Jaded Times

Slightly misleading title, but according to the BBC, human fetuses (feti?) were found encased in the statues of Christian icons in the Bogota airport. Weird shit rating: 7/10.

New York Times reporter Judith Miller has agreed to reveal her source after a piddly three month stretch in the pokey. Apparently female prison life isn’t as fun as Hollywood would have us believe (oh Shannon Tweed, why must you torment me so).

The decision leaves a gigantic question mark over the heads of future snitches, who are now less likely to blab much needed insight into our corrupt government to journalists. Way to go, Judy!

Two quick links for you from our esteemed colleagues at One Good Move:

Brown testifies to incompetence (of everyone else)

Bush suggests conservation/Fleischer lies

The video in these clips requires Quicktime.

Ah, the eloquence, no? Bush gave a speech on Wednesday warning that terrorist activities will increase in Iraq, but that “our troops will be ready”. Which is an interesting statement, considering how many people have died in the last couple weeks in the country (including 60+ yesterday). But what I found most interesting came at the end of the article:

“The support of Congress for our troops and our mission is important and Americans need to know about the gains we have made in recent weeks and months, they need to know the way we’re adapting our tactics, and the way we’re changing our strategies to meet the needs on the ground,” Bush said

Changing our strategies to meet the needs on the ground? Hmm, that is good news. Of course, it would have been better news to hear him come out in early 2004 and say “Thanks to the tireless training and equipping of our soldiers, and the capable planning of our military, which included training and plotting based on urban guerrilla situations, we have successfully brought peace to Iraq and handed control of the country over to the Iraqi government.” See, the reason that wasn’t said is that Bush and his cronies have no idea what they are doing. None at all. Zero.

George W. Bush is the reason your children are dying needlessly. If you’re ok with that, continue supporting him.

I spent Saturday on the National Mall with the anti-war protestors at the Operation Ceasefire March and Concert. I should preface this with two things:

1. I’m not sure if I believe that immediate withdrawal from Iraq is the best option. We shouldn’t have bombed the hell out of it, but now that we have, I don’t know if we can abandon it.
2. I was mostly there to see Ted Leo+Pharmacists.

I got to the mall around 3:00. The march had started much earlier and I expected that everyone would be at the stage for the concert, but there were still marchers along Pennsylvania Avenue. I was immediately struck by how DIY everything seemed. At most protests I’ve attended, organizers were everywhere handing out stickers and pre-made signs. Here, the organizers were still signing up volunteers to help out the concert and most of the signs were homemade. I took note of some of my favorites – “Bush has Iraqtile Dysfunction,” “Make Levees, Not War,” and “Dick Cheney Eats Kittens.”

The event took place between the Washington Monument and Consitution Avenue, which separates the National Mall from the White House Elipse. There were tables set up along the perimeter closest to the Monument where organizations gave away literature and progressive entrepreneurs sold buttons and bumper stickers advocating a littany of liberal causes. The stage was set up next to Constitution Avenue. To the right of the stage, near a small grove of trees, there were more tables, occupied mostly by the event sponsors and some of the more well-known anti-war groups. Camp Casey, the Cindy Sheehan camp that had previously been located in Crawford, was in place a bit further down the mall, surrounded by small white crosses and cardboard coffins draped with American flags.

I went right to the stage where Jello Biafra (of Dead Kennedys fame) was rambling obnoxiously about something before introducing Joan Baez. She looked great and her voice is as lovely as ever. The crowd sang along to “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” and her rendition of Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” Her presence there captured a feeling in the crowd that I recognized from many protests – a wish for the simplicity amidst chaos of the 1960s, where liberals were fighting powerful odds but they knew they were right and were willing to stand up and fight.

The crowd was mostly white and mostly young, although there was a sizeable minority of middle-aged and older there. Most bizarre sighting? Matthew Lesko in his purple suit covered in yellow question marks. He does infomercials on how to get money from the government, and is apparently anti-war.

I wandered around the tables, which were full of buttons, bumper stickers, and magnetic ribbons (including a timely “George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People” pin). There were also several left-wing publishers hawking books and many organizations looking for people to take literature, sign up for listservs, and add their names to petitions. Along the very edge of the action, I spotted a group of 8 people silently holding signs that criticized the federal income tax – they held the Thoreau-esque notion that they should not have to pay for war.

Things were relatively, and somewhat surprisingly, quiet. There was action on the stage, of course, but there were also people quietly talking and some taking naps on blankets spread on the grass. I’m not sure what I expected – perhaps more anger. It was there, evident in the abundance of “Fuck Bush” (or cleverly coded “Buck Fush”) buttons and T-shirts, but it wasn’t as palpable as I thought it would be.

I walked out to Camp Casey, where a small sign noted the number of Americans dead and wounded in Iraq so far (1910 and 14700, respectively). There was a sense of camaraderie there, as many of the people with Camp Casey have been together since its inception in August. They took donations for food and gas.

At this point, I met some friends and went back to the stage to see Steve Earle. Then we grabbed food and sat to eat on the steps of the Commerce Department Building, watching protestors meander about. We walked back to the stage, where there was still a crowd, now waiting for the concert’s heavy-hitters: Ted Leo, the Theivery Corporation, the Bouncing Souls, Le Tigre, and others. We sat and watched a DC a capella group called Sweet Honey of the Rock and the Evens, a new project of Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye. Jello, after taking a break for dinner, was back and going strong, to my general annoyance. We moved into the crowd, which at this point was almost exclusively young, and seemed largely high school and college-aged. Ted Leo came out for his set. After he played, my friends and I left.

It is difficult to capture the mood of the event or even accurately describe my feelings about it. I felt largely detached, maybe because I don’t agree with all the positions the speakers were advocating. On the whole, it was sprawling and largely disorganized, both literally and figuratively. While the overarching message was anti-war, there were, as at all liberal events, many, many submessages, including “protect the environment,” “fight racism,” “protect the right to choose,” and “free Palestine.” Again, I found myself wishing that we liberals could learn to focus and put out a single coherent thought. Though many issues of the day are interconnected, it might be best politically to whittle some things down to bullet points. Once we get power, we can govern based on complexity.

Speaking of focus, read a better and more coherent account of Operation Ceasefire here (registration required, but shouldn’t you already have it anyway?).

DeLay indicted, oh and he’s indicted here too. Sure, it’s all over the news but my cat has urged me to at least post something about it in the Jaded Times. I learned about this legal turn of events from a NPR report this morning, which indicated it was a surprise to Tom. Then of course those types usually think they’ll get away with it because . . .well they usually do.

Senate Historian Donald Ritchie:

There’s never been a member of Congress in a leadership position who has been indicted.

I recall another NPR report over the summer where Laura Bush was saying something to the effect that he was a good friend and this was all nonsense.

Press Secretary Scott McClellan:

Congressman DeLay is a good ally, a leader who we have worked closely with to get things done for the American people.

Something about running on morals.

For those of you who thought that Jerry Springer was NOT a valid example of the dumbing down of America, I bring you the argument for intelligent design. For those who don’t know, ID (ironic, if you study that blasphemer Freud) is the concept that evolution was guided by a god-figure. And here, I’d always thought there was a place to teach things relating to god; I think they’re called churches, but hey, I’m a Jew, maybe they just molest little kids in those places…

But yes, Intelligent Design, the concept that God actually guided evolution. An intriguing theory; thing is, the argument is a bit one-sided, as some rational people have started pointing out:

“As scientists go about their business, they follow a method,” Pennock said. “Intelligent design wants to reject that and so it doesn’t really fall within the purview of science.”

Pennock said intelligent design does not belong in a science class, but added that it could possibly be addressed in other types of courses.

Makes sense to me. But then, I also think trickle down economics leads to defecit spending, so what do I know?

I will concede ID in schools if churches will start teaching evolution.

I have had time to digest this, and I agree with America Blog: ABC News has risked its credibility to run a (admittedly funny) prank on their blogsite. The story, on their popular daily blog-style update “The Note”, portrays Bush making a very Jimmy Carter-esque speech about fuel conservation, which they plainly state the president will be making later in the day:

President Bush will give these remarks (or something like them) when he meets with Texas officials regarding hurricane damage at 10:50 am ET in Beaumont, TX before meeting with Louisiana officials at 1:10 pm ET in Lake Charles, LA. In between the two meetings, he will tour Texas and Louisiana hurricane damage by air.

The problem is this speech isn’t Jimmy Carter-esque, it is an altered version of a speech Carter gave in the 70s. Though a link was provided in the original speech, it makes no reference to the joke, and the only punchline is that these bastards are making fifty times what we are.

I think anyone who reads our blog (at least after the first week of Katrina) knows that we all have a pretty damn good sense of humor. And, as a prank, this is pretty genius. The problem is that it is coming from ABC News, who are allegedly a “credible” source. I’m not sure I’ve considered them that since the early 90s, to be honest, but I definitely give them no credit at this point at all. Though they did something creative, satirical, and funny, they did it at the expense of the rest of us, as this is already circulating the web via email (I got it from my neo-con friends, who believe it’s real–frightening).

So to ABC News, all I can say is thank you. Thank you for ruining the last, tattered threads of your own credibility. Thank you for finally letting the rest of the world realize that you can’t be trusted. But mostly, thanks for making Jaded Times a credible source of news. We appreciate it.

Something to piss you off for the evening. May god bless everyone that rich white people like and approve of.

The Washington Post reports today that Virginia Dems are pushing for a new candidate in the senatorial race. The favorite? Mallrats’ sodomite Ben Affleck. Hey, all in all he couldn’t possibly be worse than anyone in power currently…