] These include a powerful propaganda machine — America’s
] is the most comprehensive and sophisticated in history —
] centered around a few simple, powerful symbols which,
] though in themselves meaningless, are nonetheless, in
] old-fashioned parlance, taboo. It remains an offense to
] “desecrate” the flag.
]
] They also include a public rhetoric so far removed from
] ordinary speech as to constitute practically a separate
] language and whose intended effect is essentially to
] baffle...

Do you watch cspan?

ArabNews: Neo-Totalitarianism

] Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein may have been hurt in the
] first airstrikes on Baghdad, U.S. intelligence sources
] told ABCNEWS. The information came as U.S.-led coalition
] forces made dramatic gains in Iraq, seizing control of
] the southern Iraqi oil fields.

Don't know about the validity of this. Haven't seen it reported elsewhere.

ABCNEWS.com : Sources: Saddam Injured in U.S. Airstrike

quote from msnbc weblog central:

"Ostensibly based in Baghdad, Where is Raed? is written by a person blogging under the pseudonym of Salam Pax, a tech-savvy Iraqi whose mastery of English provides for vivid descriptions, cutting wit, and thoughtful commentary. In the past there has been some discussion of the veracity of the writer’s claims, but those appear to have been resolved, with several bloggers offering testimony to Salam’s authenticity —and frankly, the more you read, the less doubt there seems to be."

Where is Raed ?

] Protesting the Protesters II
]
] This is a follow-up to coverage of the New York City
] protest of February 15th.

Protesting the Protesters II - Video

] The U.S. government has obtained potentially valuable new
] information on Iraq's biological and chemical weapons
] programs in recent days from scientists and intelligence
] agents confronted outside Iraq with threats that failure
] to cooperate could mean unpleasant consequences when
] Baghdad falls, according to two U.S. officials with
] direct knowledge of the effort.
]
] In a top-secret adjunct to an openly reported diplomatic
] initiative, U.S. and allied intelligence services
] summoned scores of Iraqi operatives in foreign capitals
] to present a stark choice. They were told "they could
] either 'turn,' " said one official, using an expression
] for switching sides, or be expelled back to Iraq "to
] enjoy your very short stay in Baghdad."

U.S. Reaps New Data On Weapons (washingtonpost.com)

The fact that this guy finds these numb-skulls "witty and erudite" shows just how bright you have to be to write for the San Francisco Bay Gaurdian.

=darwin

quoted:
===

Anarchy in the USA
Black Bloc antiwar rioters speak out.

By A.C. Thompson

THE BLACK BLOC has few friends. Cops, obviously, loathe the sable-clad anarchist types who've stomped through downtown San Francisco three times in the past three months, skirmishing with cops, spray painting the San Francisco Chronicle building, shattering windows (Old Navy, Starbucks, and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, among others) and causing at least $50,000 in property damage.

Pacifists and less radical elements of the antiwar movement say the rioters are tarnishing the movement's image and scaring away would-be supporters (see "Resist!," page 22). Stephen Zunes, a left-leaning associate professor of political science at San Francisco State University, trashed the Black Blocers in the Chronicle last week, describing them as "nihilists" and "hoodlums" without a "political agenda."

Zunes's comments are typical. Most people seem to think the Black Bloc rioters are a pack of mindless hooligans. But that analysis is only half correct. Hooligans? Definitely. Mindless? No way. The four young shit-disturbers – three anarchists, one communist – I met at an anonymous and presumably unbugged location March 15 were witty and erudite. And they definitely have a political goal.

sfbg.com | Life During Wartime

If you need a laugh during all of this...

The Gulf War Drinking Game

] To the person (or persons) who finds it funny to
] repeatedly position my star wars figurines in
] inappropriate positions, please stop.

Star Wars figurines

] Two Iraqi helicopters fired machine guns and rockets into
] three Kurdish villages on the front line north of Kirkuk
] yesterday, in the first shots intended to kill in the
] coming war.
]
] ''There were two of them, one an attack helicopter and
] the other normally used for transport, attacking the
] villages where people herding cattle live," Mohammed
] Fateh, a local Kurdish military commander, said.
]
] Kurdish officers believe that the Iraqi helicopter attack
] on the three impoverished and half-ruined villages of
] Bashtapa, Girdalanka and Sherawa in the hills south-east
] of Qush Tappa was a desperate effort by the Iraqi army to
] raise the morale of its men and prove that its firepower
] is still to be reckoned with.

Saddam's troops fire the first shots of the conflict

Nano recommended that I meme this site. I'm sure some of you know it but it is still one of my faves. It's the website of James Lileks, author and newspaper columnist. It contains hours of retro parody entertainment as well as his blog, The Bleat.

Be sure to check out the Gallery of Regrettable Food.

LILEKS (James)