5/31/2003

The trailer find breaks down some more.

The trailer story becomes even shakier. What Really Happened also has some more debunking. The trailer appears to have a half an air conditioner in it. Odd.......

Can the Nets upset the Spurs in the NBA Finals, beginning Wednesday? No one seems to think so. And I would have to agree. The Spurs are clearly the best team in the NBA at the moment, while the Nets are in the Eastern Conference. That about says it all. I say Spurs in 6, I hope for Nets in 7. Let the games begin!

5/30/2003

Straw, Powell had serious doubts over their Iraqi weapons claims

The source of the transcripts is questionable at this point, but that's pretty damaging stuff. Damaging to the one figure who may have some credibility left. At least to people skeptical of Bush, but not completely against him like me, or any of the blogs in my links. This will likely be a big deal in Britain, but not so much here. It's really becoming irritating (as if all this wasn't already). Anyway, Kos has some good posts about the WMD situation in the media, and there are some good comments for one of them. So go read.

Thanks to Swopa at Needlenose, who links to my post about Bush's satisfaction.

Terror Alert Drops To Yellow

Whew. I guess it's safe to go outside again.

Wouldn't it be nice if Bush got the same amount of pressure as Blair on the WMD issue? The British gov't is in an uproar, and Bush is "satisfied." I really wish people weren't mindless zombies when it comes to politics around here.

Waggy Dog Stories

Latest Krugman article. I don't even need to point out that it's good.

"For bureaucratic reasons we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on,"

- Paul Wolfowitz

My internet connection hates me. Five disconnects in the span of an hour and a half.

Rumsfeld involved in minor car crash

I will refrain from any malicious jokes or comments.

5/29/2003

Bush 'satisfied' with Iraq intelligence

PRESIDENT George W. Bush believed that US charges about Iraq's unconventional weapons had been "borne out", despite the post-war failure to locate such arms, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said today.

"The president is indeed satisfied with the intelligence that he received," he told reporters, citing the discovery earlier this month of two mobile labs that could potentially have been used to produce chemical or biological weapons.

There's not much to say to that. It's just rather insane.

Be sure to read the rest of the article. Reports Ari trying to back his way out of the WMD claims, then reports a couple of past statements by the Bush administration.

al-Qaida Said to Scour Australia Targets

Hey, Howard's trying his luck at some of Bush's tactics. I doubt they work.

No Bunker where U.S. Bombs Targeted Saddam-CBS

Oopsy.

5/28/2003

I'm bored, so I might as well go through O'Reilly's Talking Points Memo from the other day.

Before the Iraq war, I told you that the removal of Saddam Hussein would have positive consequences throughout the world. Those who oppose the war said I was nuts, that the conflict would hurt America and the world.

Well, first evidence says we were right... As Israel is now compromising with the Palestinian authority, although nothing is certain, but any kind of progress brings peace in that volcanic region closer. The reason Israel has finally agreed to the formation of a Palestinian state is that the USA has more than 100,000 troops in the area, and Israel's security, vis-a-vis Syria and Iran, is assured while Iraq, obviously, is no longer a threat.

Surprisingly, seeing how old O'Reilly is, he doesn't realize that this plan is just like all the others in history, which eventually failed. Sorry, no dice on that idea.

Saudi Arabia is also under enormous pressure to stop funding terror because the USA now has the Iraqi oil option. And the Saudis know that if they don't crack down on the fundamentalists, bad things may happen to the kingdom.

Two-thirds of Americans believe the Saudis are not our friends, and their oil card is much weaker now, so logically, the Saudis must begin to fight Al Qaeda aggressively, another benefit of the Iraq war.

Except the largest attack on U.S. interests since 9/11 just happened there. And the Saudis ARE fundamentalists. And I thought the war wasn't about oil? Oh, and then there's the possibility that Al Qaeda doesn't really exist.

Iran also feeling the heat. This country is run by fanatical Islamists who hate America and continues to supports suicide bombers and is developing deadly weapons. But Iran knows the USA is now standing on its western border, and that pressure is the only thing that can stop their madness. Yet another benefit of defeating Saddam.

I remember reading that Iraq wouldn't respond to pressure, that we've been doing that for 12 years and they withstood it. So what makes him think it'll work for Iran, especially when we bomb Iranian opposition groups?

Talking Points could list five more anti-terror factors that have been improved since Saddam was defeated, but suffice it to say that the global strategy designed by Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz is off to a good start.

I really hope they're better than the ones just listed. But I'm sure they aren't; why would you withold your best evidence?

Trucks Could Be Linked to Iraq Bioweapons

WASHINGTON - The discovery of two Iraqi truck trailers equipped with fermenters is the strongest evidence yet that Saddam Hussein had a biological weapons program, a U.S. intelligence report said Wednesday. But officials still have found no such weapons.

....

"Examination of the trailers reveals ... an ingeniously simple, self-contained bioprocessing system," the report says. "Both trailers we have found probably are designed to produce BW agent in unconcentrated liquid slurry."

....

There is no evidence the two trailers were ever actually used to make biological weapons, the intelligence officials said. Officials also said they did not expect to find biological agents inside the trucks, which they said the Iraqis probably had decontaminated.

....

Intelligence officials who briefed reporters Wednesday on condition of anonymity, said they had considered and discarded possible legitimate uses for the trailers, ranging from the production of hydrogen to pesticides. The trucks would not be able to do any of those very well, they indicated.


"The Iraqis had a motivation to inefficiently produce a biological agent," said one intelligence official. "They had no motivation to inefficiently produce anything else."

Captured Iraqi scientists have said the vehicles were for producing hydrogen for weather balloons in support of artillery. The report acknowledges the trailers could be used to make hydrogen but says the effort would be inefficient compared with widely available commercial hydrogen generation systems.

A technical analysis of the trucks showed they could be used, though inefficiently, to complete the early steps of creating a biological weapon, intelligence officials said. Based on information from the source, they believe each truck was part of a two-truck or three-truck system that could create a finished agent.

Ingeniously simple, but inefficient. And just a bit more efficient than "producing hydrogen for weather balloons in support of artillery." And why would you scrub a weapons lab clean, but leave the lab? Wouldn't it be easier to torch it and leave NO evidence behind? Isn't that simpler? But those damn dirty Arabs, always leaving highly important documents, labs, etc just lying around.


Happy Birthday to me.

Tom Tomorrow gets a response from Time about the letter they printed originating from the GOP website. He vows to keep going. Good.

Came across this story on Fox News.

Officials are threatening businessman Bob Foor with 30 days in jail if he refuses to remove the 3 1/2-feet-tall and nearly 100-feet-wide flashing red sign from a massive old building he owns in the heart of the borough's historic district.

....

The row began a year ago when Foor sought permission from the borough's historical review board to put up the sign. The board denied the request because of the size of the sign and the use of neon, both of which failed to comply with the district's historic appearance.

....

Officials, who gave Foor 10 days' notice to remove the sign, say it violates the historic district's regulations, the sign ordinance and the zoning law. Borough Manager John Montgomery added signs must be inside the window.


Exactly why is this news?

5/27/2003

Man, if you can, catch The Daily Show's Iraq: A Look Back show. SO funny. All the great stuff I missed at my Comedy Central-less college.

And why does Blogspot suck? I try loading up Hammerdown, and it never gets there. A pain in the ass I tell you.

Euro Soars to Record High Against Dollar

The euro soared to a record high against the dollar Tuesday in a major boost for many U.S. exporters but deepening the pain for the continent's struggling economy and American tourists in Europe.

We're inching closer to OPEC turning to the Euro instead of using the dollar. Then you should be worried. Very worried.

U.S. Plans Death Camp

Prisoners would be tried, convicted and executed without leaving its boundaries, without a jury and without right of appeal, The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported yesterday.

Well, we know they're guilty, they don't need rights. Trust us.

I have no comment on the location of the 1000s of tons of WMD at this point in time.

5/26/2003

Patriotism

Patriotism is all the rage nowadays. People waving flags, holding signs, flags on porches, etc. The most potent weapon supporters of Bush have is questioning someone's patriotism. The mere mention causes people to vehemently defend themselves. If a righty doesn't like something, he merely calls you unpatriotic and you have to defend yourself, changing the subject. Just as the anti-war movement was hip for many young people, patriotism is hip for older people. But as is obvious to many, it's leading us down a bad road. An unquestioning, morally blind road with regards to the state of the world.

What drives this? Fear. And guilt. Fear that something awful will happen if we don't fight everyone and the guilt that soldiers are dying for them and they have to support it. Fear that the anti-war movement is representing them and they feel guilty and scared about. That's one thing that irritates me. There would be no troops rallies or anything if there were no anti-war protestors. They don't care enough to go out on there own initiative, they are coerced into it by guilt.

There's nothing wrong with being patriotic (here I go defending myself). But like many things, in excess, it's very harmful. You can see the incredible difference in opinions between the U.S. and the world and attribute it to detachment. We have no problem accepting bad things about France, but when it's your own country, it's not tolerable.

And one more thing: why is patriotism linked to God? One nation under God, God bless America. I realize these are old sayings, but they seem to be out in force these days. I really don't have much to say about this, other than it's wrong.

You can say this was an appropriate or an inappropriate rant with Memorial Day being, well, yesterday, now. But I needed to get it off my chest.

UN chief warns of anti-American backlash in Iraq

I believe he was proven right weeks ago.

It's Memorial Day for another 13 minutes. No, there's really no point to that comment.

5/24/2003

Homeland Security Buys N.M. Town for Training

Comes with free illegal immigrant test subjects.

Point not included.

Iraqi Doctors Worry About Use of Uranium

I'd be worried if I was a soldier, as well. But the gov't doesn't actually care about our troops, so it isn't surprising.

What was it, 24 million or so that voted on American Idol? And these are the same people that say their vote doesn't make a difference in political elections? But it does on a stupid TV show? What did I miss?

Also, I just finished What Liberal Media? by Eric Alterman the other day. Very good book. Now I need another political book to read.

NY Times: Pulitzer-Winning Reporter Bragg Used Unattributed Material

Yeesh, more of this stuff at the NY Times.

I swear, I just read Krugman, that's it.

Proof the Media Isn't Liberal

A solid point.

Fear of a Quagmire?

Another good Krugman column. On economics, not my favorite subject (or Bush's, for that matter), but an interesting column, nonetheless.

Blix casts doubt on WMDs

"Given the tense security situation, it would not at present be practically feasible to send UN inspectors to Iraq," Mr Blix said. "I also have the impression that the negative attitude toward UN inspectors ... is turning into a generally defensive attitude toward the United Nations."

Ya don't say.

Well, that was a bit longer break than I was planning on. Anyway, consistent updates from now on. I promise.

5/08/2003

I am home. I don't feel like blogging, so don't look for much in the next couple days. Go read the links on the left (a double meaning, hmmm).

5/07/2003

Hooray, I'm done with all things related to college for almost 4 months. Except for the leaving here part. Bastards expect you to clean your room. HA!

Microsoft Plans Toilets With Web Access

The beginning of the end for newspapers.

Blogging will likely be light the rest of today, seeing as I have one more final and I need to clean out my room. More than likely I won't be blogging tomorrow; if I do, it'll be late. And from then on, blogging will be lighter, and likely later in the day. I can't be bothered to get up before Noon during my summer break.

From Atrios:

Conservatives make their voices heard with a rising tide of hard-hitting student newspapers:

In an eight-hour session that bore little resemblance to a traditional journalism class, the students were taught how to start their own conservative newspapers and opinion journals. And how to pick fights with lefty bogeymen on the faculty and in student government.

....

By the end of the day, the student journalists were fired up for battle -- determined not only to change the tenor of notoriously liberal campus dialogues, but also, in the long run, to alter the basic makeup of the nation's professional news outlets.

"What do you want professors to feel when you call them up?" asked Owen Rounds, a former speechwriter for Rudolph Giuliani.

"Threatened," replied Duncan Wilson, a tousle-haired 19-year-old from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.

This is, well, pathetic. Fine if you want to set up conservative newspapers, but bullying people? Come on. Well, that's the conservative way, I guess. Silence what you don't like.


5/06/2003

The blog is officially one week old now, I will be celebrating by doing........................nothing.

Terror Groups May Be Planning New Attacks, State Dept. Says

It was a calibrated caution to Americans traveling or living abroad that while clear progress has been made in the fight against terrorism — and dramatically so against militants belonging to Al Qaeda — risks of terrorism have hardly vanished.

You still need to be scared; we still need blind emotional support for further wars.

Three finals down, one more to go.

Man on Horseback

An excellent article by Paul Krugman in the NY Times.

Bad Bet by Bill Bennett

I haven't posted anything of Bill Bennett yet, basically because blogs like Atrios have done it, and I don't know all that much about him. So I'll comment on what O'Reilly said about him.

What O'Reilly and his guest said yesterday, was that if you have to be perfect to criticise others, no one could do it. Ok, pretty obvious. But Kinsely did say this:

There are preachers who can preach an ideal they don't themselves meet and even use their own weaknesses as part of the lesson. Bennett has not been such a preacher. He is smug, disdainful, intolerant.

I wonder how O'Reilly missed that.

Anyway, other blogs have done the criticism better, click one in the links to the left and you're bound to find something.

5/05/2003

U.S. Officials 'Confident' of Weapons Lab Find

The vehicle resembles an 18-wheeler Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a Feb. 5 presentation before the U.N. Security Council was a mobile weapons lab that had been moved around to elude weapons inspectors.

Of course, the weapons inspectors said they found the vehicles Powell talked about, but that they weren't mobile labs.

But, I suppose that'll come forth in the discounting of the find in a few days.

Neat, this blog just got it's hundredth hit. I believe that means it's time for me to retire. It was a good run, I had lots of fun, and hopefully you people learned something. So long!





P.S. I'm joking. I'm going to keep at this whether you like it or not. Or if you don't care. Which is the most likely sentiment towards this place.

Who Wants to Be a Martyr?

As logical as the poverty-breeds-terrorism argument may seem, study after study shows that suicide attackers and their supporters are rarely ignorant or impoverished. Nor are they crazed, cowardly, apathetic or asocial. If terrorist groups relied on such maladjusted people, "they couldn't produce effective and reliable killers," according to Todd Stewart, a retired Air Force general who directs the Ohio State University program in international and domestic security.

Wait. So they aren't poor repressed psychopaths with no hope? Interesting.

It is our actions that they don't like: as long ago as 1997, a Defense Department report (in response to the 1996 suicide bombing of Air Force housing at the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia) noted that "historical data show a strong correlation between U.S. involvement in international situations and an increase in terrorist attacks against the United States."

So, the Iraq war will create more terrorists, not less. Wouldn't this have been a good article to write before the war started?

Iraq's 'Mrs. Anthrax' Taken Into U.S. Custody

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. forces have taken into custody a U.S.-educated microbiologist dubbed "Mrs. Anthrax" who was active in germ warfare development under President Saddam Hussein, defense officials said on Monday.

We got Mrs. Anthrax! See, her nickname has Anthrax in it. So, she counts as a WMD, right? No? Why not? I mean, her nickname is Mrs. Anthrax. She should count.

Bombs in the WTC

Interesting article, goes into things I haven't seen about the suspected bombs in the WTC during 9/11. About half way through, though, the authors goes off into the all to common unfounded speculation of Israeli involvement.

Faking it

A report by The Guardian tells us about a website claiming a picture of re-joicing Iraqis was doctored. I'll go look for this in a minute, but really, the pictures of the statue fall didn't have all that many people, and there's been other celebration pics doctored? At least they could change it enough to convince people.

Got the idea from This Modern World

Iraqis Dig Up Mass Graves Near Holy City

Something to remember: Bush v1.0 told the Iraqi people to rise up and fight, then abandoned them when they did.

5/04/2003

Current CD rotation (or rather, CDs ripped to MP3 rotation):

Lacuna Coil - Unleased Memories
Rapture - Songs for the Withering
Agalloch - The Mantle

Well, look what we have here, I'm listed on Google now. Interesting.

A post on Atrios got me thinking.................I believe Ann Coulter is a robot. See, everything she says is exactly the same. "Liberals are bad; it's all the liberals' fault." She's just stuck on an infinite loop. There's been an error in the program that runs her, and nobody's been able to fix it. It's the only plausible explanation. They must have noticed it though, because sooner or later, her head is bound to explode from all the backed up nonsense. They must be draining her somehow, which partly explains some of the repetativeness.

There's clearly only one solution.

Windows 98.

I watched some of the Democratic debate today. So far I kinda like Dean and Gephardt. I have a feeling it'll be Lieberman, though, and I don't really like him. Oh well.

Election 2004 slogan for me:

Anybody but Bush.

Just something kinda interesting:

Syria Shut Offices of Palestinian Groups U.S. Labels Terrorists, Powell Says

Powell specifically mentioned three groups -- the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas; Palestinian Islamic Jihad; and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command -- in his conversation with Assad, according to a senior State Department official who briefed reporters on Powell's plane. When assured that the groups' Damascus offices had been closed shortly before his trip, Powell pressed "to be sure it was a permanent closure and not a reincarnation three days later with another name and another location," the official said. "We got that clear and direct."

Report: Lebanon Rebuffs Powell's Call

Meanwhile, the Lebanon-based representative of the militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad group discounted Powell's assertion that neighboring Syria had begun closing offices of groups like Islamic Jihad and Hamas, classified by Washington as terrorist organizations.

Well, which is it?

Well, the Magic drop 3 games in a row and lose the series to Detroit. I am now in favor of going back to the five game first round series. Looks like all that's left is to root against the Lakers.

5/03/2003

More catching up on what I missed:

Prosecutors Seek to Limit Questioning in Terror Trial

WASHINGTON, April 23 — The Justice Department is seeking broad new powers to prosecute terrorist defendants by urging an appeals court to deny Zacarias Moussaoui the right to question a captured member of Al Qaeda who features prominently in his indictment, according to a newly declassified court brief made public today.

In the brief, which was classified as top secret when it was filed last month, the department said Mr. Moussaoui had no right to seek testimony from the captured Qaeda member, despite Mr. Moussaoui's claim that the testimony would prove he is not guilty. Mr. Moussaoui is the only person charged in an American court with conspiring in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"An alien seized and detained abroad as an enemy combatant in the midst of a war is beyond the court's power to compel his presence for testimony,' the department said in the brief filed with an appeals court in Richmond, Va.

This really doesn't make any sense. Even if there is some kind of loophole that would disallow questioning by Moussaoui, why would you not want to hear it? If they're sure he's guilty, what would they have to fear by allowing him to question the member of Al Qaeda? At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, what do they want to hide? Is it just public relations, i.e. you have to convict somebody? Unsettling to say the least; what risk does the truth pose?

I missed Eric Alterman's column from two days ago, so here's the link, two days late.

"I'm saddened, saddened that this President failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war. Saddened that we have to give up one life because this President couldn't create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country." (Tom Daschle, March 18)

.....

Here's what happened following Senator Daschle's comments: Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert issued a statement saying that they "may not undermine the President as he leads us into war and they may not comfort our adversaries, but they come mighty close." Republican National Committee chairman Marc Racicot termed them "divisive and brazen political posturing" and said it was "disheartening and shameful" that the Senate minority leader would "blame America first." Senate majority leader Bill Frist added that he considered the remarks to be "deeply disappointing," even "irresponsible." Daschle's likely opponent for re-election, former Representative John Thune, tried his hand at wit, observing that Daschle sounded like he came "from the south of France, not from South Dakota."

.....

"The last seven months have involved six months of diplomatic failure and one month of military success. The first days after military victory indicate the pattern of diplomatic failure is beginning once again and threatens to undo the effects of military victory." (Newt Gingrich, April 22)

.....

"Here's what happened after Newt Gingrich made his comments: Nothing."

It is quite amazing the difference in reaction regarding their statements. What's worse is that most of the public probably didn't even think twice about it.

Smacking by childminders to be banned:

"Tens of thousands of childminders are to be banned from smacking. In one of the most significant anti-smacking moves since corporal punishment was outlawed in state schools in the 1980s, 70,000 childminders in England will be prevented from smacking or using any form of corporal punishment against children under eight, even if they have the written consent of the parents."

Not really relevant to anything I normally talk about, but using "smacking" in there just sounds funny. "Anti-smacking moves." Weird Brits............

This is a couple days old, but I just noticed it. It's pretty funny; a satire on the last two years if Gore hadn't been screwed out of the Presidency. There's one thing I wanted to point out:

"In 2002 The New York Times revealed that oil companies with close political connections to the Democratic Party had schemed with Gore to run an oil pipeline across Afghanistan from Turkmenistan to Pakistan--and that this was why he had attacked Afghanistan and cozied up with the Pakistani dictatorship."

The pipeline idea is sketchy at best. The idea was dropped in 1998 when the Taliban's control of Afghanistan was in disarray. No oil company will touch the idea now, seeing as Afghanistan is still chaotic; not really much better than it was before. This wouldn't have been hard to forsee.

If you go in and take over a country, then build an oil pipeline, you've given rebel groups a huge target. They had to have known that Americans invading a Middle Eastern country would cause quite a backlash among the locals. It would make much more sense to increase the funding of the Taliban, which they were doing, or decide to fund another rebel group. Even though that may have not been working, it's the best option if you are going to build a high profile target like an oil pipeline. Of course, if you're losing influence over the country to another regional power, and you need to take it back, invasion would be the best option. You don't need stability. You just need control.

More on this idea at The Emperor's New Clothes.

Update: Fixed the link to the article.

Well, Orlando lost for the 2nd time in a row. At least I got to watch some of the game this time.

5/02/2003

Wow, I agreed with something O'Reilly said tonight. Affirmative Action. I agree, it should be class based, not race based.

And ya know who're a good band? Rapture. Awesome.

New article at The Emperor's New Clothes:

The taking of the USS Lincoln: Mr. Bush and the Imaginary Presidency

Despite the second half of the title, it is not about the 2000 election.

Two finals down, two to go.

More template editing to come, so if something looks odd, it'll more than likely be fixed soon.



Old people, strange faces = funny.


GOP Frustrated by Dem Filibusters May Sue

"Stymied now on two of President Bush's judicial nominees, Republicans are considering an attempt to change Senate rules or suing to ban judicial filibusters, even against long odds."

When things aren't going your way, change the rules! Kinda like, if you aren't getting the intel you want, distort it. But those Republicans are so repressed with that liberal media and everything. They have to do something.

Via Atrios:

"Four parents of gay children had a fiery private exchange tonight with Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. The meeting did not go well, and Mr. Santorum, who has infuriated gays by likening homosexuality to incest and bigamy, left in a hurry, tripping over a chair, the parents said.

"What we tried to do in this meeting was reach him on a human level, and we found no humanity there," said Melina Waldo, a former constituent of Mr. Santorum who lives in Haddonfield, N.J. She said he was "condescending, belligerent, argumentative and arrogant."

Sounds like something out of a movie. Where the dumbass runs out, but trips over something and everybody laughs at him.


Iraq Situation Critical, Warn Aid Agencies:

"Hospitals are overwhelmed, diarrhoea is endemic and the death toll is mounting. Medical and water staff are working for free, but cannot continue for long. Rubbish, including medical waste, is piling up. Clean water is scarce and diseases like typhoid are being reported in southern Iraq."

Viva Liberation!

Hammerdown gives the NBA a good talking to about what channels the NBA playoffs are on, and rips Peter Vecsey too. The more of that, the better. Oh, and he links to me, so I thank him for that.

5/01/2003

Lots of studying to do, in all likelihood I won't be blogging again until tomorrow morning.

Tonight on Bill O'Reilly: he tells us if no WMD are found, the directors of the CIA and NSA should be fired. Ok. But they failed to mention that the CIA and British intelligence are furious that their intel has been distorted. Maybe we should fire the people who distorted the intel. But that would mean firing those wonderful, heroic, neocons in the White House. The ones that are cutting veterans benefits while praising our troops. The ones that wrecked our international relationships. The ones that SHOULD be fired. But, that would make sense, and no one on our National Propaganda Network ever makes sense.

Testing..........

All this stuff about the University of Kansas professor on fox news has me confused. It's a human sexuality class. What are they supposed to be talking about? Maybe he made a few inappropriate comments, but is it really worth all the attention it seems to be getting? Seems like only uptight conservatives would be up in arms about it. Well, that explains why it's on fox.

Critic Accuses Media of Aiding U.S. War Propaganda:

"In MacArthur's opinion, little has changed during the latest Iraq war, prompting him to begin work on an updated edition of "Second Front." U.S. government public relations specialists are still concocting bogus stories to serve government interests, he says, and credulous journalists stand ready to scarf up the baloney."

Another item for the "No, Really?" section.

Maybe I should actually make a page for that. Hmm..........

New column by Ann Coulter

*hilarity ensues*

One final down, three to go.

FAIR comments on the common occurance of the media declaring a WMD find, then forgetting about it when it turns out to be false.

"Reporters should be cautious when preliminary tests seem to confirm the existence of banned weapons in Iraq, particularly since so many of these initial findings have not been borne out (see FAIR Action Alert, 3/25/03). ABC was aware of this, but still chose this story as its lead news item for two days. On Monday, April 28, the story had seemingly crumbled. But ABC's viewers were none the wiser: When the news was that ABC's "exclusive" had washed out, there was no mention of the story on the Monday or Tuesday broadcasts of World News Tonight."

Hey, I did see The Official News Channel of the Homeland declare the find to be false. At Midnight, MST.

U.S. Warns of More Al-Qaeda attacks

"New attacks by al-Qaeda are likely and there is a danger the network of Osama bin Laden and its Taliban backers will re-emerge in Afghanistan, the US State Department said."

Wait, didn't they say attacking Iraq would significantly reduce terrorism? But just after the fighting has died down there's a possibility of more attacks? Will people even notice the inconsistency in this?

Nope.

It is too early to be up. And I have a test in an hour and a half. Fun everywhere.