FRIDAY NIGHT UPDATES
The Night Before World Peace Day
February 14, 2003
CBS News posted a CBS/New York Times poll that shows Americans are extremely unhappy about the general state of calamity they see their country in. But CBS introduces it with a spin that fawns obsequiously at George W. Bush's feet even as he grinds the country into the dirt. The threat of terrorism, a worsening economy, and uncertainty about a war with Iraq "are affecting Americans’ feelings about the country and perhaps even their assessments of the President." The way it is stated, the disastrous circumstances may actually change people's "feelings about the country," but the thought that it might affect "even their assessments of the President," seems almost unthinkable to this dedicated servant. Somewhere deep in the story we find that George's "approval rating" is now at 54%, according to this very questionable poll offered by an extremely biased organization. And as the New York Times report on the same poll says, "Even after the administration's aggressive case for going to war soon in Iraq, a majority of Americans favor giving United Nations weapons inspectors more time to complete their work so that any military operation wins the support of the Security Council." Son of Spyman is not about to give up the massive domestic spy operation that keeps resurfacing in different guises. After Felon Poindexter's Total Information Awareness was soundly trounced by a Republican Senate, boy George has immediately replaced it with something by another name that smells just as rotten. This time it's called the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), "a mammoth data-collection project intended to fuse information collected domestically by police and internationally by spy agencies," says Declan McCullagh. Check out this eloquent, passionate statement by Starhawk, The Choice Before Us: "We can still wake up," it says. "We can choose to walk out of the nightmare, and dream a different dream... Dream that we wake up, stand up, speak out, not in the thousands but the millions, joining with millions around the world. Dream that soldiers refuse their orders, dockworkers refuse to load ships, secretaries shut off their computers, workers close their factories, and even politicians find the courage to stand for what is right. And make the dream real." Chris Floyd's Global Eye column, appearing on Makethemaccountable.com, talks about three recent, seemingly unrelated events that "combined to give a fleeting glimpse of the ugly reality behind the frantic, diversionary facade of the 'civilized world.'" One is a civil case in a London court that involves BCCI, the "international bank that served as the front for a global crime ring involving top officials and Establishment worthies in dozens of "civilized" nations. BCCI ran guns to Saddam and other heavies, funded Pakistan's illegal nuclear weapons program, laundered drug profits, peddled prostitutes, doled out bribes, served as a conduit for covert CIA operations -- and, through its connections to the bin Laden family, gave George W. Bush a sweetheart loan of $25 million to bail out one of his many business failures." Looking at the populations, and not judging by a few compromised heads of state, like Tony Blair, Europe is united like never before, brought together in defiance of The Beast. See The New York Times According to The Guardian, protest organizers in Britain have been confidently predicting over 500,000 people will turn out for tomorrow's antiwar demonstration, now some are thinking it may be far more. One sums it up beautifully, "I've never known such strong public opposition to any government policy, such anger and such determination from people to have their views heard. People are not at all equivocal about it - they don't care much about UN resolutions and 'proof' - they just seem to think it's a crazy and dangerous idea and can't really believe that Blair could be serious about it.'" Osama bin Laden's latest bootleg tape peddled by Colin Powell: what does it mean? For one intriguing -- and blood chilling -- possibility, see Bring Us The Head Of Osama bin Laden by Kurt Nimmo at Rense.com. Ariel Sharon faces charges for war crimes in Belgium's high court. See The New York Times According to this report from ABC, the terror reports that bodyslammed the NYC tourism and entertainment industries last weekend and spread jitters through out the land were based on fabricated evidence. The mass slaughter of Iraqis in 1991 went largely unreported. The job of media control was in the hands of Dick Cheney. See The Guardian. The Bush administration's loose talk about nuclear weapons can lead this country to disaster. See The New York Times. According to a report on BBC, Enron bribed tax officials. The consensus among the European intelligentsia is that something has gone terribly wrong in America. See The New York Times Russian president Putin says he would use his veto power alone or with France if the US uses "unreasonable force" against Iraq. See USA Today. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, says, "Not everyone around the world is prepared to take the word of the United States on faith." See The Globe and Mail. A US spy plane missing in Colombia For some the inspectors are seen only as a means for providing an excuse for war. See The Hoosier Review. Check out Guardian list of antiwar sites. Crowds of naked women can't be wrong. See Naked women against the war. Why does Bush keep emphasizing our vulnerability? Here's an analysis at The Progressive.