Friday, March 21, 2008

Never Has A Name Been More Fitting

On Wednesday March 19, Vice President Dick Cheney was interviewed by ABC News to try and spin the 5th anniversary of the current war in IRaq. When the interviewer brought up that polls show 2/3 of the country felt the war in IRaq wasn't worth it, Cheney's response was "So!" Then when asked if he cared what the American people think he said it was important "not to be blown off course by polls."

Now we know that the Bush administration has always treated public opinion as an afterthought to manipulate at best and something to deride when things don't go their way, but this takes the procerbial cake.

All I can say is this is a moment where someone fully deserves the name Dick.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Slightly Delayed Report of 1,000 Strong For Peace

In Columbia, MO a few days ago (Sunday March 16, 2008) Columbia Peace Coalition held their 1,000 Strong For Peace event protesting and remembering the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq (which is exactly that date on the day I type this). The organizers were hoping to get at least 1,000 people to appear and express their opposition to the war. The actual total was around 1,100 (as the event started 1,009 has signed up beforehand while others had showed up without registering to appear). After a rally/vigil at Courthouse Square, the crowd marched to Peace Park where several musicians appeared to perform for participants. It was a suprising event that should've had more people, even with the organizers expectations surpassed.

I'll try to get some pictures up on the web site soon on the rally. It's great that so many manage to voice their opposition to an insane war on this date but here's hoping some more of them appear as regualrly as they can at the weekly vigils or rush hour demonstrations.

Winter Soldier 2008

Last weekend something unexpected happened. Veterans and active duty soldiers who served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan spoke of their experiences at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, MD. Dubbed Winter Soldier (modeled after the Vietnam Veterans Against the War event of the same name in 1971), the event meant to bring about awareness of what most Americans havent' heard about "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and the horrors that they faced while serving there.

If you didn't know this happened, don't be surprised. The mainstream media pretty much ignored the meeting or its intended purpose. Caught up in the election news, a bad economy, and the fallout from the Elliot Spitzer sex scandal, many Americans seem more willing to tune out the news and focus on their own lives. The pundits would rather focus on supposed "experts" rather than the words of many of the people who saw the reality of this war. With the exception of Democracy Now and some web sites, the American media pretty much pretended it never happened.

It's sad really. When the current war started, the government told us we had all that weneeded to know about how it happened. However, when we need to know the truth, those forces who are supposed to clue us in are caught not doing their job.

If you're interested in learning more about the latest Winter Soldier, Democracy Now has some great coverage of the event. (The main page right now has links to th elast several days of stories as well as audio of the programs.)

Some readers may disagree with me on why this is important. That's your perogative, but at least find out more about it.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Issue 87 Reviews Up

Just wanted to let you guys know that the record reviews for the new issue are now up on the website. To get to the page to access the reviews click here.

The War Turns Five (Time to Get Ready for Kindergarten)

As you all know, the war in Iraq is nearing the fifth anniversary since it officially started (I'm still trying to figure out how all the no fly zone bombings meant we still weren't at war with them between 1991 and March 2003). It doesn't take a genius to realize what has gone down since then and how little the reality there resembles what the first term of Dubya's administration tried to sell us.

In the next week or so there are probably going to be vigils and rallies regarding this. Those in the Columbia and MId MO are may want to check this out.

Check your local area to see what's going on if you want to speak out against the past five years of bullshit.