these coloreds dont run

WART
* i ranted the other week about the beeb cos the wrote "marines killed" or some such on the screen, rather than "7 marines killed" - we got a better version today - some 7 marines were killed in an exploding bradley - the text reads "more violence" - and a map of iraq. (cbs is now running the story with the text 'the battle for iraq')

* "U.S. authorities in late 2001 forcibly transferred an Australian citizen to Egypt, where, he alleges, he was tortured for six months before being flown to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to court papers made public yesterday in a petition seeking to halt U.S. plans to return him to Egypt... Three Britons released from the prison have said Habib was in "catastrophic shape" when he arrived. Most of his fingernails were missing, and while sleeping he regularly bled from his nose, mouth and ears but U.S. officials denied him treatment, they said." jhoward is silent. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51726-2005Jan5?language=printer

* very tentative title (and article) "Amid Tensions, Iraqi Leader Affirms Jan. 30 Vote Plan" - sounds like voting program related activities... tsports has gone from 9/1 to 4/1 in a few days. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/06/international/middleeast/06iraq.html

* "In another sign that the Iraq campaign is forcing reassessments of Pentagon policies, Army officials are now considering whether to request that the temporary increase of 30,000 soldiers approved by Congress be made permanent... Pentagon leadership is also considering whether to change mobilization policy to allow reservists to be called up for more than 24 months of total active service, which is the current limit." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/07/international/middleeast/07military.html

* "Iraq extended a state of emergency by 30 days to battle militants whose attacks have surged ahead of this month's elections... The United States strongly opposes a postponement. Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz acknowledged U.S. forces ''continue to deal with violence and lawlessness in some areas,'' specifically citing Nineveh, Anbar, Salahadin and Baghdad provinces. But he said other areas were secure enough to allow the elections to go ahead." hmm - i assume that baghdad province includes baghdad - which apparently isnt sufficiently secure for an election... http://www.boston.com/dailynews/006/world/Government_extends_state_of_em:.shtml


AMDOM
* kidrock to play the inaugural. sweet.

* "House Republicans have decided to replace the chairman of the ethics committee, who has crossed House Majority Leader Tom DeLay so many times that the two barely speak, top leadership aides said yesterday." hammertime http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52128-2005Jan6.html

* " Condoleezza Rice plans to name as her deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick, a tough foreign policy pragmatist, sources said today.
The move reportedly prompted the resignation of the State Department's most prominent hardliner, John R. Bolton, who had also sought the job."
hmm - good news that it isnt bolton - wherever he may end up. (the article ends with this nice touch: "During Cabinet meetings, President George W. Bush often goes around the table calling on one secretary after another by the snappy nicknames he likes to coin for them. "When he gets to Zoellick, he just says, "Hello, Zoellick,"' a friend said. "It was very clear he didn't have the Texas touch."") http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-010605rice_lat,0,2830979.story?coll=la-home-headlines

* " Zoellick is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as the Trilateral Commission, and was one of the signers of the January 26, 1998, Project for the New American Century, Counselor to Secretary JamesBaker, Executive Vice President at Fannie Mae, member of the advisory board of Enron " pedigree. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Zoellick

* "The number of Americans making first-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose to 364,000 in the week ended Jan. 1, up from a revised 321,000 in the previous week. It was the largest one-week gain since March 30, 2002" http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&ncid=749&e=1&u=/nm/20050106/bs_nm/economy_jobless_dc

GONZO
* gonzales' 'ill be good from now on' sounds a lot like portergoss' 'ill be good from now on'.

* "Bruce Buchanan, a political science professor at the University of Texas, said Gonzales's achievements in public life are attributable almost solely to the Bush family machine, which under political adviser Karl Rove sought out conservative Hispanics with "a potential for loyalty."" http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/01/06/ties_to_power_put_ag_pick_on_a_fast_track/

* "Sen. Lindsey Graham said the administration "dramatically undermined the war effort" by "getting cute with the law." "I think you weaken yourself as a nation when you try to play cute and become more like your enemy instead of like who you want to be," he said.

Gonzales objected to Graham's characterizations and noted the beheadings of Americans by terrorists. "We are nothing like our enemies, senator," Gonzales said." enemies bad. we good.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=4&u=/ap/senate_gonzales


* krug "I've been thinking of writing a political novel. It will be a bad novel because there won't be any nuance: the villains won't just espouse an ideology I disagree with - they'll be hypocrites, cranks and scoundrels.
In my bad novel, a famous moralist who demanded national outrage over an affair and writes best-selling books about virtue will turn out to be hiding an expensive gambling habit. A talk radio host who advocates harsh penalties for drug violators will turn out to be hiding his own drug addiction.
In my bad novel, crusaders for moral values will be driven by strange obsessions. One senator's diatribe against gay marriage will link it to "man on dog" sex. Another will rant about the dangers of lesbians in high school bathrooms.
In my bad novel, the president will choose as head of homeland security a "good man" who turns out to have been the subject of an arrest warrant, who turned an apartment set aside for rescue workers into his personal love nest and who stalked at least one of his ex-lovers.
In my bad novel, a TV personality who claims to stand up for regular Americans against the elite will pay a large settlement in a sexual harassment case, in which he used his position of power to - on second thought, that story is too embarrassing even for a bad novel.
In my bad novel, apologists for the administration will charge foreign policy critics with anti-Semitism. But they will be silent when a prominent conservative declares that "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular."
In my bad novel the administration will use the slogan "support the troops" to suppress criticism of its war policy. But it will ignore repeated complaints that the troops lack armor.
The secretary of defense - another "good man," according to the president - won't even bother signing letters to the families of soldiers killed in action.
Last but not least, in my bad novel the president, who portrays himself as the defender of good against evil, will preside over the widespread use of torture... And reality will continue to be worse than any fiction I could write." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/07/opinion/07krugman.html

QUAKE
* foul tsunami pic http://homepage.mac.com/jlgolson/ruumiita4ft.jpg - it kinda looks like fallujah

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war makes me mad, sad, bad. tsunamis makes me sad.
wotisitgood4.blogspot.com