Squash Pie

Saturday, April 26, 2003

The secret, hidden park.
11:31

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Read "Empire vs. Republic" from Robert Parry, who helped break the Iran-Contra story, a very good breakdown of the imperial ambitions and divisions within the U.S. ruling class. Although he characterizes the contradiction as "Empire vs. Republic", I would argue that this is "Empire vs. Empire":

On the one side, those following the Bush Doctrine toward establishing a Pax Americana through absolute U.S. hegemony. This is the view of Bush, Wolfowitz, and company and is exactly summed up in Raymond Lotta's brilliant essay "Dissecting the Bush Doctrine".

On the other side, those cautious of overextending the United States economically and militarily, are seeking to build the empire through a "Balance of Power" - relying on strategic allies to overcome enemies. This view is to one-degree-or-another espoused by people like Howard Dean and Pat Buchanan.

To those of us in the Anti-war movement tempted to see the latter view as better, I would argue that it's no less oppressive. The debate is over how to run the empire - like ancient Rome or like Victorian Britain - not whether to oppress billions in the name of profit.

Rather insightfully, Parry, in his article, goes on to expose what we laughingly refer to as the "news" media:

"The Wall Street Journal took note of the dueling coverage presented by domestic CNN and its CNNI Networks, which broadcasts to international viewers. While domestic CNN focused on happy stories, such as the rescue of U.S. prisoner-of-war Jessica Lynch, CNNI carried more scenes of wounded civilians overflowing Iraqi hospitals.

“During the Gulf War in 1991, [CNN] presented a uniform global feed that showed the war largely through American eyes,” the Journal reported. “Since then, CNN has developed several overseas networks that increasingly cater their programming to regional audiences and advertisers.” [WSJ, April 11, 2003]

Left unsaid by the Journal’s formulation of how CNN’s overseas affiliates “cater” to foreign audiences was the flip side of that coin, that domestic CNN is freer to shape a version of the news that is more satisfying to Americans and to U.S. advertisers."

15:05

Saturday, April 19, 2003

A Chill Wind is Blowing in This Nation...

Tim Robbins, the man who directed "Cradle Will Rock", an excellent film, speaks:

"....a history teacher tells his 11-year-old son, my nephew, that Susan Sarandon is endangering the troops by her opposition to the war. Another teacher in a different school asks our niece if we are coming to the school play. They're not welcome here, said the molder of young minds. Another relative tells me of a school board decision to cancel a civics event that was proposing to have a moment of silence for those who have died in the war because the students were including dead Iraqi civilians in their silent prayer."

He spoke at the National Press Club, it was broadcast on the Atlanta NPR affiliate on tuesday night. The NPC website hosts a Video Stream [RealMedia]


10:55

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Keily and I had our one year wedding anniversary this weekend! More details to follow when Keily gets back (we have pictures and everything). You are probably wondering what our secret is, but this is confidential....let's just say we had a good time, are in Love, and we were interviewed for a television commercial by Intel. In other news:
1. Keily is in Tybee Island for a few days with her work, and I'll try to join her in Savannah this weekend.
2. Christie is moving out tonight, off to happier grounds in Seattle and Hawaii.
3. We are attempting a trip to Spain next month.
4. I had lunch with Sue Ella today.
5. Tom, Sara, Keily, Chad and I had a blast playing pub-trivia, Simpsons clue, and Trivial Pursuit last night.
19:11

News Round Up:
1. Weapons of Mass Destruction Found: None.
2. Democracy Restored to Iraq: Now Iraqi Protesters will be treated almost the same as American protesters.
3. Terrorism defeated: One guy arrested. Who wasn't exactly hiding. [Via WarFilter]
4. Oil Supply Secured: 100%
5. US and UK troops getting the hell out: Anyone, anyone? Bueller? Anyone, anyone...
18:54

Thursday, April 10, 2003

"I NOW INFORM YOU THAT YOU ARE TOO FAR FROM REALITY." Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraqi Minister of Information

Here's a link to the fansite of the man responsible for such gems of disinformation as "There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!" and "My feelings - as usual - we will slaughter them all". Ari Fleischer, eat your heart out.

"In an age of spin, al-Sahaf offers feeling and authenticity. His message is consistent -- unshakeable, in fact, no matter the evidence -- but he commands daily attention by his on-the-spot, invective-rich variations on the theme. His lunatic counterfactual art is more appealing than the banal awfulness of the Reliable Sources. He is a Method actor in a production that will close in a couple of days. He stands superior to truth."

[Link found at WarFilter]


11:25

Wednesday, April 09, 2003

It appears the Americans have just lost the war...
07:35

Monday, April 07, 2003

Q.: And Babies? A.: And Babies.



Anti-War Posters... now and then. Which ones say it best?
11:41

Saturday, April 05, 2003

Brrr..it's cold here. It's been snowing for four days straight.

I had an interesting conversation with a cab driver. He's from Iran originally, fled under the Shah regime installed by the U.S. government, then watched as they armed Saddam and started the war against Iran in the 1980's. I asked him if there'd be any protests in Stockholm this weekend. He said he was too pissed off to pay attention to anymore. He didn't think protests in Sweden could make a difference, rather he hoped that perhaps Russia or China or someone would challenge the U.S.

He said that the U.S. war against Iraq was like "you or me being forced to fight Mike Tyson".

When I told him about the protests in the U.S. that had been happening, he agreed that this could make a big difference, but why hadn't he heard about them? Also, he was pissed off at the Swedes for not taking a clear stand, for playing all sides. This sounds about right, based on my experience with the Swedish decision making process. As a German-Swedish colleague of mine summed up yesterday: When a Swede says 'Yes', it really just means 'Let's wait and see'.

22:09