The counter below is the total number of known civilian casualties to date.
 |
Before we get into it all, a nice link to keep handy: His father's own reasons for NOT going to war with Iraq:
http://www.thememoryhole.org/mil/bushsr-iraq.htm
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"I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to
explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the
president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say
something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."
-George W. Bush
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand
by the President or any other public official."
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____________
[ 03.21.05 ]
[ RANT ]
1330
Another in a sporadic series of "the US gov. is totally fucked
and we have a madman running the fucking assylum" :
href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4354269.stm
The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's
oil before the 9/11 attacks, sparking a policy battle
between neo-cons and Big Oil, BBC's Newsnight has revealed.
Those that remember previous postings on this will recognize this
as correlating with earlier data on the subject.
Look, people, here's the thing: Bush is a fucking loser.
His father had some degree of success in what he did.
His brothers and cousins do.
Grandpa, great grandpa, and a few more up the line all enjoyed
varying degrees of success in their endeavors.
Bush... is a fuckup. He couldn't handle a fucking baseball team.
He couldn't find OIL in TEXAS and bankrupted a company attempting to.
The man is qualified for two things, and two things exactly:
Jack
and
Shit
(and when I say "man" I'm being really generous, since he seems to
lack a spinal column and a brain)
Within weeks of being elected he claimed that he wanted to go after
"the man that attacked my father". His father of course being former
president George H.W. Bush, and that man being Saddam Hussein.
In a session just after the attacks on 9/11 he asked his advisors
how he could pin it on Saddam. When told that it was bin Laden (ObL)
Bush pushed them to find a connection. He wanted Iraq. He wanted it
before he was president. Seizing Iraq's oil is the ONLY thing that
he had a shot at to prove that he deserved to have "Bush" as a family
name.
Keep in mind, ObL hated Saddam and asked the CIA, after becoming border
with nothing to do since the whole Afghanistan thing was done,
if they wanted him and his boys to go take out Saddam. The CIA declined,
wanting to keep Saddam in power. ObL and Saddam did NOT get along.
If you believe we're in Iraq because al Qaeda was there, or that they
had camps there or that Saddam provided them shelter, then you are simply
a fucking tool who believes any manner of shit fed to him by the mass
media, which is little more than a pawn for the fucking government anyways.
Without Iraq, he's nothing but a disappointment to his family.
With it, he's one to the rest of us.
____________
[ 10.08.04 ]
[ RANDOM ]
(notime)
I thought I'd posted this earlier. Lew Rockwell's posting of
an email from a soldier in Civil Affairs about the war in
Iraq and how it's a loosing proposition. It's titled
"Why We Cannot Win":
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/lorentz1.html
____________
[ 10.01.03 ]
[ RANT ]
Bush and Powell backpedal on what they did and didn't say. This is
beginning to sound like Clinton's defining of "is"...
Al Qaida has a navy.
I am *so* relieved to see that flattening Iraq has stopped those
terrorists, boy!
____________
[ 09.10.03 ]
[ RANDOM ]
1602
Well, holy shit! Who woulda guessed it???
Bush now is retreating from his WMD claims and is instead shifting
focus elsewhere to justify sending his toy soldiers out to
Hell's sandbox.
Fucking fucker.
____________
[ 08.19.03 ]
US soldiers kill an obvious and known Reuters camera operator. You
know, that camera looks SO damn much like a shoulder mounted rocket
launcher..... (And BBC coverage of same.)
____________
[ 08.14.03 ]
So, seems our little exercise in Iraq was planned just
days after the 9-11 attacks. Mind you, no evidence, no purpose, no *anything*
other than a fucking gut feeling that Saddam has some form of
involvement.
Good one, Bush. Fucktard.
____________
[ 08.11.03 ]
Not content to wait for hunting season to open properly at curfew,
US soldiers have taken to killing Iraqi civilians without cause
or provocation.
Assholes.
____________
[ 08.05.03 ]
US Troops on power trip, similar to OC Sheriffs:
http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1059775811468&call_pageid=970599119419
Japanese journalist outraged over beating by American troops
Incident occurred during filming
Victim detained, tied up: Colleague
____________
[ 08.01.03 ]
From www.earthrights.org/news/eo13303.shtml:
Executive Order 13303, issued on May 22, 2003, claims to be essential to Iraqi reconstruction efforts. A cursory reading of the Order indicates that its real purpose is to protect oil companies by giving virtual impunity for any activities undertaken relating to Iraqi oil.This Order, with broad language that seems to sweep aside federal statutes, including the Alien Tort Claims Act, has received no public attention. It has been brought to light by a researcher with the Sustainable Energy and Environment Network (SEEN).
Under this Order, an oil company complicit in human rights violations, or one that causes environmental damage, would be immune from lawsuits. The language of the Executive Order is so broad that it might as well have been written by lawyers for Halliburton, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco.
Yeah... cuz you know... this war was about terrorism. The oil is completely, utterly a byproduct. ____________ [ 07.22.03 ] This was sent to me by a colleague who somehow felt that it fit the general motif here... It's a bit long, but if you've made it here, you should take the time to read through it. If nothing else, it's a grand example of the running hypocrisy of the US gub'ment and the way it just needs to stir every pot with it's ever-exposed Schwanz.
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Q: Daddy, why did we have to attack Iraq?
Q: But the inspectors didn't find any weapons of mass destruction.
Q: And that's why we invaded Iraq?
Q: But after we invaded them, we STILL didn't find any weapons of
mass destruction, did we?
Q: Why did Iraq want all those weapons of mass destruction?
Q: I'm confused. If they had all those weapons that they planned to use in a war, then why didn't they use
any of those weapons when we went to war with them?
Q: That doesn't make sense Daddy. Why would they choose to die if they had all those big weapons to fight us
back with?
Q: I don't know about you, but I don't think they had any of those
weapons our government said they did.
Q: And what was that?
Q: Why? What does a cruel dictator do that makes it OK to invade his country?
Q: Kind of like what they do in China?
Q: So if a country lets its people be exploited for American
corporate gain, it's a good country, even if that country tortures people?
Q: Why were people in Iraq being tortured?
Q: Isn't that exactly what happens in China?
Q: What's the difference between China and Iraq?
Q: Didn't you once tell me Communists were bad?
Q: How are the Cuban Communists bad?
Q: Like in Iraq?
Q: And like in China, too?
Q: How come Cuba isn't a good economic competitor?
Q: But if we got rid of those laws, opened up trade with Cuba, and
started doing business with them, wouldn't that help the Cubans become capitalists?
Q: I didn't think I was being one.
Q: Kind of like China and the Falun Gong movement?
Q: What's a military coup?
Q: Didn't the ruler of Pakistan come to power by a military coup?
Q: Why is Pakistan our friend if their leader is illegitimate?
Q: Didn't you just say a military general who comes to power by
forcibly overthrowing the legitimate government of a nation is an illegitimate leader?
Q: Why did we invade Afghanistan?
Q: What did Afghanistan do to us on September 11th?
Q: So how did Afghanistan figure into all that?
Q: Aren't the Taliban those bad radical Islamics who chopped off people's heads and hands?
Q: Didn't the Bush administration give the Taliban 43 million dollars back in May of 2001?
Q: Fighting drugs?
Q: How did they do such a good job?
Q: So, when the Taliban cut off people's heads and hands for growing flowers, that was OK, but not if they
cut people's heads and hands off for other reasons?
Q: Don't they also cut off people's hands and heads in Saudi Arabia?
Q: Don't Saudi women have to wear burqas in public, too?
Q: What's the difference?
Q: It sounds like the same thing with a different name.
Q: But I thought you said 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11th were from Saudi Arabia.
Q: Who trained them?
Q: Was he from Afghanistan?
Q: I seem to recall he was our friend once.
Q: Who are the Soviets? Was that the Evil Communist Empire Ronald Reagan talked about?
Q: So the Soviets ? I mean, the Russians ? are now our friends?
Q: So the French and Germans are evil, too?
Q: Do we always rename foods whenever another country doesn't do what we want them to do?
Q: But wasn't Iraq one of our friends back in the 1980s?
Q: Was Saddam Hussein ruler of Iraq back then?
Q: Why did that make him our friend?
Q: Isn't that when he gassed the Kurds?
Q: So anyone who fights against one of our enemies automatically
becomes our friend?
Q: And anyone who fights against one of our friends is automatically an enemy?
Q: Why?
Q: I think so. We attacked them because God wanted us to, right?
Q: But how did we know God wanted us to attack Iraq?
Q: So basically, what you're saying is that we attacked Iraq because George W. Bush hears voices in his head?
Q: Good night, Daddy. |
____________ [ 07.21.03 ] So, up to two years ago, Cheney and pals were looking at Iraqi oil fields, gathering maps on them, and looking into the viability of stomping Iraq over oil, not Weapons of Nonexistance. The FOIA requests and such came courtesty of Judicial Watch. ____________ [ 07.15.03 ] [ RANT ] [ LINK ] 1629 US of A, fucking shit up just like The Man who keeps All Others Down.
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NEVER again did families in Baghdad imagine that they need fear the midnight knock at the door. But in recent
weeks there have been increasing reports of Iraqi men, women and even children being dragged from their homes
at night by American patrols, or snatched off the streets and taken, hooded and manacled, to prison camps
around the capital.
..... Mr Akhjan, whose 58-year-old father was arrested three weeks ago for driving a truck with no doors or headlights, said: “People are so sickened by what is happening they talk of wanting Saddam to come back. How bad can the Americans be that in three months we want that monster back?” |
..... As we all know by now, the US also lied through their fucking teeth about how much of a threat Saddam allegedly was. Fuckers. ..... Oh, and that State of the Union address? That too. ..... Pay no attention to the oil pipeline being built through Kuwait. ..... US had NO fucking idea what they were putting soldiers into, maybe still don't. ____________ [ 07.11.03 ] www.washtimes.com/national/20030709-121049-4754r.htm Army admits that the "attack" on PFC Jessica Lynch was a hoax. This correlates the suspcisions listed at MSNBC.com, which I had posted on [ 06.20.03 ] .
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The Army will release a report tomorrow on the ambush of the 507th
Maintenance Company in Iraq that will show Pfc. Jessica Lynch and
another female soldier suffered extensive injuries in a vehicle
accident, but not from Iraqi fighters.
The deadly March 23 battle in Nasiriyah, in central Iraq, has emerged as perhaps the most famous incident in the war - both for what happened and for what was reported to have happened, but did not. The Army's 15-page report officially will debunk accounts that Pfc. Lynch emptied two revolvers at her attackers and was shot and stabbed before being taken prisoner of war. In fact, she was riding in a Humvee that was struck by a projectile during a frantic attempt to escape the ambush. She suffered "horrific injuries," said Pentagon sources familiar with the report. |
____________ [ 07.03.03 ] In keeping with our "Bush substitutes war for brains" campaign, we now have a mock war crimes tribunal in Japan. Seems they're falting Bush for "aggression, attacks against civilians and nonmilitary facilities and the torturing and execution of prisoners" against the people of Afghanistan since October, 2001. Serves him right, yo. ____________ [ 07.01.03 ] Consider the clusterfuck of the "search for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)" in The War Against Terrorism (TWAT). Are we a "superpower" or just "a big fucking joke?" ____________ [ 06.30.03 ] Metal Storm. Million rounds a minute, electronic controlled firing mechanism, sans moving parts. ..... Just another US fuckup. ____________ [ 06.23.03 ] Yeah. Another "Fuck, the US just *sucks*" entry. We can just title this "The US fucks the Geneva conventions right up their asses":
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American troops today admitted they routinely gun down Iraqi
civilians - some of whom are entirely innocent.
As distrust of the invading forces increases amongst the local population US soldiers said they have killed civilians without hesitation, shot injured opponents and abandoned them to die in agony. ..... "There's a picture of the World Trade Centre hanging up by my bed and I keep one in my flak jacket. Every time I feel sorry for these people I look at that. I think, 'They hit us at home and, now, it's our turn.' I don't want to say payback but, you know, it's pretty much payback." |
As the article points out, never mind that no Iraqis have been connected to the 9/11 attacks. God Bless America and Our Right to the Freedom of our Ignorance! If ever there was a race of dumb fuckers, it's Americans. [Clicky] to read more about the atrocities and war crimes the US is committing. And, ya know... I'm getting so sick of all this shit, I'm just going to correlate it all into a single page and keep fresh additions over there. My personal rants page has turned into some pointed, cynical political commentary so we might as well give that new direction its own home, no? ..... In other news, them whacky Jezoids at the oxymoronically named "Christian Science Monitor" purchased some alleged Iraqi documents which, of course, turned out to be forgeries, and using the "data" in them commited one fucking huge case of libel. Rock on! But hey, just pray for forgiveness and it's all okee dokee! Okee? ____________ [ 06.20.03 ] Ah, yes, folx... THIS is what I have been waiting for! The US has been indeed wagging the dog! Just as in the glorious Wag The Dog, where a war hero is created, we now find the reality of Jessica Lynch's trials in Iraq. In part:
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As the world would remember, Lynch and her Army maintenance unit were ambushed in southern Iraq on the
morning of March 23. Eleven of her fellow soldiers were killed; five others were taken captive and later
freed. Blond and waiflike, Lynch was taken prisoner and held separately for nine days before a dramatic
nighttime rescue from her hospital bed by a covert U.S. Special Operations unit, Task Force 20.
Initial news reports, including those in The Washington Post, which cited unnamed U.S. officials with access to intelligence reports, described Lynch emptying her M-16 into Iraqi soldiers. The intelligence reports from intercepts and Iraqi informants said that Lynch fought fiercely, was stabbed and shot multiple times, and that she killed several of her assailants. ..... Lynch tried to fire her weapon, but it jammed, according to military officials familiar with the Army investigation. She did not kill any Iraqis. She was neither shot nor stabbed, they said. ..... Lynch was riding in a Humvee when it plowed into a jacknifed U.S. truck - a precarious position that led to major injuries, including multiple fractures and compression to her spine, that knocked her unconscious, military sources said. The collision killed or gravely injured the Humvee's four other passengers. Two U.S. officials with knowledge of the Army investigation said Lynch was mistreated by her captors. They would not elaborate. ..... We don't know how many rounds she got off," the official said of Lynch, or whether she got off any shots at all. "Her weapon jammed severely." ..... These intelligence reports, and the one eavesdropped snippet, created the story of the war. ..... Did either soldier display evidence she had been stabbed or shot? "No, no," he said. Pressed, he later answered, "Maybe, Miss Lori, maybe shot." |
And STILL no weapons of mass destruction. I'm sorry, why were we doing this, again? ____________ [ 06.16.03 ] For the few that actually read or receive this page on a semi-regular basis may wonder if I'm way off base with my points about the serious, serious shortcomings of the US and their "facts" that led to this whole clusterfuck that's going on right now. Recent polls show that most amerikan's are really, really fucking confused with everything that's been going on. ..... Seems a bunch of criminals known as "The United States of America" are seeking immunity from international laws for the war crimes they are comitting. The US wants to make the immunity permenant. What this means, basically, is that the US is violating human rights, commiting crimes, knowingly and willfully, and wants exemptions from the laws that define these crimes so that they cannot be held accountable or persecuted for their actions. Is it me, or does someone have a fucking Hitler complex? Am I the only person ashamed to be an amerikan at this point? ____________ [ 06.15.03 ] Bush. Simpleton, easily amused by cliche' plots? Things starting to make sense, yet? ____________ [ 06.12.03 ] So, the US has ran out of sites to find Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. 230 sites. No WMD. At this point we can now expect some "special ops" team to be in an "undisclosed" location where they can "discover" WMD. Of course, this "undisclosed" location will afford them no witness to see if shit was "discovered" or, more likely, "planted". This is where Bush Jr. says "sorry, I was wrong, I'll now step down as President. Oh, and I rigged Florida, too. Al Gore never would have fucked up this badly." Oh, to live in a perfect world.... ____________ [ 06.11.03 ] And, wonder of all wonders, the Mighty Dick swung by the US is indeed a limp one. We appear to have TOTALLY MISSED Saddam in our little multi-billion dollar pissing contest. He's been sighted all over the place and he's offering a bountys paid for each US soldier killed. Way to go, Shrubby! Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress thinks the US needs to install a "security force" under US command. He says, get this, "They can actually provide order quickly". Uhhh, is he refering to these same guys? ____________ [ 06.09.03 ] Oh. OH! US fires on a "safe zone" hotel. Filled with journalists. Weapons of Mass Media? Fuckin' a. ____________ [ 06.06.03 ] Scroll down a bit and you'll see me foaming at the mouth about how pathetic the US is that it has to fabricate evidence against Iraq to justify Bush's dickwaving, errr, attack. UN Inspector Hans Blix now points out that data from US and British sources was absolute crap. The further this goes, the more amusing it gets. Can we impeach Bush, yet? ..... More Amerikan's trust Blair than trust Bush. Anyone surprised? ____________ [ 06.04.03 ] Also some refreshing news: Powell thinks intelligence reports on Iraq are "bullshit" (his words). Seems we have no proof that Iraq had biological agents. Or weapons of mass destruction. Or SCUDs. Yes, it seems Bush lied just to get his war on. I blame Florida. ____________ [ 06.03.03 ] Ah yes. Now Iran is our problem. The US solution? Send in terrorists to do the dirty work for us. Uh, hello? Didn't we learn when we sent bin Laden in to take over Afghanistan for us, so we could keep our hands clean? Fucking idiots run this country. Never forget that. ____________ [ 06.02.03 ] So, in this little media circus of a war we were conducting, the opening volley came a little ahead of when our gov said they would attack. This was, we were told, a ploy to buy us a few extra hours which were used to launch a fuck-all strike against a bunker that allegedly contained Saddam Hussein. Allegedly. Now that the dust has settled, it turns out that Saddam wasn't in the bunker. Turns out no one was. Turns out there wasn't a fucking bunker at all. Turns out there were most likely a few little holes in the ground to start with. Bunkers. Riiiiiiight. Sure, sometimes "military intelligence" is often the oxymoron it appears to be, but somehow Rumsfeld, that fuck, manages to make just amazing statements, such as "There's no question but that the strike on that leadership headquarters was successful. We have photographs of what took place. The question is, what was in there?" I fully realize and recognize that when a war is started (BTW, this is the first time the US has ever actually declared war on another nation, in our entire history. Fun, no?!) for bullshit reasons which do little to really protect the people of the nation and for reasons more meant to further careers and korporations, I know that *some* lying and fabrication needs to be done to snow the populace into thinking the kind and benevolent gov is acting in their best interest. But Rums, next time yer gunna lie yer ass off, do it over something that can't be verified, ok? Yer reminding me of my ex, you stupid shit. Oh, yeah. It's from here. ____________ [ 05.28.03 ] ...but they aren't prisoners of war... Fucking *right*. Whatever you say. ____________ [ 05.27.03 ] People publicly calling bullshit on the sociopath from Texas (I know, I know, "Which one?") and putting the CIA to task to back up their pathetic bullshit. Additionally, a nice report from the front on what our "liberation of Iraq" has garnered the people that actually live there. Keep in mind, people, a nation is no more than the whole of its people. A nation is NOT one leader that other countries despise. A nation is NOT a "terrorist cel" that's laying in wait (if that's the case, the US had better go to war with the US). It's the people. Since we just fucked them, let's hear their responses, eh? ____________ [ 05.22.03 ] The US Gov is more than willing to fuck with the citizens of any opposing nation, even if they only have a beef with the government that runs it. Or, possibly even with some people that are known to hang out in the region. We did it to our Gulf War vets, now we do it worse to innocents. ____________ [ 05.21.03 ] And to carry on with my "our gob'ment is fucking lame" theme: Military waste under fire $1 trillion missing -- Bush plan targets Pentagon accounting One... TRILLION fucking dollars? Just.... MISSING? Well, no.. of course not missing. Just fucking pissed into the wind, that's all!
| And before the Iraq war, when military leaders were scrambling to find enough chemical and biological warfare suits to protect U.S. troops, the department was caught selling these suits as surplus on the Internet "for pennies on the dollar," a GAO official said. |
Oh yeah. Proud to be a fucking fucked up Amerikan. ____________ [ 05.19.03 ] Remeber when they told us that the Department of Homeland Defense would never be "used for domestic political purposes." Yeah. That's all gone to shit. ____________ [ 05.01.03 ] The Dixie Chicks came under heavy, heavy fire recently for of all things a political statement (rather than, say, their blatant abuse of the monicker "country music"). Seems during a show one of them made the comment that she was ashamed that she was from the same state that our illustry Shrubby, George W. Bush was from. Me, personally... I'm at this point ashamed to be from the United States. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15770 Patriot Raid By Jason Halperin Synopsis: US goose-stepping Gestapo thugs do whatever the fuck they want in the name of justice. This, tho, is the excellent one: http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/stripped-iraqis.htm The United States *again* violates the Geneva Convention! Holy sweet mother of fuck, who woulda thought? Some other examples (courtesy of James Ridgeway):o The U.S. has designated captives in the "war on terror," including Taliban members, as "unlawful combatants" or "enemy combatants" - not as prisoners of war. About 650 people, most of them in that category, remain in military detention at Guantánamo Bay, according to the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. o During the current "War on Terror," the U.S. has ignored rules against holding people without charge or trial - specifically, the right to a hearing, as set forth in the Third Geneva Convention and elsewhere. o The U.S. admitted to employing "stress and duress" tactics on prisoners at Baghram airbase in Afghanistan, thus violating standards of the Geneva Convention and the convention against torture. o The U.S. has subjected Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners to cruel and unusual punishment - degrading them by parading them in public, hooded and in shackles. The U.S. has condoned torture by surrogates in other countries. And going back outside our current "war": o The U.S. used cluster bombs, notably in the former Yugoslavia, where one-quarter of the civilian deaths were due to the use of cluster bombs in areas where they became what activists called "indiscriminate weapons." o The U.S. opposes anything and everything that bans or restricts the death penalty. o The U.S. refused to join the International Criminal Court and embarked on a fierce lobbying campaign against it. And it seeks exemption for U.S. nationals overseas should they fall under the court's jurisdiction. o The U.S. withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missiles Treaty and won't ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which is aimed at slowing global warming. o The U.S. won't sign a treaty banning land mines. The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines urged President Bush in December 2002 not to allow U.S. forces to deploy antipersonnel land mines in Iraq and to work toward U.S. accession to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. A group of 130 nations, including every member of NATO except the U.S., has embraced the treaty. The U.S. used a total of 117,634 land mines in the first Gulf War, including 27,967 antipersonnel mines. A total of 81 U.S. casualties were attributed to land mines.Yeah... this is my country. I think it's defective and the warranty has run out so I can't even exchange it for a proper version of the same thing. ____________ [ 04.09.03 ] Fuck the war. Fuck the mainstream media. Unkle Scam, also. People question the integrity and reliability of small media outlets. Sure, they're questionable. Unless you are there to witness something or verify it yourself, *everything* should be questioned. People are just much, much less likely to question the accuracy and honesty of Big Corporate News because, well, they just *wouldn't* lie to us. Right? Right...? The venerable Weekly has an excellent piece on media slant and bias in our time of war. Read it at http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/03/30/a-coker.php . This next article is at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40057-2003Mar27.html but I am reproducing here in case you have a bitch logging in, as often seems to happen there.
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By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 28, 2003; Page C01 Now, apparently, is the time for all good radio and TV stations to come to the aid of their country's war. That is the message pushed by broadcast news consultants, who've been advising news and talk stations across the nation to wave the flag and downplay protest against the war. "Get the following production pieces in the studio NOW: . . . Patriotic music that makes you cry, salute, get cold chills! Go for the emotion," advised McVay Media, a Cleveland-based consultant, in a "War Manual" memo to its station clients. ". . . Air the National Anthem at a specified time each day as long as the USA is at war." The company, which describes itself as the largest radio consultant in the world, also has been counseling talk show stations to "Make sure your hosts aren't 'over the top.' Polarizing discussions are shaky ground. This is not the time to take cheap shots to get reaction . . . not when our young men and women are 'in harm's way.' " The influential television-news consulting firm Frank N. Magid Associates recently put it in even starker terms: Covering war protests may be harmful to a station's bottom line. In a survey released last week on the eve of war, the firm found that war protests were the topic that tested lowest among 6,400 viewers across the nation. Magid said only 14 percent of respondents said TV news wasn't paying enough attention to "anti-war demonstrations and peace activities"; just 13 percent thought that in the event of war, the news should pay more attention to dissent. Magid, whose representatives did not return phone calls, offers no direct advice about what stations should do. However, the research's implied message reinforces antiwar activists' assertion that media outlets have marginalized opposing voices. "The antiwar movement in this country is far bigger than it was during the first few years of the Vietnam War, but you wouldn't know it from the coverage," said Adam Eidinger, a Washington activist. "I think the media has been completely biased. You don't hear dissenting voices; you see people marching in the streets, but you rarely hear what they have to say in the media." Many stations employ news consultants to offer advice about programming, promotion and on-air personnel. Their influence is considered strongest in smaller markets, where many radio and TV stations have smaller staffs and less experienced management than their network or big-city brethren. McVay sells its expertise to dozens of radio stations that offer such formats as Christian music, rock, country music, and news and talk. Among its suggestions for covering the war, the company recently told clients to "dispatch reporters to military bases in the area. . . . Are your local Reserve or Guard units involved? Do they have veterans of the Gulf War still at home?" It also advised clients to find experts in some 30 categories -- including "veterans of Desert Storm," "Former G Men," "Military Recruiting Offices" -- most of whom would be unlikely to offer harsh criticism of the war. "Have at least one expert outside the broadcast industry as your 'go to' analyst," the company said, adding that "a former military specialist is ideal, especially with Desert Storm experience." "I think there's just political correctness to waving the flag right now," said Holland Cooke, a McVay news-talk specialist. "If you were the upstart station in town, you might conceivably come at this from a peacenik angle by going on the air with the body count, by pointing out we haven't got Osama bin Laden or Saddam yet, by saying we should end the madness. But we find it appropriate to wave the flag where I happen to be" advising clients. Some of the orientation reflects opinion polls that show upward of 70 percent of Americans in favor of the war. That means, as one local media executive put it yesterday, "almost everyone wants to be seen as pro-military, if not necessarily pro-war. If one of our guys got on the air and started ranting against the war, it would create an unnecessary controversy. As a business, you don't want half the population hating you. So you plant your flag in the sand." But some of it may reflect the media industry itself, which has consolidated into ever-larger companies in the last decade, said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project, a public-interest law firm in Washington. "What troubles me," he said, "is that the most important part of the system of checks and balances in media coverage has been the diversity of ownership. With increasing concentration of ownership, if one or two big companies are using the same corporate-wide policy, or relying on the same consultants, there aren't effective competitive forces" to ensure alternative opinions. The pro-war position may be most pronounced for radio stations that offer talk programming. The audience for talk radio tends to be conservative, older and male -- an audience likely to be in favor of military action against Iraq. "It's counterintuitive for [talk] hosts and program directors to pay too much attention to the antiwar movement right now," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, a journal for the radio talk business. "The sense is, if we give too much play to people against the war, it will hurt in the war effort and the people fighting it." Added Harrison: "The core [talk] listener is for the war and thinks he's more patriotic than anyone else. Yes, the peace people are patriotic, too, but the conservative talk radio listener believes he's more patriotic than the people protesting the war." In the weeks leading to the war, Washington talk station WTNT-AM has broadcast an almost unbroken stream of pro-war talk from the likes of G. Gordon Liddy, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage and Don Imus. Another syndicated host heard on WTNT, Glenn Beck, promoted and staged pro-war rallies in various cities, drawing unwelcome attention to his employer, Clear Channel Communications, the nation's largest radio station operator. On WMAL-AM, one of Washington's most popular talk stations, the daytime schedule is dominated by Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, both of whom have long argued in favor of war. WTOP-AM/FM, the area's only full-time all-news station, has pitched in in support of the war effort as well. On its Web site, WTOP carries a series of "related links" that include Thankourtroops.com; Ways to Help Troops; Sign Up to Thank Military; National Military Family Association; U.S. Central Command; the home pages of the U.S. Army, Marines, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard and Department of Defense; the Stars & Stripes military newspaper; and "Email Support to Military." Another box reads "Support Our Troops. Send a greeting, a thank you card or a donation." WTOP's Web site offers links to only two antiwar groups: United for Peace and Move On. WTOP news director Jim Farley makes a distinction between the station's newscast and its Web site, which he says is "not a news site." Said Farley: "It's important for us to cover the dissent and we have. Our listeners have told us we cover too much dissent, but it's always a question of balance. . . . The consultants who tell stations to ignore the antiwar side of the story don't seem to have the same conscience as the news people. That kind of advice goes against the grain of a journalist. I would not follow advice like that." © 2003 The Washington Post Company |
____________ [ 04.02.03 ] View this. ____________ [ 03.31.03 ] For all the idiot tools out there (referenced below):"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."-Herman Goering, at the Nuremberg trials. Goering was a high ranking Nazi officer during the second world war and he was being charged with "war crimes", "crimes against peace", and "crimes against humanity" by the Nuremberg tribunal and sentenced to death by hanging. He commited suicide a few hours before he was to be hung though. I'm sorry.... what is it Bush is doing again? ____________ [ 03.11.03 ] Hot on the trail of my minor spewage about the Daisy Cutter, Matt tosses me a link that I had received from someone else recently: "Test of 'massive' Air Force Bomb Set for Tuesday at Eglin" and one other one that I didn't have, which has a bit more war coverage than bomb coverage... "US develops superbomb" However, for your bombtastic needs and desires, "The 21,000lb big blue bomb" This time around, we're dealing with a bomb of essentially the same construct as the 'Cutter, only this one weighs in at 21,000 lbs (9525 Kg). This is now the largest non-nuclear bomb in the United States' arsenal and creates a mushroom cloud on par with a small atomic blast. Yes, "collateral damage" will run high with this "war". That means that tons of innocent civilians are going to be killed by US forces, and we will claim that it's OK. bin Laden declares war on the US and kills 3,000 people and it's wrong. I'm not saying what he did was right by any means, and sure, there was no military target with what he did, but that's why it's called terrorism. Regardless, our excuse for a President really needs to look deep inside himself and see that he's about to lower himself to bin Laden's level. ____________ [ 02.28.03 ] Sami Amin Al-Arian has been currently charged with 50 counts of terrorism and has been arrested. He's clearly a Bad Man (tm). Here's a picture of him with our current prez, The Shrub and his wife, taken during 2000's presidential campaign. Anything for a vote, Georgey? ..... Also of great importance is this sham of a war that's coming up. A populace in fear is a populace that's easy for a goverment to control, this cannot be argued, plain and simple. Our goverment has of late been labeling anything a "terrorist weapon", or a "weapon of mass destruction". Allow me to introduce you to the "daisy cutter". This is a 15,000 pound (6800 kg) bomb (7.5 tons!) which is known in the military as the BLU-82. It is largely comprised of the same shit (literally) that was used in the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building. Side Note: No, I'm still not convinced McVeigh did it, nor will I ever be. Our gov acted in a really fucking unprofessional manner in covering up what *did* happen, fabricating a fair amount of shit along the way. For more information on this, please read The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror by David Hoffman. For those of you not clicking the link, some highlights about the BLU-82: o It's billed as the world's largest conventional bomb. o Incinerates (burns to a crisp) anything in a 600 yard (1800 ft, ~550 M). o It's pushed out the back of an MC-130 cargo transport because it weighs more than any standard bomb racks in convention bombers can carry. o The planes fly at least 6,000 ft (1,800 M) above the ground to avoid the shockwave. o Were originally designed to clear jungles areas for helicopter landing without creating a crater. o One killed 4,500 Iraqi troops in the gulf war (11 were dropped). o The blast wave sucks out all oxygen in the blast radius. Quotes on the 'Cutter:
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"Personnel near the ignition point are obliterated," added the expert.
"Those on the fringes are likely to suffer internal injuries - burst ear
drums, crushed organs, ruptured lungs, severe concussion and possibly
blindness."
The fuel vapour of the weapon instantly penetrates into bunkers, vehicles or buildings before ignition. Experts say conventional body armour and bunkers provide no protection. One US Special Forces soldier described the aftermath of a BLU-82 attack on Iraqi troops: "Many of our soldiers were at loss to explain what caused the Iraqis to die. After days or even weeks worth of exposure to the desert , evidence of blood had typically dried or become obscured by oil and sand particles so the Iraqi corpses showed absolutely no outward sign of violent death. "Fuel air bombs merely suffocated their victims and they fell where they stood. Victims were typically found with massive amounts of blood flowing from all bodily orifices." He added: "It is a very violent and painful way to die ." |
Yes.... this is our government at work. This weapon is not like a gun that can be easily aimed and targeted. It has a huge, massive blast force that can do incredible damage to anything around it, military, civilian, or otherwise. Using the BLU-82 as an offensive/defensive weapon, rather than for its intended purpose is an all new low for the US (ok, not really, it's par for the course) and only illustrates the terrorist tendencies of the US government and military. Happy fucking Friday, y'all!
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