The Administration assured the U.S. public and the world, over and over again, that an attack was necessary to protect our people and the world from terrorism. It assiduously worked to alarm the public and blur the faces of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden until they virtually became one.
Despite our high-blown claims of a better life for the Iraqi people, water is scarce, and often foul, electricity is a sometime thing, food is in short supply, hospitals are stacked with the wounded and maimed, historic treasures of the region and of the Iraqi people have been looted, and nuclear material may have been disseminated to heaven knows where, while U.S. troops, on orders, looked on and guarded the oil supply.
Meanwhile, lucrative contracts to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure and refurbish its oil industry are awarded to Administration cronies, without benefit of competitive bidding, and the U.S. steadfastly resists offers of U.N. assistance to participate. Is there any wonder that the real motives of the U.S. government are the subject of worldwide speculation and mistrust?
When it comes to shedding American blood - - when it comes to wreaking havoc on civilians, on innocent men, women, and children, callous dissembling is not acceptable. Nothing is worth that kind of lie - - not oil, not revenge, not reelection, not somebody's grand pipedream of a democratic domino theory.
- i scored two pavillion phishatlanta tickets over the weekend
- i leave on thursday for newport beach to visit murphy. i am in serious need of a vacation (see below)
bad news:
- my car has been broken into TWICE since friday, probably by the same crackhead idiots; aside from shelling out the $$$ to get two windows fixed, the only things missing are a handful of change, some crappy sunglasses, my famous canadian lighter that i got when working up in toronto a few years ago (it was one of those nice metal cases where you can replace the lighter when it dies), a cheap-o bob marley box set from best buy, and the biggest loss, my hampton comes alive phish box set. i'm betting i can probably replace that cheaply with a used copy, and may even get a bit of $$$ back from insurance. which reminds me, time to go put in a call to the insurance agent...
as the proposed tax cut passed the senate today, i'm sitting here thinking, how much worse can it get?
well, folks, it's going to get bad.
this article, It's Still the Economy, Stupid, has a great analysis of the economy, how this "tax cut" will affect the people of our country, and why the bush administration wants our states to go bankrupt. how can anyone with a sane mind continue to believe in this man? i'd really love to hear some answers, although i know many readers are more liberal than conservative, so we'll see how this goes.
Yet starving the states is a major part of the Bush strategy.
As it turns out, the $100 billion being spent on Iraq is essentially the amount required to bail out the states this year from their enormous financial crisis, to cover their combined revenue shortfall. The sum would also provide health care for all the uninsured children in the United States for at least five years.
The effects of the current budget crisis on the states is unprecedented. States are facing their biggest economic crises since World War II. At this moment, as Cassady describes, states "are being forced to fire teachers, troopers, and health workers. Parks, museums and libraries are closing. College tuition is rising and scholarships vanishing. Meanwhile, taxpayers will be paying out billions of dollars to reconstruct Iraq."
i must really be foolish to think that the children of our country deserve better than this; that they deserve an education, parks to play in, art teachers, music teachers, and libraries filled with books. because, all i see is rich men giving back to other rich men. rich men finding oil, using the troops of our country to fight for this oil, and then installing their buddies companies to restore this oil, repair it, make it flow again. then, to top it all off, giving these buddies enormous tax cuts, in addition to the profits they'll make off of this "reconstruction".
This Thursday, May 15 and Friday, May 16 are "Call the Mayor" days. If you care about the Chicago Public Schools, and the children being dispossessed by a rash of school closings without parental input or adequate planning, please let Daley know your opinion by calling (312.744.3300), faxing (312.744.2324), or emailing (mayordaley@cityofchicago.org) your concern.
education, not defense, not homeland security, should be a priority in this country. i fully believe our country IS going down the shitter b/c we're spending $800 BILLION a year on defense, and inner-city schools are being closed due to less funding year after year.
i hope that you feel passionately about this issue. if you are a chicago reader, please make a quick phone call or send an email to the mayor. this is democracy in action!
i'll leave you with a statistic:
as of friday may 2nd, chicago had 179 murders registered the war with iraq has produced 133 US troop deaths
excuse me, but who needs to be liberated? our own cities!
the children of our city should not be running from stray bullets, they should be getting an education, playing sports, taking art / music classes. yet where are we fighting? and, what are we fighting for?
i came across a great article today at SFGate.com, an online resource of the san fran chroncicle. in my reading, i discovered a tie to chicago and had to link it to gapers block, given the "feel-good" nature of the story. hey, it's monday, doesn't everyone deserve a nice, warm fuzzy?
read about the "real life angel" from oakland, and how her story hits close to home.
"Television adaptations of beloved books can be like the second novel by a promising and much-praised new talent: destined to disappoint. "White Teeth," luckily, does not."
the first part airs Sunday, with the second segment airing the following weekend.
i bring you gapers block, "a Chicago-centric news and events site, but it's not just another online newspaper or webzine. It contains a collaborative weblog on a wide range of topics, a calendar highlighting events you might not have heard about and a weekly feature, as well as a daily photo, featured music and a daily question to ponder and discuss".
it looks great, although still in soft-launch through the rest of this week. big compliments to all involved!
white teeth, a thoroughly enjoyable book i read last year, is airing this sunday on PBS as a 2-part movie for masterpiece theatre. i haven't yet read zadie's 2nd novel, but her first was written / published when she was just 24! hot damn, that's great to see.
the site for white teeth is very well designed, as with most PBS fare. i'm really happy this wasn't turned into another glamorized hollywood production, so i'm hoping that it is a pretty good translation to film.
i'll have to set the ol' VCR, as we'll be busy with the survivor finale. unfortunately, TIVO can't do two things at once, although i hope in future models, this will be an option. actually, i think both parts will re-air sometime during the week, so i might just set the TIVO to pick this up. watching stuff on tape is so aggravating now that TIVO has won the hearts of the ladies of armitage!
woohoo - i got 3 of the 4 tickets i ordered from phish! i got two alpine tickets for me & my roomie, and my charlotte ticket. didn't get the atlanta ticket, so i'll have to battle TM, but that isn't so bad. i generally have pretty good luck with that, as our connection is pretty good at home. sj got all hers, too, so she may be able to help me secure an atlanta ticket.
i haven't been back down to HOT-lanta since 4th of july '99, and man, that was quite a time. our crew was HUGE that year, something like 6 rooms at this shitty motel, wish we could get it back like that again!
May 27, 2003
