Decius wrote:
] I was actually fairly offended by this. Its hard to explain
] but I'll try. Its like taking their bodies and using them for
] a selfish political purpose. A marketing purpose... like spam.
] Its seems disrespectful.

[ It's not hard to explain... it *is* offensive. Politicizing the deaths of our soldiers sits ill precisely because it dishonors their memory by making them a statistic, a number, or an infographic.

On the other hand, every time the president (or his staff) stands in front of the country and paints a rosy picture of the job being done in Iraq, or touts his leadership, or invokes the sacrifices of those very same soldiers in his bid for re-election, he's politicizing the same dead bodies. If Bush is going to use the good job he's done in Iraq as a campaign strategy, then it's only fair to remind people that there are a lot of dead americans to account for, not to mention the dead Iraqis, who we speak little of. Sometimes that reminder needs to be harsh to get the attention it deserves... people tune out numbers, they tune out statistics, they acclimate and stop paying attention to the endless parade of dead and wounded. If this sort of thing can wake them up to the reality of the situation then the purpose it serves tends to validate it.

I'd think a bit differently if it was John Kerry's campaign that put this together. If it turns out that that's the case, I'll be extremely disappointed, to say the least.

I'm sensitive to this issue, certainly. I reacted very harshly to the media right around 9/11, because I found it horribly inappropriate that they sit there and replay the same horrifying footage over and over again. Planes crashing into buildings, the towers collapsing, and worst of all, highlighted shots of people falling who had thrown themselves from the building in a futile attempt to escape. Is that news? The 3'rd time, 10th, 300th? That's dishonor. That's making spectacle out of tragedy in order to glue eyeballs to the set. The same talking heads yammered incessantly about the horror, and the sacrifice and how the country would never be the same, while trickling out the tiniest little bit of new information or speculation every so often, just to keep you hooked. I don't see this quite the same way.

...]

] I don't care if you hate Bush. I don't care what your position
] on the war is. This isn't a kingdom and he is not soley
] responsible for the fact that these people are dead. Such a
] statement would only resonate with me if we lived in a
] dictatorship and these people were killed in domestic federal
] prisons.

[... You're correct that many people had to work together to make this war happen. Congress and the DOD and the cabinet and the advisors all played their part. But be that as it may, the decision to commit our forces to a course of action rests with only one man. That's why he's called the Com... [ Read More (0.4k in body) ]

RE: Bush photomosaic of American dead in Iraq

] An Israeli fashion house plans to shoot its summer
] catalog at Israel's West Bank security barrier this week,
] the company said Monday, less than a week after troops
] shot dead two Palestinians protesting the network of
] walls, wire and ditches.
]
] A statement from the fashion house, Comme-il-faut, said
] the one-day shoot Wednesday would take place at a section
] of the barrier on the edge of Jerusalem "for the purpose
] of creating a dialogue around boundaries."

[ Intresting way to draw attention to some ideological concepts (not to mention get some good publicity)... i just hope no one dies. -k]

Newsday.com

] ...the cops wanted to deliver a final message to those still
] around. "Bye! Don't come back here!" shouted one. A pudgy
] officer gave the finger to an activist with a video
] camera. "Put that on your Web site," he said. "Fuck you."

Salon.com News | This is not America

] In Tuesday's special election to fill [Florida] state
] House seat 91, 134 Broward voters managed to use the
] 2-year-old touch-screen equipment without casting
] votes for any candidate.
]
] The percentage of nonvotes -- 1.3 percent -- is modest
] compared to the days of ''hanging'' and ''pregnant
] chads.'' But in Tuesday's race, every vote was crucial.
] In a seven-candidate field, Ellyn Bogdanoff beat Oliver
] Parker by just 12 votes.
]
] ''These were the new machines,'' said Chas Brady, a
] spokesman for Parker's campaign. ``This was not supposed
] to happen.''

I'm tempted to laugh, except that this is too serious for that. Goddammit people, we're talking about VOTING, the essence of democratic society. Damn right it was not supposed to happen. And who thinks this will make one IOTA of difference to officials in other places, like, say, DeKalb county, where the election officials have assured us that the systems have been well tested and will not fail. Sweet bloody Jesus, i can't believe we're letting EGO and corporate INTERESTED PARTIES fuck with the system so much.

totally unbelievable.

New system no easy touch for 134 voters in Broward

] Now Downhill Battle is taking this consumer awareness campaign
] off the internet and into the record stores. We’ve teamed up
] with RIAA Radar to make two awesome stickers.
]
] We’re taking them into stores and plastering major label CDs...

uhm, legal? doesn't seem like it... good site tho... quite a few resources.

Downhill Battle - music activism

Sometimes i think Ann Coulter exists only to enrage me. She's aleady called me a traitor to my nation, and called for my imprisonment and hanging, for no more than bringing up the fact that maybe, perhaps, the president of our country wasn't completely forthright with us about certain things. Things that involve the lives of millions and, as it turns out, the deaths of thousands. And then she has the audacity to claim that liberals are mindless drones who will vote for whomever the democratic party puts forth. *I'm* the one in lockstep? Please, Ann, take a look at your own jackboots and check real carefully for the 'W' emblazoned on them, you complete tool of neoconservatism.

I won't get into her tearing apart one poor girl whose emotion clearly makes her a retard incapable of making important choices. We must base our decisions on military pragmatism, and anything else makes you no better than a terrorist.

I'm pretty sure the Democrats aren't the ones comparing Dean to McGovern and "wearily predicting a landslide for Bush". Once again, Ann makes a blanket statement and provides ABSOLUTELY NO SUPPORT for it. For every democrat or liberal i know, a Bush landslide is nothing more than nightmare vision... perhaps we're all prescient, and that's the prediction she means. Hmph. This is a flat out lie to add to her many others.

And from here, we move onto some really classic Coulter : Whenever liberals all start singing from the same hymnal, they are up to no good. (Or since we're talking about American liberals here, maybe I should say, "when they all start reading from the same Quran.")
There are a few different things going on here, so lets analyze each of them. First, she makes the claim that unity of voice is evidence of, what, some deep, dark, liberal conspiracy? This from the very same woman who believes that any disagreement with the current administration is treasonous? Once again, Ann, use the mirror. You're the one with the Hymnal, though it has no songs of love, joy or hope in it. Then, she goes racist. Clearly anyone with a Quran is a terrorist and HATES everything american. And clearly liberals are all so ANTI AMERICA that we reinforce our hatred with the terrorists own training manual the Quran. Goddammit Ann, have you ever even seen a Q'ran? No, didn't think so. Then shut the fuck up and keep your xenophobia and racism to your fucking self.

Ok, now she attacks Dean, calling him appalling, spineless and weak. Well, the first is certainly true for her, considering she thinks he's no better than Osama bin Laden, so, no surprise there. I won't even get close to fully dealing with her hawkish discussion of what does and doesn't constitute bravery -- apparently it involves killing someone, or at least taking off in a plane.

Oh, and one of the stand out quotes of the whole piece "the North Vietnamese were savage beasts, but they never attacked America on its own soil. ... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

Yahoo! News - VEGAN COMPUTER GEEKS FOR DEAN

] "The writer said that the items were carried onto the
] aircraft concealed on his person or in his carry-on bag,"
] the affidavit states. "The e-mail author also stated that
] he was aware that his actions were against the law and
] that he was aware of the potential consequences for his
] actions, and that his actions were 'an act of civil
] disobedience with the aim of improving public safety for
] the air-traveling public.' "

they sure are gonna throw the book at this kid, but it would seem that he's proved his point nonetheless. even after all the money and training, the TSA isn't particularly effective. what's the answer?

CNN.com - Student charged in airline box cutter scare - Oct. 20, 2003

] Blackbox Voting.org is Bev Harris' site exposing the
] security vulnerabilities of the Diebold voting machines.
]
]
] As of 8:46 p.m. PST, the site has been pulled, with the
] following message:

only a matter of time, eh...

god this is some bullshit.

Daily Kos: Diebold feels the heat. Sends out attack lawyers