The Sun Also Rises…

One can obviously tell a great deal about the agenda of a publication by what headline a certain newspaper chooses to lead with and today is a terrific example of such an instance. Matters like these are usually of the more trivial variety, but we have all seen this stunt before – yet in the case of at least one newspaper, there seems to be hope that it has learned its lesson. I am speaking, as I usually do, of The New York Times, which unlike its fellow New York paper, The Sun, did not blow out of proportion the Hamas attack on a commercial center in the Israeli city of Ashkelon. There is mention of speculation that the rockets have “Iranian fingerprints on it” – but certainly not to the degree of The Sun, which leads with: “Iran Role ‘Clearly Visible’ in Attack”. This story is of import dually because Israel is celebrating its 60th Anniversary of statehood and because our good president is joining in the festivities; otherwise these kind of attacks are almost commonplace and certainly do not warrant front page coverage. The New York Sun, however, is known to have a more conservative bent and therefore is considerably more likely to help the administration beat those war drums, unfortunately much like The Times did in the run up to the invasion of Iraq. ‘But I thought The New York Times is the most lefty newspaper on God’s green earth!’ Perhaps compared to other corporate media, yes – but that is what made it all the more surprising (and for the Bush administration, effective). I am therefore hopeful this same horrific propagandistic agenda will not succeed a second time.

Here We Go Again...

Those jingo drums are beating louder than ever (again) and the hawks are absolutely determined to Bomb, Bomb Iran. Are we truly expected to believe cited “American interrogation reports” after all we now know about how we don’t torture?! Ironic that the typical excuse for employing ‘enhanced interrogation methods’ is the atypical ticking time-bomb scenario, whereas in this instance – it is apparently used for what it is most always, in reality, used for: bogus admissions and propaganda. I’m not sure if this should be considered a big deal, but in today’s NYTimes article – there is a quote regarding “Iranians believe it is useful to have Arabs train fellow Arabs,” but Iranians AREN’T ARABS!!! They’re Persian.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html?ref=world

Filipino Monkey

This was supposed to be posted exactly one week ago, but alas - it was lost in transit... It should be noted that since last Tuesday, the radio transmission was allegedly sent by "a local heckler known as the 'Filipino Monkey'." You just can't make this stuff up:

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/01/13/44154.html
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January 8, 2008

I did not want to feel as though it was absolutely necessary to discuss these events, but Iran is very unfortunately back in the news again. Yesterday bore reports that Palestinian militant groups are now employing longer range missiles against Israel courtesy of none other than Iran. That did not seem to merit much a response from Prime Minister Olmert so I did not concern myself too much with this. Now apparently, Iranian speedboats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps confronted US Navy warships on Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz as they attempted to enter the Persian Gulf. I wish I did not have to approach this story with such skepticism, but at this point in time the legitimacy of almost every event that transpires must be questioned. In the midst of all the excitement surrounding the 2008 election cycle, foreign affairs must not be overlooked, as tempting as doing so might be. This administration has merely a year left to carry out whatever evil misdeeds it stills feels as though are necessary, which should be all the more reason to keep an extremely close eye on it. One matter to consider (as Iranian news agency FARS already has) is the timing of this incident, as ‘President’ Bush will soon be touring the region “encouraging Middle East talks and… conveying a message that Iran continues to pose a serious threat.” The Iranian government attempted to pass off this nearly detrimental event as the kind that happens all the time, but clearly that is not the case. Perhaps ‘President’ Mahmoud Ahmadinej[ih]ad is likewise aware of Bush’s upcoming term limit and desperately seeks to start the war both leaders so desperately desire while both are still around to perpetrate it.

"New Iran Intel Old News"

http://serenityknow.blogspot.com/search/label/News

The Truth Shalt Not Deter Them

I'm not going to pretend that this is an entirely original contemplation, as Rachel Maddow hypothesized as much on Countdown last night, but this most recent National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iran’s lacking of recent nuclear arms development by no means should discourage people from believing the admin will bomb Iran anyway. This probably has something to do with the fact that Wolfie is back in the mix at the state dept. – I mean, if we’re going to preemptively attack another nation that has four letters and begins with “I”, we certainly can’t do it without him!

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2d758eb2-a29b-11dc-81c4-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=be75219e-940a-11da-82ea-0000779e2340.html?nclick_check=1

National Security Advisor, Stephen Hadley, made some rather remarkable statements yesterday about this report claiming “it confirms we were right to be concerned about Iran seeking to develop nuclear weapons.” Wow (in actuality maybe by 2009 at the very very earliest). He then goes on to claim that the report “offers grounds for hope that the problem can be solved diplomatically without the use of force as the administration has been trying to do.” Now presumably, he is referring to diplomacy as the preferred action of the administration, but the way he has phrased this confuses the subjects to such a degree that it sounds as though he’s saying that force is the true preferred action of the administration, which sounds considerably less like a bald-faced lie. Either way, the grammar check on Microsoft Word for that quote is underlined greener than an Irishman on St. Paddy’s day.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/acbcd0f8-a20b-11dc-a13b-0000779fd2ac.html

John Rockefeller for some odd reason tries to paint the administration in a particularly rosy way, “They reflect a real difference from the views espoused by top administration officials… This demonstrates a new willingness to question assumptions.” This is nearly as laughable as Hadley’s comments, which I guess should not be entirely shocking after Rockefeller’s true corporatist nature was exposed via his somewhat lucrative ties to the telecom companies as he lobbied congress for their immunity (at the behest of the president).

General Assembly

Ahmadinejihad

9/21/2007

continuing my meditations from the previous day… so now instead of permitting Ahmedenijihad to simply lay his wreath and pay his respects, he is permitted to speak at Columbia University – likely using this forum to disburse more of his hatespeech.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/09/21/2007-09-21_columbia_university_ripped_for_inviting_.html

Now all the stupid NYC tabloids (the post I am obviously not surprised, but the Daily News seems to be the more vehement of the two rivals!) are performing the precise wishes of the Bush regime; get the sheepish, ignorant masses to turn their collective attentions and vitriol from whatever the heck else they want us to hate or be afraid of to the president of Iran (actually someone much like Bush, a puppet of the backing regime; Cheney vs. the Mullahs).

There is likewise the not so subtle connection being made that Ahmadinejihad is not wanted at ground zero because HE somehow was also tied to the events that transpired there, i.e. he’s another brown person we need to get rid of.

This is part of the grand scheme to bang the war drums to the beat of Iran’s national anthem.

I am now damn near pleading to the American people not to let these fascists re-repeat history all over again, as it is now quite clear this is what they are attempting to do.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2323126720070923

Jib Jab

If this is the little jingle that John McCain was 'sampling' then maybe I'm all wrong about him!!!

http://www.jibjab.com/jokebox/jokebox/jibjab/id/474527/jokeid/111056

By the way, this 'joke' was conceived quite some time ago - it is likely the mere 'democrat' sweep of house and senate played a considerable role in preventing it from becoming a little less than a joke and a little more like WWIII...

Any other Beach Boys requests?!