Man City 0 Bolton 1

WAR
* " Dr ash-Shaykhli of Iraq's Health Ministry confirmed that US troops used internationally banned weapons including mustard gas, nerve gas and other burning chemicals. Sounds like the kinds of prohibited weapons that Saddam was accused of having." http://www.newsdissector.org/blog/2005/03/07/#1115

* "The Pentagon is now convinced that air strikes on Syria have become necessary to overthrow the Assad regime, liberate Lebanon and stop support of insurgents" http://www.lebaneselobby.org

* "The Bush administration has adopted a new counterintelligence strategy that calls for "attacking" foreign spy services before they can strike... the past policy of waiting for intelligence threats to emerge "ceded the initiative to the adversary."". so we'll take out threats before they are threats... what does a threat look like before its a threat? "It is part of President Bush's announced plan to promote democracy and freedom..." sweet. just syria and iran right? nope " FBI and CIA officials said the threat from foreign intelligence services -- specifically, Russia and China -- is growing." http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20050305-111738-8027r

* blinky is giving a TWOT speech today. great.

* iraqi voter: "I think I risked my life for nothing." mmmmm. thank you, democracy-bringers . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10416-2005Mar5.html

* 450 ozgrunts going to iraq to protect the japgrunts. japgrunts dont want ozgrunt protection.

* 'extraordinary rendition' nee 'outsourcing torture' is getting a lot of attention all of a sudden. which is odd. this story is a year old or more.

* madrid anniversary on friday. do we still think 'alq did it'

* taiwan is toast. china is taoist.

* ""There's little doubt the US would expect Australian support in the event of naked aggression against Taiwan by China," Professor Dibb said." http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12475488%255E601,00.html

* apropos my neocon democracy rant yesterday, i didnt mention spain, but should have cos it is a great example of how the egadmin doesnt like democracy. voting for zapatero was quite clearly an act of democracy, yet the spanish were vilified for it. the neocon version of democracy is 'agree with us, or you're a terrorist' - which doesnt much sound like democracy at all. and i also didnt say the obvious, of course im pro-democracy, and im not an apologist in the least for syria and iran, and nor do i know enough about any of them to even comment, other than to observe that they are in the crosshairs for reasons that have nothing to do with democracy or security. i dont take a position on whether syria should be in lebanon, and i dont know whether the lebanese want them there or not. we hear a lot about the need to build the iraqi forces before the ams can leave - do the lebanese have an alternative once the syrians withdraw? we can be sure of, however, is that we get wars based on lies. and that is categorically bad. and categorically undemocratic. separately, while its true that democracy is good, it isnt clear (to me) what the best mechanism is for achieving 'democracy' - is incrementalism the right path? is it good that saudiarabia is having schoolboard elections? maybe. is it the path to real democracy? i dont know. if it takes 100 years to get from school boards to 'real elections', should we celebrate? and on the other hand, are 'democratic revolutions' that we see 'true' revolutions? our world is so fabricated these days that its impossible to tell. we see 100k ukr's dressed in orange in the snow for 3 weeks - is that democracy? i dont think so. it is touching to be sure. but it isnt democracy in a country of 30+million people. we see people in the streets in beirut with signs in english - is that democracy? or is it just pr? well organised pr - but pr none the less. voting isnt people on the streets. and we know that the media are a bunch of whores - maybe there is a pro-syria rally around the corner that is twice as large that the cameras arent trained on. or maybe there are 20 different rallies around the country that are each only one tenth the size, but twice the size in aggregate. we have to remember that rendon (with NED) organises most of this stuff. cast your minds back to the american flags in kuwait, or the nonsense when the saddam statue 'fell' - its often fabricated, ergo we need to exercise some restraint when trying to interpret it. itll be fascinating to see the coverage of the tuesday pro-syria rallies in beirut - we'll probably see much wider lens pix which show lots more empty spaces, and disparaging qualifiers in the coverage. again, i dont have a clue which is a more 'accurate' portrayal - but i can guarantee that the coverage wont suggest a 'surprising show of strength which suggests that the lebanese want the syrians to stay'. ill bet my house of cards on it.

SGRENA
* g informs me that Tuchas is yiddish - thats how bad my spanish is...

* fauxnews called sgrena "disgusting" . sweet.

* "Edward Luttwak, an American military commentator interviewed yesterday in La Repubblica, said Mr Calipari's death was "the sort of thing that happens all the time in a war", and he advised Italy to "take an aspirin and go to bed, you'll feel better in the morning". But for many Italians the secret agent's death exposed a gulf of mistrust and loathing." sweet. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=617569

* this guy talks about italian national mourning wrt calipari - yet it is amtreason to take a pic of a coffin. nice. http://tomwatson.typepad.com/tom_watson/2005/03/why_we_dont_mou.html

* theres a lot of debate about whether the hit on sgrenas car was intentional or not. one thing i dont understand is that the kidnappers told her as they released her "be careful, the americans want u dead". im also not sure how they knew that. its also odd that they didnt take out the driver. they must be terrible fucking shots. 300 shots and one dead person.

* " the military said it didn't know where (sgrena's car) was" http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=2&u=/ap/20050306/ap_on_re_eu/italy_iraq_hostage_reconstruction

AMDOM
* beastieboys: 'we got a president we didnt elect' (et al). is it possible to not be political these days? you gotta fight, for your right, to have 2 parteeees.

* digby does bolton http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2005_03_06_digbysblog_archive.html#111022066162099584

* dcorn on bolton http://www.davidcorn.com/2005/03/bolton_bush_giv.php

* how much training do u think bolton will need to get through the confirmation hearings? its not like he is as smooth and smart and silent as gonzales for example.

* "Among those said to be eying Rumsfeld's post is newly retired deputy
secretary of State Richard Armitage, a bitter rival of Rumsfeld's." pnac bullies rule. ok. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/03-06-2005/0003145376&EDATE=

* anti.c.rice's 08 odds are shortening - 10/1 now - and with fluff pieces like this theres no surprise "Suddenly the controlled, impeccably mannered woman is drawing every spotlight, black boots and all." - she even works saturdays!http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7103541/site/newsweek/

* it was just last week when i asked who was gonna get the UN job.
im not sure that i can say that im surprised by much that these people do - but john bolton? im not sure if i can honestly be surprised, or outraged, so i guess i can just be horrified, and despondent. could it have been worse? im not sure. leeden maybe. feith? btk? matt hale?

* "“I recognize John Bolton’s long service to our country, but this is just about the most inexplicable appointment the President could make to represent the United States to the world community,” Sen. Kerry will assert." globally testy. http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=157

NOTGANNON
* notgannon is threatening to out biden. surely not a great way to push notgannon under the carpet. http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/03/is-gannonguckert-threatening-to-out.html

* i wonder if notgannon is also notguckert

MEDIA
* amygoodman has a real cool interviewing technique - she simply asks: "your thoughts?"

* dbrooks "people's permanent moral aspirations - the longing for freedom, faith and family happiness." im surprised he didnt include the military... or control of thine wifes' bank account. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/05/opinion/05brooks.html

MISC
* mmmmm champions league.

* there was a weird airport gas leak thingy in melbuorne a few weeks ago - i dont think i mentioned it at the time. weirdojoe has his usual take on it. the weird thing was that i saw shepsmith on fauxnews do a bit on it, which seemed odd.