more blu/blu - from an am plane on brits - parently pilot was acting like a 'cowboy'. "Troops accused the pilot of "incompetence and negligence" while others privately called for a manslaughter prosecution"
sounds like colin has been taken (a couple of) lessons from gwb's speech coaches (@ AIPIC meeting)
hmmm - US soldiers given "a mini prayer book which includes a tear-out section to be mailed to the White House pledging the soldier who sends it in has been praying for Bush"
monday's thought du jour "Pray that the President and his advisers will be strong and courageous to do what is right regardless of critics" so help me god...
here is a good article about the chasm between pro/anti peace types... its a binary world, and i cant see (reasonably) the other view either...
heres the long awaited rummy/nyorker article... (from b4 dayzero)
ha ha - looks like the coals are very excited about bombing apparently old, stationery, unguarded planes sitting on airfields - showing the footage in the media briefing... i wonder if some freedom loving iraqis left them out there to be bombed by the coal to prove that they were being liberated
hitler's homeland
a brief analysis of the pro war argument
heres some new perspective on the 'woman hanged' story from our prezzzzzzz. some israqi guy says "I heard a story yesterday about a lady who tried to greet the U.S. forces," - next mo, the prez is telling the story as fact... sweet...
a list of (some of the) 15 media mistakes so far
"If that rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner doesn't stir you, I don't know what will," CNN's lead morning anchor, Paula Zahn.
"OK, so, a lot of negative questions there," said Fox's anchor, when the briefing was over. "But let's focus on the positive!"
another list of media claim/counter-claim/errors so far...
powell - launching a human reports report by country. is this the answer to "who's next?' 'we've tried to be objective and comprehensive'... its hard not being skeptical - will have to check...
Monday, March 31, 2003
here is an article about the internet censorship of aljaz, unknownnews.net & yellowtimes.org
faux is slamming peter arnett from ngeo who was interviewed on iraqiTV. if he is being interviewed there, despite the fact that CNN and Faux have been kicked outta baghdad, then he must be an evil anti-american, and PA 'appears' to suggest that he is responsible for the iraqi resistance, and therefore, also for the dead coals...(shows edited clip) 'he appears to be appling for a job with the iraqi's', 'he is one of the few english-speaking journos still allowed in iraq... he didnt say anything about the bombs that killed iraqi civilians that *may* have been caused by iraqi missiles... he says he is being treated courteously! he certainly sounds like a saddam spokesperson... maybe he has a gun to his head, and he doesnt wanna be incarcerated like the newsweek journos (pause) *may* have been...
(sneers) 'if he is so so close to the iraqi's, then maybe we can ask him whether saddam is alive...'
(for the record, fisk says he has no problem broadcasting freely from baghdad, and also finds everything courteous)
btw - i hate the faux interstitials of course... i also hate the snide comments as they throw from one presenter to another 'well, that does raise some interesting questions...', or the squawkingheads commenting 'we love seeing more of that' or whatever at the end of a segment... 'interviewers' also continually, awkwardly, interrupt their agreeable guests - even with 'u-huh' and 'mmm'. the most popular news network in the US. and the audacity of 'fair news, balanced news, now!' and 'we report, yuo decide.' str8faced!
'underhanded terrorist tactics', 'homicide bombers'
i think tommy franks just said 'the amazing thing about this terrorist activity, is that it seems to go all the way to the top of the regime' what the fukk does that mean?
the faux ticker just mentioned the awol dolfins
faux: 'the iraqi ambassador is living it up in new york, while millions of his people starve at home - he was recently seen stuffing his face in a ny restaurant'
faux is slamming peter arnett from ngeo who was interviewed on iraqiTV. if he is being interviewed there, despite the fact that CNN and Faux have been kicked outta baghdad, then he must be an evil anti-american, and PA 'appears' to suggest that he is responsible for the iraqi resistance, and therefore, also for the dead coals...(shows edited clip) 'he appears to be appling for a job with the iraqi's', 'he is one of the few english-speaking journos still allowed in iraq... he didnt say anything about the bombs that killed iraqi civilians that *may* have been caused by iraqi missiles... he says he is being treated courteously! he certainly sounds like a saddam spokesperson... maybe he has a gun to his head, and he doesnt wanna be incarcerated like the newsweek journos (pause) *may* have been...
(sneers) 'if he is so so close to the iraqi's, then maybe we can ask him whether saddam is alive...'
(for the record, fisk says he has no problem broadcasting freely from baghdad, and also finds everything courteous)
btw - i hate the faux interstitials of course... i also hate the snide comments as they throw from one presenter to another 'well, that does raise some interesting questions...', or the squawkingheads commenting 'we love seeing more of that' or whatever at the end of a segment... 'interviewers' also continually, awkwardly, interrupt their agreeable guests - even with 'u-huh' and 'mmm'. the most popular news network in the US. and the audacity of 'fair news, balanced news, now!' and 'we report, yuo decide.' str8faced!
'underhanded terrorist tactics', 'homicide bombers'
i think tommy franks just said 'the amazing thing about this terrorist activity, is that it seems to go all the way to the top of the regime' what the fukk does that mean?
the faux ticker just mentioned the awol dolfins
faux: 'the iraqi ambassador is living it up in new york, while millions of his people starve at home - he was recently seen stuffing his face in a ny restaurant'
Sunday, March 30, 2003
i just found this ripper from c.rice - National Security Adviser January 23, 2003 :
"Iraq's declaration even resorted to unabashed plagiarism, with lengthy passages of United Nations reports copied word-for-word (or edited to remove any criticism of Iraq) and presented as original text. Far from informing, the declaration is intended to cloud and confuse the true picture of Iraq's arsenal."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030123-1.html
"Iraq's declaration even resorted to unabashed plagiarism, with lengthy passages of United Nations reports copied word-for-word (or edited to remove any criticism of Iraq) and presented as original text. Far from informing, the declaration is intended to cloud and confuse the true picture of Iraq's arsenal."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030123-1.html
did i mention we hit suadi arabia with a bomb as well? syria, turkey, iran... one more neighbour and we'll have a full house... no war, nowhere!
those errant missiles have some inbuilt function it seems, so that they dont explode if they land in the wrong spot... lets hope that works better than the gps or whatever... comforting also to hear that the coal heeded to saudi demands not to fly the missiles anywhere near them... no probs - we'll use other corridors.... what if those other corridors arent too happy about it either?
those errant missiles have some inbuilt function it seems, so that they dont explode if they land in the wrong spot... lets hope that works better than the gps or whatever... comforting also to hear that the coal heeded to saudi demands not to fly the missiles anywhere near them... no probs - we'll use other corridors.... what if those other corridors arent too happy about it either?
is objectivism completely wrong? or right to the extent that it highlights a world gone mad?
“Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. You can’t eat your cake and have it, too. Man is an end in himself. Give me liberty or give me death."
is atlas shrugging? am i?
i wish faux got taken out... it makes me angry
“Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. You can’t eat your cake and have it, too. Man is an end in himself. Give me liberty or give me death."
is atlas shrugging? am i?
i wish faux got taken out... it makes me angry
k - so more on the coalition of the willing...
45 countries - ive named em before... 15 wanted to be anonymous supporters, but got flushed out so the list looked more 'credible'... newly accused = Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Kuwait, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Palau, Panama, Portugal, Rwanda, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Uganda and Bulgaria.
we accidentally forgot to put bulgaria and portugal on the original list... turkey wont give land access. 'the U.S. claim of Czech support has been rebutted officially by the Prime Minister and the President, but that has not stopped Washington from including them on the list. '
faux news is running the 'we are using dolfins' story - without mentioning the awol
is bush using doubles for public appearances?
i didnt know this "The PR industry, as many may know, was actually started by the military during World War I, when persuasive techniques were developed to recruit soldiers. "
wow! so dominic dvp was apparently asked yesterday if he hoped the coal wins the war, and he refused to give an answer! murdocch is gonna go beserk!
did i post this interesting 2002 war game story? "I WILL NOT GET MY COMEUPPANCE!"
bechtel provided $1.3M in PAC/soft money (3 years), former Secretary of State George P. Shultz is on its board
effect of getting embedded. as u know by now, media spin blows my head...
45 countries - ive named em before... 15 wanted to be anonymous supporters, but got flushed out so the list looked more 'credible'... newly accused = Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Kuwait, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Palau, Panama, Portugal, Rwanda, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Uganda and Bulgaria.
we accidentally forgot to put bulgaria and portugal on the original list... turkey wont give land access. 'the U.S. claim of Czech support has been rebutted officially by the Prime Minister and the President, but that has not stopped Washington from including them on the list. '
faux news is running the 'we are using dolfins' story - without mentioning the awol
is bush using doubles for public appearances?
i didnt know this "The PR industry, as many may know, was actually started by the military during World War I, when persuasive techniques were developed to recruit soldiers. "
wow! so dominic dvp was apparently asked yesterday if he hoped the coal wins the war, and he refused to give an answer! murdocch is gonna go beserk!
did i post this interesting 2002 war game story? "I WILL NOT GET MY COMEUPPANCE!"
bechtel provided $1.3M in PAC/soft money (3 years), former Secretary of State George P. Shultz is on its board
effect of getting embedded. as u know by now, media spin blows my head...
victoria clarke is being horrible and wearing another horrible jacket - black and hot pink this time
a summary of the major lies for the week. the beeb has even complained that the pentagon is lying to them. "We're getting more truth out of Baghdad than the Pentagon at the moment"
GeeWhiz's radio address: 'a woman was hanged for waving at the coal soldiers' earlier reports said that she had surrendered and been waved through into safety, but afterwards when the soldiers returned, they found her hanged... firstly, gwb is intentionally making outrageous mistruths again... secondly, it struck me as interesting that the soldiers could actually recognise the woman (i think they 'came back the next day' but it may have been later in the same day...) perhaps if there arent many civilians that they see, or maybe if this woman stood out for some reason - but otherwise, id expect that each iraqi civilian is indiscernible from another for the soldiers... although maybe less so to arab am soldiers (i think its easier to visually differentiate within our race)
now the coal soldiers are beating up portugese journos
fox is reporting that iraqis have sacked their air defense minister because he was guilty in the bombings in iraq in the mkt killing the civiillians...
a summary of the major lies for the week. the beeb has even complained that the pentagon is lying to them. "We're getting more truth out of Baghdad than the Pentagon at the moment"
GeeWhiz's radio address: 'a woman was hanged for waving at the coal soldiers' earlier reports said that she had surrendered and been waved through into safety, but afterwards when the soldiers returned, they found her hanged... firstly, gwb is intentionally making outrageous mistruths again... secondly, it struck me as interesting that the soldiers could actually recognise the woman (i think they 'came back the next day' but it may have been later in the same day...) perhaps if there arent many civilians that they see, or maybe if this woman stood out for some reason - but otherwise, id expect that each iraqi civilian is indiscernible from another for the soldiers... although maybe less so to arab am soldiers (i think its easier to visually differentiate within our race)
now the coal soldiers are beating up portugese journos
fox is reporting that iraqis have sacked their air defense minister because he was guilty in the bombings in iraq in the mkt killing the civiillians...
Saturday, March 29, 2003
hans blix : "The noble art of losing face will one day save the human race."
illegality of assassination
pentagon sends 50,000 camoflage bibles to iraq
saddam was given a 'key to the city' at Detroit more than two decades ago
the smart dolfin is awol - ha ha
tony blair says that brit prisoners were executed and paraded on aljaz. the dead guys sister reckons that her brothers army mates told her that he died on the battlefield after being ambushed... more lies more lies
the invasion - summary of week one
the coals have taken out the telefone exchange in baghdad - liberate me
illegality of assassination
pentagon sends 50,000 camoflage bibles to iraq
saddam was given a 'key to the city' at Detroit more than two decades ago
the smart dolfin is awol - ha ha
tony blair says that brit prisoners were executed and paraded on aljaz. the dead guys sister reckons that her brothers army mates told her that he died on the battlefield after being ambushed... more lies more lies
the invasion - summary of week one
the coals have taken out the telefone exchange in baghdad - liberate me
911 bollox
stupid pResident doesnt ask congress for any money to help rebuild afghanistan - liberate that, suckers! (israel got another $10bn)
looks like runny is threatening to declare war on syria & iran - congratulations again... over goggles...
heres an article abuot the US mil being thin on the ground - written *before* the iraq invasion. (i often find it interesting/informative/illustrative to read stuff written before whatever trigger point... e.g. about wtc security written b4 911, or whatever)
and now a hijacking in turkey... flying to athens now... nov 17? who knows?
where is saddam's air force? why dont we know? what might we see in the future?
now they are naming captured oil wells after oil compnaies.... is there no shame?
stupid pResident doesnt ask congress for any money to help rebuild afghanistan - liberate that, suckers! (israel got another $10bn)
looks like runny is threatening to declare war on syria & iran - congratulations again... over goggles...
heres an article abuot the US mil being thin on the ground - written *before* the iraq invasion. (i often find it interesting/informative/illustrative to read stuff written before whatever trigger point... e.g. about wtc security written b4 911, or whatever)
and now a hijacking in turkey... flying to athens now... nov 17? who knows?
where is saddam's air force? why dont we know? what might we see in the future?
now they are naming captured oil wells after oil compnaies.... is there no shame?
Friday, March 28, 2003
people are emigrating from the USA in search of safety - what a weird world
oh yeah - that 'stream of iraqi tanks' that was screaming into the desert away from Nassiriya on an apparent suicide mission - variously reported if im not mistaken up to 'hundreds of tanks'... well they were half right, it seems like it was a suicide mission of sorts - for *3* tanks!
so it seems there are stories put out by the coal about the evil iraqis cutting out the tongue of a dissenter... cept what has happened is that the iraqi info minister gets on air and says 'theres no way we'd do that, thats absurd'
1990 - "Minutes after Yemen voted against the resolution to attack Iraq, a senior American diplomat told the Yemeni ambassador: 'That was the most expensive No vote you ever cast.' Within three days, a U.S. aid programme of $70 million to one of the world's poorest countries was stopped. Yemen suddenly had problems with the World Bank and the IMF; and 800,000 Yemeni workers were expelled from Saudi Arabia."
oh yeah - that 'stream of iraqi tanks' that was screaming into the desert away from Nassiriya on an apparent suicide mission - variously reported if im not mistaken up to 'hundreds of tanks'... well they were half right, it seems like it was a suicide mission of sorts - for *3* tanks!
so it seems there are stories put out by the coal about the evil iraqis cutting out the tongue of a dissenter... cept what has happened is that the iraqi info minister gets on air and says 'theres no way we'd do that, thats absurd'
1990 - "Minutes after Yemen voted against the resolution to attack Iraq, a senior American diplomat told the Yemeni ambassador: 'That was the most expensive No vote you ever cast.' Within three days, a U.S. aid programme of $70 million to one of the world's poorest countries was stopped. Yemen suddenly had problems with the World Bank and the IMF; and 800,000 Yemeni workers were expelled from Saudi Arabia."
tony blair looks terrible
gw blush seems to be threatening the iraqis when he says 'those people will be liberated!'
tolstoy: patriotism " is nothing else but a means of obtaining for the rulers their ambitions and covetous desires, and for the ruled the abdication of human dignity, reason and conscience."
maybe ive finally understood why those aljaz pix of pow's were illegal - the geneve convention says something about not parading or humiliating them... they certainly werent paraded, so they must have been humiliated... i think they were asked their name and where they are from - a few of them were from texas -- how fukking humiliating
i wanna be liberated. dont liberate me
k - so im watching cnn for a bit, and theres an analyst giving a glowing update, and he is talking about km's, not miles... i wonder if they do that normally on cnn, or mebbe its cnn international, or maybe they are using kms, because the 'absoulte numbers' are larger... am i getting too cynical???
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/
gw blush seems to be threatening the iraqis when he says 'those people will be liberated!'
tolstoy: patriotism " is nothing else but a means of obtaining for the rulers their ambitions and covetous desires, and for the ruled the abdication of human dignity, reason and conscience."
maybe ive finally understood why those aljaz pix of pow's were illegal - the geneve convention says something about not parading or humiliating them... they certainly werent paraded, so they must have been humiliated... i think they were asked their name and where they are from - a few of them were from texas -- how fukking humiliating
i wanna be liberated. dont liberate me
k - so im watching cnn for a bit, and theres an analyst giving a glowing update, and he is talking about km's, not miles... i wonder if they do that normally on cnn, or mebbe its cnn international, or maybe they are using kms, because the 'absoulte numbers' are larger... am i getting too cynical???
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/
more war hurts pix - somehow we are outraged about *our* pow's being interviewed on tv...
the bombing in the mkt was a disaster, no doubt, 16 ded or something... the coalwill say 'we didnt do it, it must have been one of their bombs returning to earth...' thanks guys - i trust u. a lot.
btw is a dead soldier a POW? can u show them on the teeve?
more media blackouts - yesterday the beeb announced breaking news that 'dozens of coalwil were hurt in a friendly fire incident in Nasiriyah' blu/blu - but i havent heard anything else about it on the teeve since... strangely, a google news search throws up mostly australasian news reports. the age. nz herald. ABC (oz). News (even murdoch picked it up). independent (RSA).
eveningnews24 (UK)
"Friendly fire accounted for roughly 24 percent of the U.S. casualties in the 1991 conflict"
the bombing in the mkt was a disaster, no doubt, 16 ded or something... the coalwill say 'we didnt do it, it must have been one of their bombs returning to earth...' thanks guys - i trust u. a lot.
btw is a dead soldier a POW? can u show them on the teeve?
more media blackouts - yesterday the beeb announced breaking news that 'dozens of coalwil were hurt in a friendly fire incident in Nasiriyah' blu/blu - but i havent heard anything else about it on the teeve since... strangely, a google news search throws up mostly australasian news reports. the age. nz herald. ABC (oz). News (even murdoch picked it up). independent (RSA).
eveningnews24 (UK)
"Friendly fire accounted for roughly 24 percent of the U.S. casualties in the 1991 conflict"
"Monday's front page of the Washington Post has a picture of an Iraqi POW being handled by U.S. troops"
more on the gwb 'feel good' statement and bbc's pre-emptive live feed
wow - scott ritter said '"The United States is going to leave Iraq with its tail between its legs, defeated. It is a war we can not win"
hmmm - this from defenselink.mil : "a cache of Iraqi AK-47 Assault Rifles were discovered at a hospital. Marines, found and confiscated over 200 weapons and stockpiles of ammunition, over 3,000 chemical suits with masks " and a picture which shows an innocuous little box with 10 or so small guns ... if the story is true, why wouldnt they show a pic of something more dramatic - like racks and racks of chemical protection suits...?
yesterday CNN were claiming/gushing a live and exclusive - watching 1000 US soldiers paratroop into the north somewhere... it was never quite apparent why they would do that into friendly territory where they already had control of the airstrips... bbc are now reporting thta it was only for show, and there were only a few jupms...
JFC - negraponte has just walked out of the UN - congratulations...
The Coalition of the Willing (corrected list) now includes: Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Britain, Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Palau, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Uganda, the United States, and Uzbekistan. apparently the US had included the Solomon Islands to boost numbers, but forgot to ask them... more lies more lies - how tenuous is every proposition of the coalwill... trust nothing, trust no-one...
give me your weak, your downtrodden and your poor...
whats going on? the belgians are trying to exempt the awful, unlawful pResident from being tried for war crimes... sharon, castro, arafat apparently arent as bad?? blair might be a war criminal - why not the shrubbery?
more on the gwb 'feel good' statement and bbc's pre-emptive live feed
wow - scott ritter said '"The United States is going to leave Iraq with its tail between its legs, defeated. It is a war we can not win"
hmmm - this from defenselink.mil : "a cache of Iraqi AK-47 Assault Rifles were discovered at a hospital. Marines, found and confiscated over 200 weapons and stockpiles of ammunition, over 3,000 chemical suits with masks " and a picture which shows an innocuous little box with 10 or so small guns ... if the story is true, why wouldnt they show a pic of something more dramatic - like racks and racks of chemical protection suits...?
yesterday CNN were claiming/gushing a live and exclusive - watching 1000 US soldiers paratroop into the north somewhere... it was never quite apparent why they would do that into friendly territory where they already had control of the airstrips... bbc are now reporting thta it was only for show, and there were only a few jupms...
JFC - negraponte has just walked out of the UN - congratulations...
The Coalition of the Willing (corrected list) now includes: Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Britain, Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Palau, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Uganda, the United States, and Uzbekistan. apparently the US had included the Solomon Islands to boost numbers, but forgot to ask them... more lies more lies - how tenuous is every proposition of the coalwill... trust nothing, trust no-one...
give me your weak, your downtrodden and your poor...
whats going on? the belgians are trying to exempt the awful, unlawful pResident from being tried for war crimes... sharon, castro, arafat apparently arent as bad?? blair might be a war criminal - why not the shrubbery?
Thursday, March 27, 2003
am back on faux news - congressman: 'The UN is as guilty as anyone that american lives are at risk today'
hannity (pointing finger repeatedly): ' the UN turned its back on us'
han: 'how bout those poor am soldiers? a french catering company provides lunches for the am servicemen, and then a month later they have to go and fight for something that the french disagreed with!'
nyse and nasdaq have banned aljaz form reporting on the floor... congratu-fukking-lations
the prettier the news staff, the prettier the news
can u imagine if the brits had inflicted so many blu-on-blu's on the ams? what a fucking outrage you would hear from fauxnews et al
hannity (pointing finger repeatedly): ' the UN turned its back on us'
han: 'how bout those poor am soldiers? a french catering company provides lunches for the am servicemen, and then a month later they have to go and fight for something that the french disagreed with!'
nyse and nasdaq have banned aljaz form reporting on the floor... congratu-fukking-lations
the prettier the news staff, the prettier the news
can u imagine if the brits had inflicted so many blu-on-blu's on the ams? what a fucking outrage you would hear from fauxnews et al
hmmm - it seems now that *all* the iraqi speedboats are missing??????
bush gets 99-0 senate results... a sign of unity... saddam gets 99.9% of the deomcratic vote... cos he is a thug
ahh - the wto just announced that the us steel tariffs are illegal...
fauxnews: '...and the french - didnt they poke a stick in our eye!'
and more: 'kofi annans comments today were scandalous!'
victoria clarke just said that it was wrong to call the national guard 'paramiliatry' cos their goal is to torture... i think she needs to be tortured and shot, rather than ranting propaganda
oh - here we go - the long awaited 'saddams thugs are wearing US uniforms' - i thought that might be kept under wraps for a while...
bush gets 99-0 senate results... a sign of unity... saddam gets 99.9% of the deomcratic vote... cos he is a thug
ahh - the wto just announced that the us steel tariffs are illegal...
fauxnews: '...and the french - didnt they poke a stick in our eye!'
and more: 'kofi annans comments today were scandalous!'
victoria clarke just said that it was wrong to call the national guard 'paramiliatry' cos their goal is to torture... i think she needs to be tortured and shot, rather than ranting propaganda
oh - here we go - the long awaited 'saddams thugs are wearing US uniforms' - i thought that might be kept under wraps for a while...
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
it appears as though there are 666 days till we get a new pres... fingers crossed... coincidink or no?
'blue-on-blue'...? 'friendly fire' isnt sufficiently disingenuous?
nigeria is the 6th largest oil producer in the world, behind venezuela... there are 'supply disruptions in nigeria' which are affecting the oil price, according to the beeb - without any elaboration... what the fuck is that?
can we get a webcam on the end of a smart bomb, so we can see what is going on the offices and bedrooms of the iraqis? that would be real cool. it would probably make our victims more human?
haha! i just heard a brit soldier quoting an 'arab' term 'fool me once...' - i wonder if he knows???!?!?!
'blue-on-blue'...? 'friendly fire' isnt sufficiently disingenuous?
nigeria is the 6th largest oil producer in the world, behind venezuela... there are 'supply disruptions in nigeria' which are affecting the oil price, according to the beeb - without any elaboration... what the fuck is that?
can we get a webcam on the end of a smart bomb, so we can see what is going on the offices and bedrooms of the iraqis? that would be real cool. it would probably make our victims more human?
haha! i just heard a brit soldier quoting an 'arab' term 'fool me once...' - i wonder if he knows???!?!?!
speaking of math, i love this humanitarian line that the media is peddling re iraq. ''the average family in iraq has about 6 weeks worth of food, so we need to get food on the table by the end of april.'' actually, that strategy would kill 12 million people... lies lives and statistics...
newt gingrich: the fanatics defending their cities are like the ss and gestapo in berlin 1945. the result is not in doubt - unless saddam uses WMD. then it'll be fascinating to see what jacques chirac says about why he isnt helping
'a number of speedboats are unaccounted for in the port taken by the coalwill' - did we know how many were there before? did we do an inventory when we got there and let some people steal them?
"Afterthought: we took a lot of lessons from 9/11, but it occurs to me that there's one we might have overlooked--when you attack a nation, people tend to rally around their leader, even if they hate him."
ftr - i note that the beeb did a story on the london peace marches last weekend, noting that the police estimate was of 200k people... the headline on the beeb later was 'tens of thousands'
yellowtimes.org got pulled offline... again! this time by its isp for posting screen grabs from aljazz of the captured ams...
wow! john howard just declined an invitation to go to camp david with blergh and bush! 'id rather be at home during war'
have you ever seen a town with population of 3000 people? you need to concentrate just to notice it... yet umm qasar, population same, held up the coalwill for ever and is screwing up the supply lines... what is baghdad gonna be like?
further to my circumspection about how well the coalwill is proceeding - here is something that *looks like* a daily blog from the side of the incumbents... if accurate, it might be interesting. i cant vouch for it: aeronautics
newt gingrich: the fanatics defending their cities are like the ss and gestapo in berlin 1945. the result is not in doubt - unless saddam uses WMD. then it'll be fascinating to see what jacques chirac says about why he isnt helping
'a number of speedboats are unaccounted for in the port taken by the coalwill' - did we know how many were there before? did we do an inventory when we got there and let some people steal them?
"Afterthought: we took a lot of lessons from 9/11, but it occurs to me that there's one we might have overlooked--when you attack a nation, people tend to rally around their leader, even if they hate him."
ftr - i note that the beeb did a story on the london peace marches last weekend, noting that the police estimate was of 200k people... the headline on the beeb later was 'tens of thousands'
yellowtimes.org got pulled offline... again! this time by its isp for posting screen grabs from aljazz of the captured ams...
wow! john howard just declined an invitation to go to camp david with blergh and bush! 'id rather be at home during war'
have you ever seen a town with population of 3000 people? you need to concentrate just to notice it... yet umm qasar, population same, held up the coalwill for ever and is screwing up the supply lines... what is baghdad gonna be like?
further to my circumspection about how well the coalwill is proceeding - here is something that *looks like* a daily blog from the side of the incumbents... if accurate, it might be interesting. i cant vouch for it: aeronautics
and some more 'war hurts' pictures - not cos i like em, but cos war hurts... yep, sometimes even more than the ignominy of being paraded on aljazz tv
a history of middle eastern imperialism
btw - the war council in the azures... does that count as an overseas trip for bush? is that his 4th?
the frailty of the coalwill
euphemisms cannot hide war's bloody truth - is a 'target of opportunity' an assassination attempt? arent they illegal? how bout 'boots on ground'? i only heard that on fox (and in the aforementioned mishal husain/armitage interview - and if he aint fox, then who is?)
in trying to explain the war prgoress, cohen (ex-sos?) just said 'we know speed kills - just as it does on our highways, so it is true for war' fuck off.
along the same lines, the reasons that we arent seeing jubilant, liberated iraqi's is cos their govt will shoot em in the back... otherwise they'd bring us flowers im sure....
i love it when the bbc sez 'these reports may have been monitored by the iraqis', implying that one needs take into account that there is censorship - but the dont say that about US media - despite cnn's policy or passing everything through the pentagon media room & of course the, um, oversight, of, um, embedded journalsts
and lets not it go un-noticed that rupert was just given approval to run a 24 hour news channel in india - what sort of damage will that inflict on the region? world? nuclear fucking neighbours and a faux new network... awesome!
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."
--Bertrand Russel
"If you want to test a man's character, give him power." --Abraham Lincoln
"When they took the 4th Amendment, I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs. When they took the 6th Amendment, I was quiet because I am innocent. When they took the 2nd Amendment, I was quiet because I don't own a gun. Now they have taken the 1st Amendment, and I can only be quiet." --Lyle Myhr
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." --Albert Einstein
"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight and never stop fighting." -E.E. Cummings
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the American flag." - Strom Thurmond
i cant wait till ready.gov publishes traffic stats to show how effective the campaing has been... when more likely it is confused individuals like myself what the fuck they were trying to say
a history of middle eastern imperialism
btw - the war council in the azures... does that count as an overseas trip for bush? is that his 4th?
the frailty of the coalwill
euphemisms cannot hide war's bloody truth - is a 'target of opportunity' an assassination attempt? arent they illegal? how bout 'boots on ground'? i only heard that on fox (and in the aforementioned mishal husain/armitage interview - and if he aint fox, then who is?)
in trying to explain the war prgoress, cohen (ex-sos?) just said 'we know speed kills - just as it does on our highways, so it is true for war' fuck off.
along the same lines, the reasons that we arent seeing jubilant, liberated iraqi's is cos their govt will shoot em in the back... otherwise they'd bring us flowers im sure....
i love it when the bbc sez 'these reports may have been monitored by the iraqis', implying that one needs take into account that there is censorship - but the dont say that about US media - despite cnn's policy or passing everything through the pentagon media room & of course the, um, oversight, of, um, embedded journalsts
and lets not it go un-noticed that rupert was just given approval to run a 24 hour news channel in india - what sort of damage will that inflict on the region? world? nuclear fucking neighbours and a faux new network... awesome!
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."
--Bertrand Russel
"If you want to test a man's character, give him power." --Abraham Lincoln
"When they took the 4th Amendment, I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs. When they took the 6th Amendment, I was quiet because I am innocent. When they took the 2nd Amendment, I was quiet because I don't own a gun. Now they have taken the 1st Amendment, and I can only be quiet." --Lyle Myhr
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." --Albert Einstein
"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight and never stop fighting." -E.E. Cummings
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the American flag." - Strom Thurmond
i cant wait till ready.gov publishes traffic stats to show how effective the campaing has been... when more likely it is confused individuals like myself what the fuck they were trying to say
k - so now the bbc is reporting that there might be reports of a popular uprising near basra... civilians turning against their army... this is apparently a good thing, although it sounds kinda similar to saddam 'gasses his own people' one is good, and one is bad apparently...
and theres no sign of the 'chem factory' any more... it looks like they just crank this shit out and have moved on by the time there's any resolution... so the punters are just left with hazy thoughts about the geneva convention or drones or wmd or 911 or some stupid thing...
'the Race to Baghdad'? come on guys...
on a somewhat divergent note, i see that some more ozzie steel has had the tariffs lifted... am tempted to point out that it mite be a part of the bribe for participiation in the coalwill, but it seems to be a part of a larger program than that. ever since the tarrifs were introduced, there have been many exclusions, not surprisingly many of them going to oz... but perhaps the bigger question is why they were introduced in the first place - always struck me a hypocritical, and immediately there were many exclusions announced... was the policy the first anti-international of this admin? was it one of the 'first' US example to use blair style spin? why announce blanket tarriff protection, and then immediately offer exclusions for something like 30% (?) of the program? why not just announce the tariffs on the stuff that will be afftected? i dont know much of the detail - but it just seemed stupid to be promoting free trade on one hand, and then adding protection on the other cos the industry was in trouble...
and theres no sign of the 'chem factory' any more... it looks like they just crank this shit out and have moved on by the time there's any resolution... so the punters are just left with hazy thoughts about the geneva convention or drones or wmd or 911 or some stupid thing...
'the Race to Baghdad'? come on guys...
on a somewhat divergent note, i see that some more ozzie steel has had the tariffs lifted... am tempted to point out that it mite be a part of the bribe for participiation in the coalwill, but it seems to be a part of a larger program than that. ever since the tarrifs were introduced, there have been many exclusions, not surprisingly many of them going to oz... but perhaps the bigger question is why they were introduced in the first place - always struck me a hypocritical, and immediately there were many exclusions announced... was the policy the first anti-international of this admin? was it one of the 'first' US example to use blair style spin? why announce blanket tarriff protection, and then immediately offer exclusions for something like 30% (?) of the program? why not just announce the tariffs on the stuff that will be afftected? i dont know much of the detail - but it just seemed stupid to be promoting free trade on one hand, and then adding protection on the other cos the industry was in trouble...
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
ok - so the us has accused the russians of providing military hardware to the iraqi's - GPS spammers, night goggles et al... the russians rebuked the US for making unsubstantiated and public accusations.... great that those 2 are fighting again, well done white house... but further, the russians seem not to get the point - of course the criticism was public - how else to explain blowing up allied planes and sending bombs into 3 other countries?
here are some pictures of dead iraqis - nasty? guess what - war hurts people... despite what we might be led to believe from watching network news
american bombs landed in iran - smart bombs that can get through a doorway, but cant hit the right country. 'we respect iran's territorial sovereignty' - apparently not iraq's however... 2 in turkey, one blew up a bus in syria, another hit a UK RAF plane... different to gulf war one? at least they are hiting something i guess
whats clare short up to by the way?
theres a blogger called skippy who calls foxnews, fauxnews. also says 'im not a pundit but i play one on the net' cool
i like the writing of @ rense.com - here someone comments on some media lies
a bbc reporter called paul wood in baghdad just said 'at the moment on iraqi teeve, they are showing a soap opera, there might be something on the other channels, i havent checked, but...' JFC - why is a british journo in baghdad watching an iraqi soap opera, presumably in arabic, when there 'might' be news of the war on another channel?
i dont think i mentioned yet the story where the ams found chemical masks on the 'battlefield' - which was proof that saddam was going to use chem weapons, and is preparing his troops for when he sends out these weapons... along the same lines, the iraqis must assume that gwb is going to use chem weapons
more helicopter probs - am apaches this time...
american bombs landed in iran - smart bombs that can get through a doorway, but cant hit the right country. 'we respect iran's territorial sovereignty' - apparently not iraq's however... 2 in turkey, one blew up a bus in syria, another hit a UK RAF plane... different to gulf war one? at least they are hiting something i guess
whats clare short up to by the way?
theres a blogger called skippy who calls foxnews, fauxnews. also says 'im not a pundit but i play one on the net' cool
i like the writing of @ rense.com - here someone comments on some media lies
a bbc reporter called paul wood in baghdad just said 'at the moment on iraqi teeve, they are showing a soap opera, there might be something on the other channels, i havent checked, but...' JFC - why is a british journo in baghdad watching an iraqi soap opera, presumably in arabic, when there 'might' be news of the war on another channel?
i dont think i mentioned yet the story where the ams found chemical masks on the 'battlefield' - which was proof that saddam was going to use chem weapons, and is preparing his troops for when he sends out these weapons... along the same lines, the iraqis must assume that gwb is going to use chem weapons
more helicopter probs - am apaches this time...
Monday, March 24, 2003
did i mention that i fell in love with mishal hussain from the beeb when she interviewed us dep sec of state armitage who is (not surprisingly) a pig...
i also loved gwb's address the other nite where the bbc cut to it a bit early, and it showed bush practising, mouthing words from the teleprompter, while someone brushed his stubborn haair repeatedly...
i also loved gwb's address the other nite where the bbc cut to it a bit early, and it showed bush practising, mouthing words from the teleprompter, while someone brushed his stubborn haair repeatedly...
oh god - more scare alerts... al qaida has wmd blah blah. the washington post is pretty foul, and *must* be read as an instrument of the white house... didja know that it was owned by the moonies?
dare i mention the absurdity just b4 the start of the bombing when bush et al announced that they were preparing to publish a palestinian peace roadmap... havent seen that yet...
ok - more now on the 'fox' chemical factory... the beebtv are leading with the story on the hour... 'it has been camoflauged so it cant be seen from the sky, and *is surrounded by an electric fence*' emphasis mine... i love it when foxnews says something stupid, i hate it when the beeb does... they also continue saying 'pockets of resistance'... speedhumps along the inexorable road to baghdad... a few brave but misguided iraqis... 'obviously very loyal to saddam' - either that, or they dont like stupid imperial christo-fascists taking over their country and bombing the shit out of them...
an interviewer asks blair what he thinks of saddam 'parading POW's' - blair pauses, responds, quavers, earnestly "Sometimes when people ask me is it really necessary to get rid of Saddam I say look at the things he does. Parading people in that way is contrary to the Geneva Convention, contrary to all the proper rules of conflict. He has mined the oil wealth of the country. He tortures and murders people at will in Iraq." im sorry tony, im probably one of the last to abandon you... i wanted to believe... but when you say shit like that, im really, really tempted to walk out the door... i dont know where to start... how about this: geneva convention or not, broadcasting and killing people is different. and lets remember it was aljaz that did the broadcast, and it probably does not break the geneva convention. and i, for one, noticed the lovely segue from 'what do u think of parading' to 'get rid of him - look at the things he does.' 'parading' *jump* 'oil and theft' *jump* 'torture and murder.' and lets remember that your bitch has pulled out of just about every treaty ever signed, and that the current invasion is arguably illegal both in domestic US law, and international law... and you earnestly complain, with an oak background on the teeve, about a stupid video in a 'war' which is the most televisualised war ever, where 'embedded' journos film iraqis surrendering, and the 'allied' media print press releases as stories...
ill slam the door on my way out. *SLAM*
dare i mention the absurdity just b4 the start of the bombing when bush et al announced that they were preparing to publish a palestinian peace roadmap... havent seen that yet...
ok - more now on the 'fox' chemical factory... the beebtv are leading with the story on the hour... 'it has been camoflauged so it cant be seen from the sky, and *is surrounded by an electric fence*' emphasis mine... i love it when foxnews says something stupid, i hate it when the beeb does... they also continue saying 'pockets of resistance'... speedhumps along the inexorable road to baghdad... a few brave but misguided iraqis... 'obviously very loyal to saddam' - either that, or they dont like stupid imperial christo-fascists taking over their country and bombing the shit out of them...
an interviewer asks blair what he thinks of saddam 'parading POW's' - blair pauses, responds, quavers, earnestly "Sometimes when people ask me is it really necessary to get rid of Saddam I say look at the things he does. Parading people in that way is contrary to the Geneva Convention, contrary to all the proper rules of conflict. He has mined the oil wealth of the country. He tortures and murders people at will in Iraq." im sorry tony, im probably one of the last to abandon you... i wanted to believe... but when you say shit like that, im really, really tempted to walk out the door... i dont know where to start... how about this: geneva convention or not, broadcasting and killing people is different. and lets remember it was aljaz that did the broadcast, and it probably does not break the geneva convention. and i, for one, noticed the lovely segue from 'what do u think of parading' to 'get rid of him - look at the things he does.' 'parading' *jump* 'oil and theft' *jump* 'torture and murder.' and lets remember that your bitch has pulled out of just about every treaty ever signed, and that the current invasion is arguably illegal both in domestic US law, and international law... and you earnestly complain, with an oak background on the teeve, about a stupid video in a 'war' which is the most televisualised war ever, where 'embedded' journos film iraqis surrendering, and the 'allied' media print press releases as stories...
ill slam the door on my way out. *SLAM*
Sunday, March 23, 2003
so let me start off with stuff that hasnt made sense since they started bombing, or other stuff i thought deserved a comment...
gwb's radio speech today - said that people have been helping military families by baby sitting and 'helping out with home repairs' - fukking hell. amongst other things, sexist pig.
and theres the 'embedded' journalists spreading truth - fukking hell - patty hearst was embedded. im tempted to use 'in bedded' but im trying to be less opaque and/or clever.
i love it that the um, allies, have captured the '2nd largest city, geographically'... if im not mistaken, mt isa is the worlds 'largest' city... well done people.
weird story of course about this american soldier rolling grenades into a tent in kuwait - what the fuck is that about? different stories about first he was a terrorist, then a security guy, then an american soldier, then a muslim american soldier, then he collapsed under pressure of being on hi alert for a few days, then he was noticed 'acting strangely recently'... 2 grenades, then 3. the injury count rising... 10, 13, 16...
it mite be a weird time to talk about fashion - but today there was a pentagon briefing with some guy with a very metall-ed left shirt pocket and some chick who i think was 'deputy secretary of state press affairs' - and she was wearing a disgustingly inappropriate jacket in a sea of sombriety and khakis... why? i dont think that things like that happen by accident... i can only imagine that she was hoping to take up column inches on her fashion, and distracting attention from what they were pretending to say... i also note that even a politician/ PR professional couldnt help but rub her nose when she mentioned that the opposition were engaging in 'disinformation'... (update - ok so her name is victoria clarke - Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs - who dresses like that, ever, anywhere?)
the turk army 'moving into' kurd/northern iraq is a weird story too - i dunno what happened yesterday! the story was that 1500 turks had moved into northern iraq against the US wishes - it 'turns out' (after quite a few hours) that was untrue, and the 1500 turks were kinda permanently based there, and were moving across/across the border normally... dunno dunno
lemme also note that rummy was very grumpy in that press conference yesterday
another thought - my sense throughout history is that agressors tend to believe that they can win wars... and they can justify it on religious grounds, or technological grounds, or historical grounds, or any such thing... and the aggressors probably (speculation)arent as successful as they think theyll be... and im sure it seems different every time, but i assume that it isnt... theres not a reason in the world why the unilateralists dont think theyll win... but saddam is kinda in the arafat mold - keep going, know how to survive... be there next week, next month... those guys have dug themselves out of many holes, gwb has only dug himself into them, and been dug out by the benevolent padre... god and a 1000% differential military spend dont always determine the answer...
gwb's radio speech today - said that people have been helping military families by baby sitting and 'helping out with home repairs' - fukking hell. amongst other things, sexist pig.
and theres the 'embedded' journalists spreading truth - fukking hell - patty hearst was embedded. im tempted to use 'in bedded' but im trying to be less opaque and/or clever.
i love it that the um, allies, have captured the '2nd largest city, geographically'... if im not mistaken, mt isa is the worlds 'largest' city... well done people.
weird story of course about this american soldier rolling grenades into a tent in kuwait - what the fuck is that about? different stories about first he was a terrorist, then a security guy, then an american soldier, then a muslim american soldier, then he collapsed under pressure of being on hi alert for a few days, then he was noticed 'acting strangely recently'... 2 grenades, then 3. the injury count rising... 10, 13, 16...
it mite be a weird time to talk about fashion - but today there was a pentagon briefing with some guy with a very metall-ed left shirt pocket and some chick who i think was 'deputy secretary of state press affairs' - and she was wearing a disgustingly inappropriate jacket in a sea of sombriety and khakis... why? i dont think that things like that happen by accident... i can only imagine that she was hoping to take up column inches on her fashion, and distracting attention from what they were pretending to say... i also note that even a politician/ PR professional couldnt help but rub her nose when she mentioned that the opposition were engaging in 'disinformation'... (update - ok so her name is victoria clarke - Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs - who dresses like that, ever, anywhere?)
the turk army 'moving into' kurd/northern iraq is a weird story too - i dunno what happened yesterday! the story was that 1500 turks had moved into northern iraq against the US wishes - it 'turns out' (after quite a few hours) that was untrue, and the 1500 turks were kinda permanently based there, and were moving across/across the border normally... dunno dunno
lemme also note that rummy was very grumpy in that press conference yesterday
another thought - my sense throughout history is that agressors tend to believe that they can win wars... and they can justify it on religious grounds, or technological grounds, or historical grounds, or any such thing... and the aggressors probably (speculation)arent as successful as they think theyll be... and im sure it seems different every time, but i assume that it isnt... theres not a reason in the world why the unilateralists dont think theyll win... but saddam is kinda in the arafat mold - keep going, know how to survive... be there next week, next month... those guys have dug themselves out of many holes, gwb has only dug himself into them, and been dug out by the benevolent padre... god and a 1000% differential military spend dont always determine the answer...
ok - so my website has become a real mess - and even i cant get any more denserer... apologies to anyone who tried to read it - it kinda grew incrementally from just a few sentences under each pic, and is now totally unreadable... the war has also started, and i havent really changed the website since the bombing started - so ive decided to switch to this medium, and i hope to be able to talk in fullerer sentences, and break the constraints of lukeryland...
ill try to be less obscure here than the website. i dont have any agenda - i dont think ill convince anyone of anything. im not really gonna comment on the minutia of the invasion - i dont know anything about the factions or the geography or the people or any of that jazz. i dont know anything about military stuff... i dont really know the difference between a sortie and getting sorted... except they maybe feel a bit similar - the come down is terrible, but one costs a lot more than the other.
i do however know a little about media, and the english language, and propaganda and i have a unhealthy level of skepticism, so ill probably be raising questions about things that dont make sense to me... not about whether i think i think saddam is dead today, but maybe about some stupid freeped cnn internet poll about whether the american population thinks he is dead, not about whether the green fwd arrows on the multimedia displays go in the correct directions, but maybe whether there is a crack in matrix in the language that is used by the aggressors, and how that crack might be interpreted, and whether that points to some form of spin, and what reality might exist within that vortex.
have i lost u yet?
for the record - i think this war is a horrible idea at many levels. i think killing people is bad. i abhor the US administration. i abhor the imperialism and religionism and racism. i dont necessarily believe that 'oil' is the simple explanation. i dont necessarily believe the zionist story. i dont necessarily subscribe to the PNAC story. i dont necessarily subscribe to the 'daddy's unfinished business' story. i struggle to find a logical reason, a consistent motivation... except that power corrupts
i do believe that the US mainstream media is guiltily complicit, although im not sure for what reason. to the extent that i understand network tv economics, advertising dollars are pretty important. and i also know that advertisers try to shy away from having their brand associated with murder, including govt-sanctioned killings, and i also know that running these enhanced war-time news operations is expensive... so i guess the networks are running at a loss during the war - and that inherently assumes that they will make up those losses elsewhere. i dont know how they can do that, cos that assumes larger, or more valuable audiences, at some point in the future. i dont really understand when the war 'stops', why the network audiences wont return to 'normal' levels... so that story doesnt really make sense. the alternative is a mkt share grab between the networks... does that explain the rush to ultra-nationalism? where the motivation is not to provide an accurate story, but to be at the edge of the other networks' stories, thereby getting the entire audience from just off-the-center, all the way to the extremities... a race to the bottom
for the record - i nearly exclusively watch the bbc. i usually find it more informative to view a story from a 3rd party perspective... and the beeb are much closer to an independent party than the US networks in this invasion. let me state outright that fox is evil - if u are watching fox, or know anyone who is, go and have a shower, and wash your hair, and get soap in your eyes - both as penance and to clean those evil thoughts and visions... i expect that the other networks are similar, cnn, abc, nbc... i dont have the internal fortitude to channel surf and compare the different networks to point out lies (and my remote doesnt work so welll). i dont consider for a minute that any of them offer any objective analysis. every story is colored, including those on the bbc. for me, its purely a matter of understanding the direction and the degree of the spin.
if anyone is reading this, and thinks that im stretching the truth about the impact of the different perspectives of the media, i beseech you to flip between fox and the bbc, to compare different versions of the same story... and note how the perspectives differ... note how the bbc will use words like 'allegedly', compared to what fox 'implies'. watch out for words that seem to carve a clintonesque position... and notice how they use derogatory/dismisssive statements regarding the peace movement as well, trying to invalidate/undermine it. i'm not sure what is 'real' and what isnt, but my point is that there are significant differences in the same 'truth', so we all need to be wary of what information we are being fed... all of it comes from a specific 'perspective'
i dont expect anyone to read this, and if there are any readers (hi), this is much more a personal diary than an instruction manual - im not trying to change anyones mind about anything (except maybe about being discerning when consuming any media). im not specifically trying to tell a story (dont tell me im not sufficiently representing the right-wing 'version' - this is just the bits that i find interesting for one reason or other), im not trying to be comprehensive (altho feel free to let me know if ive missed something that u think i might find interesting luke@lukeryland.com).
ill try to be less obscure here than the website. i dont have any agenda - i dont think ill convince anyone of anything. im not really gonna comment on the minutia of the invasion - i dont know anything about the factions or the geography or the people or any of that jazz. i dont know anything about military stuff... i dont really know the difference between a sortie and getting sorted... except they maybe feel a bit similar - the come down is terrible, but one costs a lot more than the other.
i do however know a little about media, and the english language, and propaganda and i have a unhealthy level of skepticism, so ill probably be raising questions about things that dont make sense to me... not about whether i think i think saddam is dead today, but maybe about some stupid freeped cnn internet poll about whether the american population thinks he is dead, not about whether the green fwd arrows on the multimedia displays go in the correct directions, but maybe whether there is a crack in matrix in the language that is used by the aggressors, and how that crack might be interpreted, and whether that points to some form of spin, and what reality might exist within that vortex.
have i lost u yet?
for the record - i think this war is a horrible idea at many levels. i think killing people is bad. i abhor the US administration. i abhor the imperialism and religionism and racism. i dont necessarily believe that 'oil' is the simple explanation. i dont necessarily believe the zionist story. i dont necessarily subscribe to the PNAC story. i dont necessarily subscribe to the 'daddy's unfinished business' story. i struggle to find a logical reason, a consistent motivation... except that power corrupts
i do believe that the US mainstream media is guiltily complicit, although im not sure for what reason. to the extent that i understand network tv economics, advertising dollars are pretty important. and i also know that advertisers try to shy away from having their brand associated with murder, including govt-sanctioned killings, and i also know that running these enhanced war-time news operations is expensive... so i guess the networks are running at a loss during the war - and that inherently assumes that they will make up those losses elsewhere. i dont know how they can do that, cos that assumes larger, or more valuable audiences, at some point in the future. i dont really understand when the war 'stops', why the network audiences wont return to 'normal' levels... so that story doesnt really make sense. the alternative is a mkt share grab between the networks... does that explain the rush to ultra-nationalism? where the motivation is not to provide an accurate story, but to be at the edge of the other networks' stories, thereby getting the entire audience from just off-the-center, all the way to the extremities... a race to the bottom
for the record - i nearly exclusively watch the bbc. i usually find it more informative to view a story from a 3rd party perspective... and the beeb are much closer to an independent party than the US networks in this invasion. let me state outright that fox is evil - if u are watching fox, or know anyone who is, go and have a shower, and wash your hair, and get soap in your eyes - both as penance and to clean those evil thoughts and visions... i expect that the other networks are similar, cnn, abc, nbc... i dont have the internal fortitude to channel surf and compare the different networks to point out lies (and my remote doesnt work so welll). i dont consider for a minute that any of them offer any objective analysis. every story is colored, including those on the bbc. for me, its purely a matter of understanding the direction and the degree of the spin.
if anyone is reading this, and thinks that im stretching the truth about the impact of the different perspectives of the media, i beseech you to flip between fox and the bbc, to compare different versions of the same story... and note how the perspectives differ... note how the bbc will use words like 'allegedly', compared to what fox 'implies'. watch out for words that seem to carve a clintonesque position... and notice how they use derogatory/dismisssive statements regarding the peace movement as well, trying to invalidate/undermine it. i'm not sure what is 'real' and what isnt, but my point is that there are significant differences in the same 'truth', so we all need to be wary of what information we are being fed... all of it comes from a specific 'perspective'
i dont expect anyone to read this, and if there are any readers (hi), this is much more a personal diary than an instruction manual - im not trying to change anyones mind about anything (except maybe about being discerning when consuming any media). im not specifically trying to tell a story (dont tell me im not sufficiently representing the right-wing 'version' - this is just the bits that i find interesting for one reason or other), im not trying to be comprehensive (altho feel free to let me know if ive missed something that u think i might find interesting luke@lukeryland.com).
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