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The latest slaughter of the innocent.
U.S. Forces Kill Seven Iraqi Women, Kids
Mon Mar 31, 5:36 PM ETBy ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON - U.S. troops killed seven Iraqi women and children at a checkpoint Monday when the Iraqis' van would not stop as ordered, U.S. Central Command said.
Yet another famous author--Margaret Atwood--on what America has become.
A letter to America
You're the 21st-century Romans. Your admiring friends used to know you well: land of the brave, home of the free. Now, as you obsess over the omens of war, we wonder if you know yourself, muses MARGARET ATWOODBy MARGARET ATWOOD
Friday, March 28, 2003 - Page A17[snip snip snip]
You're torching the American economy. How soon before the answer to that will be, not to produce anything yourselves, but to grab stuff other people produce, at gunboat-diplomacy prices? Is the world going to consist of a few megarich King Midases, with the rest being serfs, both inside and outside your country? Will the biggest business sector in the United States be the prison system? Let's hope not.If you proceed much further down the slippery slope, people around the world will stop admiring the good things about you. They'll decide that your city upon the hill is a slum and your democracy is a sham, and therefore you have no business trying to impose your sullied vision on them. They'll think you've abandoned the rule of law. They'll think you've fouled your own nest.
If Richard Perle hates your guts, you must be doing something right. Here's a link to Sy Hersh's latest piece in the
New Yorker that has been making the rounds (as seen below). I include the paragraph that shows the legacy of the BushJunta that will endanger us all in the future.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of last week was the failure of the Shiite factions in southern Iraq to support the American and British invasion. Various branches of the Al Dawa faction, which operate underground, have been carrying out acts of terrorism against the Iraqi regime since the nineteen-eighties. But Al Dawa has also been hostile to American interests. Some in American intelligence have implicated the group in the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, which cost the lives of two hundred and forty-one marines. Nevertheless, in the months before the war the Bush Administration courted Al Dawa by including it among the opposition groups that would control postwar Iraq. "Dawa is one group that could kill Saddam," a former American intelligence official told me. "They hate Saddam because he suppressed the Shiites. They exist to kill Saddam." He said that their apparent decision to stand with the Iraqi regime now was a "disaster" for us. "They're like hard-core Vietcong."There were reports last week that Iraqi exiles, including fervent Shiites, were crossing into Iraq by car and bus from Jordan and Syria to get into the fight on the side of the Iraqi government. Robert Baer, a former C.I.A. Middle East operative, told me in a telephone call from Jordan, "Everybody wants to fight. The whole nation of Iraq is fighting to defend Iraq. Not Saddam. They've been given the high sign, and we are courting disaster. If we take fifty or sixty casualties a day and they die by the thousands, they're still winning. It's a jihad, and it's a good thing to die. This is no longer a secular war." There were press reports of mujahideen arriving from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Algeria for "martyrdom operations."
I found it, then I lost it. Then my friend Frederic found it again. It's Robin Cook's "stop the war, bring back the troops" editorial in the Mirror. Great stuff.
COOK: BRING OUR LADS HOME
Mar 30 2003Let's send Rumsfeld and his hawks to war instead
By Robin Cook
This was meant to be a quick, easy war. Shortly before I resigned a Cabinet colleague told me not to worry about the political fall-out.
The war would be finished long before polling day for the May local elections.
I just hope those who expected a quick victory are proved right. I have already had my fill of this bloody and unnecessary war. I want our troops home and I want them home before more of them are killed.
Link, link, O link! It's a busy day for good articles on the Chimpy-Rummy Murder-Our-Troops special (which coincides with the Kill Iraqis special). Here's some news you can use.
Here's the latest rundown of all the protests around the world today. These people don't take a break! Good on 'em!
Here's a fabulous transcript of Daniel Ellsberg running circles around Aaron Brown from CNN. Brown, like every in the corporate media, tries to frame the debate in ridiculous terms, wasting everybody's time and distracting us from the real issues (a tactic the GOP has been very good at and that the Dems, hell, any opposition, needs to learn how to avoid.) "Are the protestors helping Saddam?" is not a real question, and certainly not something a thinking person should pose. So grow up. Ellsberg handles it with tact and intelligence.
Meanwhile, the killing continues in earnest. Here's a report on the massacre at Nasiriya. If I was a soldier, I'd be the shocked and horrified one they interview first. And I know I'd hate the prick they quote after--he probably is the kind who would have made my life miserable in high school. (I would have liked to have linked to the original story in the Times of London, but the link has now been archived and they're asking $$$ to access it. So thank Buddha for Information Clearing House.)
Holy Court Martial! Three British Privates are sent home after protesting civilian deaths.
Meanwhile in the very barely democratic America, a Louisiana shock jock is suggesting protestors should get a bullet in the head. Remember folks, the airwaves belong to us . . . Just kidding! They belong to massive conglomerates! My mistake.
In wacky news, the cute dolphins the navy were going to use to find mines and Iraqi frogmen apparently have minds of their own. They like to wander off for days and look for fish. "Flipper's f...ed, mate," as one sarcy Aussie puts it.
The criticism of the complete incompetence of Rumsfeld continues from various generals. Remember, we started the criticism long before anybody else!
And who's America's new enemy? It seems to be New Zealand, because they don't support Chimpy McCokespoon. Let's bomb their sheep! etc. etc.
Lastly, I would like to give "mad props" out to Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Points Memo. Marshall's been analysing the BushJunta for some time now, and knows his stuff. He's even a bit of a future-scenarist, trying to figure out the possible variations in the fallout from Rummy's disastrous war plans. Give his site a look and get educated on not just what has happened but what might be.
A few more interesting tidbits from the "war":
Bush Proposal Would End Overtime Pay for Millions of People At last I turned off CNN's war coverage, I looked around, and BOOM! I had no overtime pay. At home the war against the working people of the country continues in earnest.
Iraqi Civilians Feed Hungry US Marines I'm posting this one because this story has been kept out of the news for the most part. It sounds like a cute "see, the Iraqi people do love us" story until you realize they fed the Marines because the Marines have had their meal rations cut down from three to one. Whoops! Not so heartwarming anymore.
Code Red Would Trigger a Virtual Lockdown Plans for martial law anytime Ridge-baby and his squarehead cohorts decide it. Could that happen on...say...election day?
Just checking in on the BushJunta Illegal Bloodbath. Here's the latest:
Hey Rummy, the blood's on your hands too.
Rumseld Ignored Pentagon Advice on Iraq
In an article for its April 7 edition, which goes on sale on Monday, the weekly said Rumsfeld insisted at least six times in the run-up to the conflict that the proposed number of ground troops be sharply reduced and got his way."He thought he knew better. He was the decision-maker at every turn," the article quoted an unidentified senior Pentagon planner as saying. "This is the mess Rummy put himself in because he didn't want a heavy footprint on the ground."
Here's a depressing report on--it's official!--why the entire Arab world now hates America's guts. Hey, I don't want to get blown up because of the Monkey.
But remember kids, this isn't a holy war! Or is it, when Marines are being asked to PRAY FOR BUSH! Makes me wanna puke.
Finally, in lighter news, the International Federation of Journalists is looking into charges that U.S. Troops Beat up indie (non-embedded) journalists in Iraq.
Pleasant dreams!
Yo my peeps, I just got back from today's protest march. Not as many people as last week, so I hear, but still about 2 blocks' worth of people. And for some reason I didn't see the usual suspects there today. It seemed to be all new faces. I did run into a few friends: Duncan, Candace, Jim. I heard my dad would be there, but I didn't see him. We did two die-ins along Street, which gave me a chance to rest my feet, ho ho ho.
Seriously though, where are all the black and Latino protestors? Seeings a lot of their sons and daughters are dying in Bush's empire-building slaughter, you'd think they'd be equally represented here, as they are in the general population. The question for us is why they aren't turning up and how we can get them to. There's passing references to "the racism of the anti-war movement" on KPFK, but I've never heard anyone lay out the case for that. So, what's up?
It's a nice sunny day today too, and there's birds savaging the bird feeder: blue jays and little tits. (That should increase the Google hits).
While wondering just now what ever happened to Whit Stillman, I came across this excellent article on him, which goes on at length about something I've never considered in his films: Stillman's Christianity.
Credit due, by coincidence, to my friend Phil's Unofficial Whit Stillman Home Page. And no, Phil doesn't know where Stillman is either.
I like to think that someone out there, possibly in Taiwan, is learning more than they ever thought they'd know about Santa Barbara County politics, after following my series of portraits of the Board of Supervisors. This week I take on Gail Marshall who has been the most controversial of them all--and not intentionally.
I also got to review Laurel Canyon, which stars the lovely Kate Beckinsale. Which reminds me, whatever happened to Whit Stillman? Isn't he due for a new movie sometime?
As Keanu Reeves would say, "Whoah." Check out this editorial from Pravda, enticingly called Will American Administration Declare War on Russia?
Colonel-General Valery Manilov, a member of the Federation Council from the Primorye region, said in his interview to Echo of Moscow radio station: "The decision to start the war on Iraq is a big mistake that the United States made. America gave an incentive for the rest of the world to unite in the anti-American coalition. It is obvious from the diplomatic point of view that no country in the whole world will wish to live and watch Americans using the military force whenever they want and like it to use. The world community will have to consolidate its military, political, economic, technical resources in order not to allow that to happen. The process is under way already. This is a unique moment, for it never happened before, not even during the USA's bombing of Yugoslavia. The world will have to unite and find a format to restrain America, the country, which opposed itself to the whole world."
Spend a minute in the company of a murderer. He looks so gormless, sitting there, awaiting a chance to suddenly get all serious like. Watch how he lunges at somebody offscreen, crazed hate in his eyes, then laughs in a "just kidding" way. Shpooky. Watch the Monkey King just before he condemns our sons and daughters to death!
Antonowicz's archive is here.
Of all the reportage I've read based in Iraq, the daily reports by the Mirror's Anton Antonowicz has been the best so far.
SAND BEFORE THE STORM
Mar 26 2003By Anton Antonowicz
IT IS mid-afternoon and I can barely see more than 300 yards from my ninth-floor balcony window. The desert wind from the south has been blowing since the middle of the night. It brings a sandstorm and the noise of the guns closer.
A strange blood-orange glow hangs across the city. From the American and British point of view, this is the wrong kind of weather.
The Iraqis have torched oil dumps to obscure and confuse the enemy attacks upon the capital, but nature, so much more powerful, is doing a far, far better job.
"In March we expect all kinds of weather - one day storms, one day rain, one day bright blue skies," my Baghdad friend tells me. "But this sandstorm is something that comes along once in a generation.
Talking about writing, here you can read my article on 2nd District Supervisor Susan Rose, my review of Gus Van Zant's Gerry, and my review of The Actors from the London Stage's version of The Tempest.
I've been on the go since I got back from L.A. Monday morning. I had to catch up with films to review, attend a class on DVD authoring, and interview Gail Marshall for this week's issue. So everything's on hold, blog-wise, except for maybe one or two things.
Below encapsulates a lot of what I've been saying and thinking this weekend.
George Monbiot: One rule for them
[Rumsfeld] is, of course, quite right. Article 13 of the third convention, concerning the treatment of prisoners, insists that they "must at all times be protected... against insults and public curiosity". This may number among the less heinous of the possible infringements of the laws of war, but the conventions, ratified by Iraq in 1956, are non-negotiable. If you break them, you should expect to be prosecuted for war crimes.This being so, Rumsfeld had better watch his back. For this enthusiastic convert to the cause of legal warfare is, as head of the defence department, responsible for a series of crimes sufficient, were he ever to be tried, to put him away for the rest of his natural life.
His prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, where 641 men (nine of whom are British citizens) are held, breaches no fewer than 15 articles of the third convention. The US government broke the first of these (article 13) as soon as the prisoners arrived, by displaying them, just as the Iraqis have done, on television. In this case, however, they were not encouraged to address the cameras. They were kneeling on the ground, hands tied behind their backs, wearing blacked-out goggles and earphones. In breach of article 18, they had been stripped of their own clothes and deprived of their possessions. They were then interned in a penitentiary (against article 22), where they were denied proper mess facilities (26), canteens (28), religious premises (34), opportunities for physical exercise (38), access to the text of the convention (41), freedom to write to their families (70 and 71) and parcels of food and books (72).
They were not "released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of active hostilities" (118), because, the US authorities say, their interrogation might, one day, reveal interesting information about al-Qaida. Article 17 rules that captives are obliged to give only their name, rank, number and date of birth. No "coercion may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever". In the hope of breaking them, however, the authorities have confined them to solitary cells and subjected them to what is now known as "torture lite": sleep deprivation and constant exposure to bright light. Unsurprisingly, several of the prisoners have sought to kill themselves, by smashing their heads against the walls or trying to slash their wrists with plastic cutlery.
This weekend I'm in Los Angeles, hanging out with me friend Scott. I'm currently typing this on the big fancy computer he uses at his very very very big videogame company that will remain nameless.
On the way down here last night I listened to KPFK broadcasting various bits from the protest that was happening at that moment on Sepulveda in Westwood. That was interspersed with people calling in to vent on the war, most of it making sense (being KPFK) but with one guy mentioning the Illuminati (also being KPFK). Unbeknownst to me, there were protests in Santa Barbara on Thursday and Friday, the former being completely chaotic with people crossing the freeway, trying to stop it. I guess all seemed quiet where I was.
Anyroad, today's a sunny day, and we are off to Hurry Curry to get some Japanese curry for lunch. Then maybe a pop nextdoor to Giant Robot.
Later!
Operation Enlarge the President's Penis commenced, well, RIGHT NOW, and the Dresden-like annihilation of Baghdad is underway. (For some reason, the city lights are still on). By the way the whole thing is reported, it's like nobody is getting killed over there.
Yahoo! News - U.S. Begins Massive Air Assault on Iraq
Also keeping us cheerful on the "home front", it's Don Asmussen's Operation: Terrortubbies. Ho ho ho.
Okay, you need some good, cheap laffs these days. I'm finding them here at Rude Food, where foreign food products that sound smutty have been collected for your giggling pleasure.
Funny how the Mirror reports the attacks differently, compared to the antiseptic American press. They seem a bit off with their numbers, though.
Mirror.co.uk - MOST FEROCIOUS ATTACK IN HISTORY MOST FEROCIOUS ATTACK IN HISTORY
Mar 21 2003From Richard Wallace, US Editor In Washington, Alexandra Williams In Kuwait, And Bob Roberts In Qatar
?AMERICA and Britain began the most ferocious blitzkrieg in history as the military strike on Iraq began in earnest last night.
Cruise missile, smart bombs and satellite-guided weapons rained down on Saddam Hussein's key defence and communication sites in Baghdad destroying vital command centres missile batteries and airfields.
Scores of targets were hit in unison as precision-guided missiles were programmed to explode at the same time.
BLITZ: British troops unleash shells from a 105mm gun at
targets in southern Iraq as huge offensive gets underwaySimultaneously massed ranks of Allied troops, including Royal Marines, Desert Rats and Paras, launched the long awaited ground invasion, seizing the border town of Umm Qasr.
It was the awesome start to the round the clock "shock and awe" campaign designed to stun terrified Iraqis into paralysed submission. Around 1,200 targets are earmarked for attack by 3,000 bombs and missiles.
I had forgotten about Steve Bell, the Guardian's cartoonist. He was a favorite of a few of my friends during my years in England. He certainly draws the Monkey Fascist with some skill. You can also check out his complete archive if you wish. His drawings are exceedingly nasty and cruel, but his composition is clear and precise, and reminds me in places of Magritte.
Look to your right, and you'll see a new counter.
Yes, it's the fun-for-all-the-family Iraq Body Count counter! Wheeee! Granted, some nutbag will also have this on his site because it makes him happy, as he sits in his chair watching CNN non-stop, but the purpose it to remind us how many people Commander Bunnypants has murdered with his illegal war. (Yes, I know, Saddam has killed much more, but then it's not a contest, is it people? I mean, our score should be zero on that side, don't you think?)
Shock and awe is coming soon, don't worry. They little boys need to use their toys.
Other counters we need: Halliburton Profit Counter (and one for the Carlysle Group)
American Casualties Counter (because they're somebody's kids too)
And did anyone notice how the price of gas mysteriously went down today? Gee, war must be a good thing!
Photo from SFGate.com
Operation Bloody American Empire: Day Two
Low body count so far--good!--but of course these are early days...of death...yet. There were protests in France, San Francisco, New York, Norwich (UK), Kolkata, India (quite violent), Egypt (also violent), Sydney, Melbourne, Taipei (yay!), Hyderabad, Cincinnati, the five main cities of Scotland, and lots of other places, including Chicago (as reported on NPR, but I can't find a link). Phew! That's a list.
Meanwhile, China has told Bush to knock it off, and the Washington Times even mentioned impeachment and war crimes trial for Bush. Bloody hell!
And while nobody was looking, the Senate shut down the Smirk's Alaskan Oil Drilling boondoggle for the second time. So there's your good news for the day, hidden at the bottom of the entry.
Most importantly, what's it like on the ground?
Yahoo! News - Baghdad a City of Contrasts As War Starts
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The first day of war turned Baghdad into a city of contrasts: Explosions rocked the capital at dawn and hospitals cared for a few wounded, but most of the city was quiet and some children were on the streets riding bicycles or playing soccer.
The brain of a fratboy. The power of a dictator.
War begins in Iraq with strikes aimed at `leadership targets'
Minutes before the speech, an internal television monitor showed the president pumping his fist. "Feels good," he said.
Adbusters has an idea. Let's boycott all American brands in protest.
Adbusters: Boycott America
Some people are planning a total Made-in-America boycott. Some will boycott oil for the duration of the war. Others are planning public activism against the greatest symbols of the Brand America warriors: McDonald's, Philip Morris, Exxon Mobil, Texaco, the major automakers, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Starbucks, Nike, Disneyland, the Hollywood cinemas. Media activists can launch TV Turnoff campaigns against Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and MTV. The limits to your participation are the limits of imagination, and the brainstorming has already begun.
Out of despair, rage, and screaming impotence, comes my friend Jon's blog, called, for now, Broad Spectrum Antibiotics. (Don't ask why). That's two people I've got to start blogging this week--my karma is being polished somehow.
The blood of the innocents is on your hands, Fuhrer Bush.
Senator Byrd is the only true American in government to speak out about the end of everything we stand for. This has been posted everywhere else, but here 'tis again.
Senate Remarks by Robert C. Byrd
March 19, 2003"The Arrogance of Power"
I believe in this beautiful country. I have studied its roots and gloried in the wisdom of its magnificent Constitution. I have marveled at the wisdom of its founders and framers. Generation after generation of Americans has understood the lofty ideals that underlie our great Republic. I have been inspired by the story of their sacrifice and their strength.
But, today I weep for my country. I have watched the events of recent months with a heavy, heavy heart. No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent peacekeeper. The image of America has changed. Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned.
Michael Moore on Bush's "Moment of Truth"
A Letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush on the Eve of War
Monday, March 17, 2003
George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DCDear Governor Bush:
So today is what you call "the moment of truth," the day that "France and the rest of world have to show their cards on the table." I'm glad to hear that this day has finally arrived. Because, I gotta tell ya, having survived 440 days of your lying and conniving, I wasn't sure if I could take much more. So I'm glad to hear that today is Truth Day, 'cause I got a few truths I would like to share with you:
1. There is virtually NO ONE in America (talk radio nutters and Fox News aside) who is gung-ho to go to war. Trust me on this one. Walk out of the White House and on to any street in America and try to find five people who are PASSIONATE about wanting to kill Iraqis. YOU WON'T FIND THEM! Why? 'Cause NO Iraqis have ever come here and killed any of us! No Iraqi has even threatened to do that. You see, this is how we average Americans think: If a certain so-and-so is not perceived as a threat to our lives, then, believe it or not, we don't want to kill him! Funny how that works!
As you can see to the right, I finally finished Peretz Lavie's The Enchanted World of Sleep. Lavie only gets really technical in a few chapters, but for the most part his look at the science of sleep is a pleasant "lay person" read. What did I learn?
* Before electrodes, scientists used to measure the moment of sleep when a patient would drop a tennis ball from their hand. In my case, it's a shot glass, but the theory is the same.
* There are 4 stages of sleep, and then REM sleep, and that's when dreams come. It's also when we lose all muscle control. When waking up from dreams, people usually go to another stage. However, in very rare cases, people can awake in the no-muscle contol part and feel like they're paralyzed. I hope this never happens to me--how freaky is that!
* There is no set time to sleep. If you can survive on 6 hours a night, then you need 6 hours of sleep. People who sleep 10 hours per night aren't necessarily more rested. In fact, they're probably more sleepy.
* I really wish the test case in their dream research, Mr. R, would publish a book. He could wake up from REM sleep and recount long, short-story like dream narratives. They reprint one in the book and it's very good.
* Animals don't have REM sleep, but they do dream, and that stage is called paradoxical sleep (meaning the animal is most at rest, but also most active in the brain.)
* The world record for going without sleep is 264 hours.
The last third of the book is on sleep disorders, namely insomnia, jet lag, sleep walking, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy. He also has some good things to say about children and when they "should" go to bed. A majority of parents force their kids to go to sleep at 8 p.m. so the adults can watch TV or whatever, then appear amazed that their children won't sleep at the chosen time, or that they then wake up at 5 a.m. Thankfully, I was never raised that way...and that's why I'm writing about this book to an audience of three people at 2:36 a.m.
Anyway, I also finished the MOJO magazine special on the Beatles early years. That might still be hanging around some newsstands. You'd think there wasn't much left to say about the Beatles, but because the writing staff is so good (Mark Lewishom is on there among other major music journalists) they have some insightful things to say, none of which I can remember right now.
So..now I can get stuck into The Iliad, which seems appropriate in this season of war and suffering.
I'm amazed that the BBC ran this story.
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | 'Talking fish' stuns New York
Some Hasidic Jews reportedly believe people can be reincarnated as fishA fish heading for slaughter in a New York market shouted warnings about the end of the world before it was killed, two fish cutters have claimed.
Zalmen Rosen, from the Skver sect of Hasidic Jews, says co-worker Luis Nivelo, a Christian, was about to kill a carp to be made into gefilte fish in the city's New Square Fish Market in January when it began shouting in Hebrew.
If God is wise enough to appear in fish form, why did he choose a fish that was about to be decapitated, gutted, and fileted? That's bad planning from Mr. G, right there.
From Die Puny Humans
Meanwhile, I love to see how people access this blog. While a lot of come here looking for news and war and news and - did we forget - war, one person found my site by searching for "Real Golden Fuck". I'll let you puzzle that one out yourselves.
Here's an overview of the world vs. the Monkey Fascist
ABCNEWS.com : Bush Iraq Ultimatum Earns World Ire
Thousands of women and children will die tomorrow at the Monkey's hand. It's so depressing I don't know where to start.
Apart from my blogging comments on Divine Intervention, I got write a full blown review of it for the Valley Voice. Here 'tis.
Divine Intervention Turns a Comic Eye on Occupation
Pentagon aiming to kill anyone reporting the news out of Iraq "independently". If it isn't propaganda, you're dead. This is how the Fascists are planning to keep their bloody massacre of an entire city out of the news.
I found this in the BuzzFlash Mailbag. I'd like to find better info.
Excerpt of last Sunday's broadcast starting at 0:51:52Tom McGurk: "Now, Kate Adie, you join us from the BBC in London. Thank you very much for going to all this trouble on a Sunday morning to come and join us. I suppose you are watching with a mixture of emotions this war beginning to happen, because you are not going to be covering it."
Kate Adie: " Oh I will be. And what actually appalls me is the difference between twelve years ago and now. I've seen a complete erosion of any kind of acknowledgment that reporters should be able to report as they witness. The Americans... and I've been talking to the Pentagon... take the attitude which is entirely hostile to the free spread of information. I was told by a senior officer in the Pentagon, that if uplinks -- that is the television signals out of... Baghdad, for example-- were detected by any planes... electronic media... mediums, of the military above Baghdad... they'd be fired down on. Even if they were journalists... "Who cares!" said... [crosstalk]
Tom McGurk: " ... Kate... sorry Kate... just to underline that... sorry to interrupt you. Just to explain for our listeners. Uplinks is where you have your own satellite telephone method of distributing information."
Kate Adie: " The telephones and the television signals."
Tom McGurk: " And they would be fired on? "
Kate Adie: " Yes. They would be 'targeted down,' said the officer."
More Pipe Dreams Dept. If only, etc.
WorldNetDaily: Could U.N. use military force on U.S.?Posted: March 15, 2003, 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Art Moore
WorldNetDaily.comSome anti-war groups are urging the world body to invoke a little-known convention that allows the General Assembly to step in when the Security Council is at an impasse in the face of a "threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression."
The willingness by the U.S. and Britain to go to war with Iraq without Security Council authorization is the kind of threat the U.N. had in mind when it passed Resolution 377 in 1950, said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a human-rights group in New York City.
The Daily Mirror Does It Again
Yep, they're laughing. Murder can be fun!
This Saturday I managed the catch the last film of the Susan Sontag-curated "Classics of Japanese Film" series at the LACMA.
TWENTY-FOUR EYES
A devastating study of nearly two decades in the life of a teacher who comes to a small island in the sea of Japan and the twelve students (hence the 24 eyes) in her care. Starts off idyllic, but soon the War in Manchuria, then the Pacific War comes to disrupt the lives of everyone. Director Keisuke Kinoshita works the audience with this classic melodrama, and I would say half of the theater was reduced to blubbering tears, especially near the end where
Apparently, all of Sontag's choices have had either a subtext or a context of anti-war sentiment, and Keisuke Kinoshita's "Twenty-Four Eyes" struck chords with many in the audience, especially the war fervor that grips the students as the film develops, the accusations against the teacher of being "unpatriotic" , the grim economic future that ruins the educational chances of many of her students, the indoctrination through the schools. You could almost feel the audience bristle after some of the more anti-war lines, none of which I can remember now. The film was shot and framed beautifully, and the most horrific of realities understood through the most economical of shots (as the war progresses and the island have lost all their first generation of youth, we have a brief scene of younger teenagers (I assume something like 15 or so) being groomed and sent off to die as kamikaze pilots. It's a chilling scene of war madness, but Kinoshita doesn't give us music cues or scenes of villagers talking about what was happening; he just lets it play out (he also didn't have to explain it to his audience in the '50s.)
Ten years ago we would have watched this and thought abstractly about war and the toll it took on the Japanese. Now we see the film and it's like gazing into a mirror, and beyond that, the abyss.
Unfortunately, the film is not available on video or DVD as far as I know. Here's hoping you can see it sometime in the future.
Here's a longer version of the Norman Mailer essay taken from the New York Review of Books. There are some frightening quotes from the Chimp contained within. (This below is not one of them. The words have too many syllables, for one thing.)
Because democracy is noble, it is always endangered. Nobility, indeed, is always in danger. Democracy is perishable. I think the natural government for most people, given the uglier depths of human nature, is fascism. Fascism is more of a natural state than democracy. To assume blithely that we can export democracy into any country we choose can serve paradoxically to encourage more fascism at home and abroad. Democracy is a state of grace that is attained only by those countries who have a host of individuals not only ready to enjoy freedom but to undergo the heavy labor of maintaining it.
It's the eve, perhaps, of the Monkey Bastard King's illegal war, and I'm having some tea. I just came from a dinner party where the talk circled around and around the subject of the war and no matter how much we tried to talk about normal things we kept coming back to it. Is this like Vietnam all over again? Hardly: this is like World War II all over again, except, as one of my friends says, we're Germany.
I'll have more things to say later about this weekend, including the latest protest march (in the rain) and a viewing of a Japanese film called "Twenty-Four Eyes". But now I'm just savoring the last drops of democracy. Tasted pretty good while it lasted!
It's Friday and my profile on Naomi Schwartz has come out in the Valley Voice. For those of you outside S.B. County who don't know that Schwartz is one of our County Supervisors, the article may mean nothing. But give it a shot anyway.
Full circle with Naomi Schwartz:
First District Supervisor looks back on her career and ahead to looming state crisis
Not only does the White House get to pick and choose which reporters ask questions now, but they get to rewrite what the press quotes. This personal story from a writer over at the Washington Post has been causing quite a stir over at Poynter Online
Recently, I was working on a profile of the now-departed chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, R. Glenn Hubbard. I dutifully went through the White House press office to talk to an administration economist about Hubbard's tenure, and a press office aide helpfully got me in touch with just the person I wanted. The catch was this: The interview would be off the record. Any quotes I wanted to put into the newspaper would have to be e-mailed to the press office. If approved, the quotation could be attributed to a White House official. (This has become fairly standard practice.)
Since the profile focused on Hubbard's efforts to translate relatively
arcane macroeconomic theory into public policy, the quote I wanted
referenced the president's effort to end the double taxation of dividends: "This is probably the most academic proposal ever to come out of an administration." The press office said it was fine, but the official wanted a little change. Instead, the quote was to read, "This is probably the purest, most far reaching economic proposal ever to come out of an administration." I protested that the point of the quote was the word "academic," so the quote was again amended to state, "This is probably the purest, most academic, most far reaching economic proposal ever to come out of an administration."
What appeared in the Washington Post was, "This is probably the purest, most academic ... economic proposal ever to come out of an administration." What followed was an angry denunciation by the White House press official, telling me I had broken my word and violated journalistic ethics.
I swear I didn't force her to, but my missus Jessica has started her own blog.