Bush fantasy world

Reality is What We Choose It To Be Watch

Here is a brief summary of a poll showing that 62% of Republicans believe that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the September 11th attacks, even though that idea has been proven time and time again to be false. Our leaders have continually lied to us about this matter (Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell, Rumsfeld, and many others are on record making this connection) though, and the corporate press has not seen fit to clear up the "confusion". So, even though Hussein is demonstrably, categorically, really, not involved in 9/11, all the people living in "Bush fantasy world" can continue to believe he was, and never have this notion challenged. Our national discourse is more and more like "The Matrix".

Toadies and Sycophants Watch

See this Daily Howler entry concerning the conflicts of interests of our celebrity press corps, the people who are charged with protecting the public from the powerful. Bob Somerby, a national treasure, continues to pull back the curtain on the rich and powerful cabal of people who are calling the shots, and exposing the failure of the media to guard the public trust. Two excerpts follow:

Leave aside the embarrassing spectacle of Ted Koppel, alleged grown man, showing off his latest fast car. Some little people just never grow up, and Koppel may be one of their number. But couldn’t Koppel have had the decency—sorry, let’s say it; the personal integrity—to drive around and show off his car for someone who isn’t a Bush Admin honcho? Someone he doesn’t allegedly "cover?" For example, would it have killed poor Ted to show off his car for some other vacuous press corps member? To drive it over to Russert’s house and make him pretend to be interested?

Good God! What makes it amazing is the way these people discuss this conduct right out in public! We don't make a point of collecting these items; for example, we didn’t bother discussing that McCain birthday party which compromised member of your "press corps" attended during the GOP convention (more below). But people like Koppel are so blatant about their conflicts that they do become a bit hard to ignore. Examples? Over the course of the past few years, we've discussed Bob Schieffer playing golf with George Bush; Gwen Ifill giving home-cooked meals to Condi Rice; and Tim Russert off at Don Rumsfeld's Christmas party, loudly telling all in attendance about his dreams of the previous night (links below). All of these people then go on the air and pretend to "cover" the people they pal with. Are you really surprised when a flunkee like Ifill goes on the air and rolls over for Condi? Or when all the rest of her compromised cohort pretend that the session was boffo?
...
Sen. John McCain tended to his political base Sunday night: the entire national media. The maverick Arizona Republican, once (and future?) presidential aspirant and press secretary's dream, hosted a hyper-exclusive 68th birthday party for himself at La Goulue on Madison Avenue, leaving no media icon behind. Guests included NBC's Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert, ABC's Peter Jennings, Barbara Walters, Ted Koppel and George Stephanopoulos, CBS's Mike Wallace, Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer, CBS News President Andrew Heyward, ABC News chief David Westin, Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, CNN's Judy Woodruff and Jeff Greenfield, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, CNBC's Gloria Borger, PBS's Charlie Rose—pause here to exhale—and U.S. News & World Report publisher Mort Zuckerman, Washington Post Chairman Don Graham, New York Times columnists William Safire and David Brooks, author Michael Lewis and USA Today columnist Walter Shapiro. They and others dined on lobster salad, loin of lamb, assorted wines, creme brulee, lemon souffle and French tarts...

"Christianity" Watch

I'm having a huge crisis of faith right now. Our soldiers are daily slaughtering Iraqi civilians that are innocent in the matters of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. These people are in general poorer than we are, and they are innocent of perpetrating the abuses and excesses of Saddam's regime. They are innocent of having connections to Al Qaeda, or being involved in 9/11. They are innocent, in fact, of everything except fighting back against an occupying force. Therefore, we slaughter them. And nearly all of the "Christians" that I know or come in contact with go happily about their lives, while this continuing injustice sows the seeds of our own destruction. The resentment and rage this conflict is planting will come back to bite us. I see it as a huge, stinking elephant in the living room, but other Christians still seem to want to figure out who would Jesus bomb. (Answer: no one, if I'm remembering my sunday school lessons correctly). As we obliviously rain explosive, burning death on poor, innocent people, I really wonder if other people have been going to church and listening to the same sermons I have. Because I honestly don't know how there can be any justification for all of this that jibes in any way with (stated) Christian principles.

Humor Watch

If you need a laugh, and who among us doesn't in these tense times, head on over to "Opinions You Should Have". Some sample headlines:

Poll: Presidential Race Tied At Four Supreme Court Justices Apiece
Vaccine Shortage Solution To Social Security Problem, Says Thompson
Kerry Tends To Speak "As Though He's Running For Office Or Something," Poll Finds
Crawford Newspaper Endorses Kerry; Bush Declares Crawford A "Shitty Little Town"