Friday and went to the streets to protest against a war in Iraq. Millions. I was listening to news reports on the radio yesterday and I didn't hear a peep about this. When I finally did hear about this, I checked Washington Post, Washington Times, New York Times, LA Times, and the Chicago Tribune, and their front pages didn't mention a thing about this. I had to do a news search on news.google.com just to find stories related to this, because it wasn't on the frontpage there, either. I also checked the AFP wire and it wasn't there, although the only stories I could check went back to late afternoon on friday so there could have been an article about the European protests before then. Needless to say, I'm pretty pissed off with the lack of coverage this has received. When the press virtually ignores millions of protesters, then they are simply not doing their jobs. Period. There is no other way you can look at it.

media watch
Warblogging has made a pretty clear case defining Gulf War Redux (I think I will be stealing that phrase) is illegal. There are too many points to single out and links to give you, so I urge you to goto the site and spend a few minutes reading the blog. It's an eyeopener.

The New York Times asks the question, "What Will It Cost to Rebuild Iraq?" Nobody knows the answer to this right now, but there are estimates that this will cost $20 billion and we would need 200,000 troops there to secure the country, which would spread our military out pretty thin (I guess the only good thing about that is that means that we wouldn't have the military strength to invade another country, unless the draft is brought back...) Years and years of commitment are needed for this process. So far, the US has been looking for takers on a $900 million contract to help rebuild Iraq after we bomb the crap out of it, and our current track record with rebuilding Afghanistan goes against us.

In case youhave been living under a rock, Bush will not be going to the UNSC this week for a vote on a new resolution. The jury is out on whether or not he will ever go back to the security council to get a resolution passed.

media watch
The Senate has approved of a ban on partial-birth abortions. This law flies in the face on a ruling by the Supreme Court that struck down a state partial-birth abortion ban three years ago. The House is expected to pass this bill, and the shrub is expected to sign it.

Bowling for Columbine stands a good chance of winning Michael Moore an Oscar. If this happens, then whatever speech he gives in acceptance could politize the ceremony, and bringing Moore's message to a billion viewers. Cool! If this happens, brace yourself for the the tidewave of idiocy from the right. The bloody screams of "Hollywood idiot" will be heard for miles.

The Pentagon slipped a proposal into the fine print of the 2004 military budget that would exempt them from Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, among other things.

democrats, yet again, prove themselves to be spineless wimps
It's official: I'll be voting Green again in the next election.

The Democrat Party doews not represent me. They do not represent my political beliefs and we do not share the same vision of what we think America is, and should become. Worst of all, they don't have a backbone. Sure, I want to see Bush voted out of office just as much as anyone else, but why would I want him to be replaced by somebody will not speak out against his policies?

Are you wondering hat has set me off? It is the lead story today on Salon, Silence of the Dems. It discusses how all the Democratic candidates for President who have a chance to be the nominee are either pro-war or will refuse to speak out against the war once the bombs start falling.

How pathetic.

Leadership? Fuck leadership! Who needs it? Those Democrats are too busy strapping on kneepads and kneeling down to get a little more Bush.

Out of all the candidates, Vietnam vet and former protester again that war, John Kerry, should feel truly ashamed. His public neutering is finally complete. He doesn't want to be a leader, he's simply a follower who wants more power, and he's going to pander to whoever he thinks will give it to him. In short, he's a whore.

The only promising campaign I saw from the Democrats was that of Howard Dean, but now he has said that he will not speak out against the war if Bush starts dropping bombs. What an asshole.

I guess all the lives of American troops and innocent Iraqis that are about to be lost to Dubya's bullshit war just doesn't matter to the Democrats.

Well, it matters to me.

Fuck you, Kerry. Fuck you, Dean. Fuck the rest of you. You're all murderers in my eyes, and I would rather see you in jail then see you in office.

media watch - late edition
That deadly Iraqi drone plane that the U.S. claims U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix did not declare the existance of (he actually did, he just didn't make a big deal out of it) is made out of balsa wood and DUCT TAPE, and, get this, "with two small propellors attached to what look like the engines of a weed whacker". Nice smoking gun there, Dubya.

George Herbert Walker Bush has come out against unilateral action in Iraq in a speech at Tufts University. He almost bluntly stated that there could be no peace in the Middle East if his son ignores the U.N.

media watch
Sales at McDonalds continue to slide. I'll try to find some statistics to see if the number of heartattacks has been on the rise, maybe we can draw a correlation.

The Bush Administration is set to make partial-birth abortions illegal. In other news, the Republicans push to make the 2050's similar to the 1950's is ahead of schedule. Expect to see huge cars, with tail-fins, that pass by everything but a gas station by 2021.

Wired has a great article on weening America off oil and using hydrogen for our energy needs. It lays out a 5-step plan that the Bush administration can embark on to make hydrogen a viable energy source that can replace oil, and points to the crisis with Iraq and our reliance on Middle Eastern oil to make the case that converting to hydrogen is an economic and national security issue. This plan would cost the government $100 billion over the next 10 years. That price tag might seem expensive, but then pondering the possible price for a war in Iraq makes it seem cheap.

Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic has been assassinated. This article from the AP, published earlier today before he was pronouced dead, gives some good background information on the PM and some of the forces that worked against him.

U.S. moves an aircraft carrier towards the Korean Peninsula to take part in annual military exercises with the South Korean military. North Korea says that this, and I assume the bombers that the U.S. deployed to Guam that are not part of the exercises with South Korea, makes the situation "so tense that a nuclear war may break out any moment." They still request face-to-face negotiating with the U.S., and we continue to give them the finger.

media watch - late edition
The House of Representatives has decided to jump on the idiotic French bigotry bandwagon by renaming items on their menus to "Freedom Fries" and "Freedom Toast". Rep. Bob Ney (OH), chairman of the House Administration Committee, ordered the change. He said, "This action today is a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France." Want to give this jerk a call and express your displeasure with him? The number is (202) 225-6265. Let him know that closed minded jerks like him are the reason the rest of the world hates Americans.

If we are going to rename French Fries, why don't we be truthful about it? Fat Fries! See the effects of eating them everyday!

media watch
U.S. successfully tests the massive, 21,000lbs MOAB ("Massive Ordnance Air Burst") bomb. ABC News has an article about the bomb which says a couple interesting things about it: "The MOAB's massive explosive punch, sources say, is similar to a small nuclear weapon," and, "It is intended to terrorize Iraqi troops, drastically reducing their desire to continue the fight."

FBI-9/11 whistle blower Colleen Rowley has penned another letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller, warning of, "the flood of terrorism that will likely head our way in the wake of an attack on Iraq."

Buzzflash has an interview with the always enlightening Ted Rall that you need to read. Ted Rall cuts through the government propaganda and gives you the straight story about what's happening in Central Asia and the Middle East.

OPEC meets in Vienna with war looming over Iraq, their goal is to make sure the world oil market stays stable. The Times in London has a Q&A about oil prices and the supplies of the U.S. and U.K.

resolve this
Here's my idea for a UN resolution to the Iraq crisis: Bush and Hussein meet at the next Security Council meeting, they both whip it out and the representative from France measures the length. Winner take all.

Since Bush used to snort coke which has been known to cause permanent shrinkage, I'm betting on Hussein.

I'm so sick of hearing about Iraq.

media watch - late edition
News from last night I didn't get around to posting.

The Bush Administration is quietly soliciting bids for the rebuilding of Iraq after we bomb the shit out of it in a couple weeks. If one is looking for the silver lining to this cloud, it means that the US is serious about rebuilding the country, throwing more money into these contracts then they are into rebuilding Afghanistan. On the other hand, to rebuild a country we are going to have to bomb the everloving crap out of it in the first place, risking the lives of our troops and killing who knows how many innocent Iraqis in the process. And you always have to wonder who a big contract like this one is going to. No mention of the bidders yet.

The Internation Criminal Court is set to opem.

Pakistani authorities say that they are close to capturing bin Laden. Pardon my lack of excitment, but I think we have heard this all before.

media watch
UPDATE: France WILL use their veto power on the Security Council, joining Russia.

France talks with governments in Africa to drum up support for a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Iraq. France wants to gain enough support to block the US/UK resolution without having to use their veto. Meanwhile, Russia harbors no reservations about using their veto power, and Pakistan will abstain from the comng Security Council vote.

As war with Iraq seems more likely as every minute passes, stock markets around the world slip, oil is at its' highest price since March, 1999; and the dollar has dropped off, too.

Washington refuses to talk with North Korea. North Korea test fires another missile into the Sea of Japan.

weekend media watch
I've been allowed to escape from loadedmouth.com super secret hideout this weekend, so I have been out.. Haven't been paying too much attention.. I'm a baaaad, baaad blogger.

Binyamin Netanyahu's newphew refuses to serve in the Israeli military.

Buzzflash has spearheaded a story that asks the question of whether or not the Bush primetime press conference was scripted. They have uncovered some pretty interesting evidence. Click and read: [1], [2], [3].

Protests against the war in Iraq took place as part of the events for Womens day over the weekend. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was arrested at one of these protests. Nope, nothing fishy here..

A point-by-point critique of Dubya's 2/26 speech at the American Enterprise Institute. Some of the points that the author brings up can be contested, but this article should serve to show us just how much the mainstream media is not questioning the President on, well, anything. If any right wing loon tries telling you that the media is too "liberal", tell them to read this article and then ask them to say to your face that the "liberal" media is being too tough on Dubya. If they still say yes, smack them.