Don't Kill the Messenger

Greetings, friends,
It's refreshing to be watching the old-fashioned way of the world, personal hand-to-hand combat, which is what the Olympics is really all about, right? Survival skills...throwing spears, big metal balls, sliding down mountains, jumping over things, swinging around them, shooting at them, sailing around them, etc. When the space aliens invade (and notice I said WHEN...more info further into this catch-all screed...) we'll be turning to our Olympians for rescue. I realized this watching a huge grinning Georgian (with his dad taking plenty of photos) take down the Japanese champion in judo.

Pity they're mostly showing the Americans, because that was the first time I'd ever heard the Georgian national anthem. A little gloomy, but why not? No chance they'll show the French anthem, which played after the sabre competition, appropriately enough. Is it indeed, M. Adam and M. Nic, the return of the French swashbuckler?

Or a Canadian ballerina?
Olympic prankster given five-month jail sentence
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040818/od_afp/oly_2004_security_040818144715

Onto business: Is anyone interested in this?
"Outfoxed" will premiere in five area theaters this Friday:
Loews Cineplex Broadway Cinemas 41441 Third Street Promenade
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Showtimes: (tentative) 12, 2:45, 5:30, 7:45, 10 PM
AMC Media Center 8201 E. Magnolia Blvd. #345
Burbank, CA 91501
Showtimes: 1:50, 4:30, 6:45, 8:55 PM
Laemmle Old Colorado One Theaters
42 Miller Alley
Pasadena, CA 91103
Showtimes: 1:45, 3:50, 5:55, 8:00, 10:00 PM (11:40 AM on weekends)
In case you don't know, it's about "Fox News". Yeah, good thing we have freedom of speech in this country:
Aljazeera vows to defy Iraq ban

This is a call out to all of you: During the 2000 election, I remember seeing a very nice picture of George W. Bush in the Seventies, with a perm and wearing a tennis outfit. Can anyone find this photo? I've searched for it lately to no avail. Here's a more contemporary Bush as interpreted by Will Ferrell (thanks, Beth and Bill):
http://whitehousewest.com/

The truth is even stranger:
Subject: Bush Using Drugs to Control Depression, Erratic Behavior
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4921.shtml

I mean, what kind of guy are we talking out here, really? A "dry drunk"?
Bear Drinks 36 Beers and Passes Out
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040818/ap_on_fe_st/beer_bear
Man Drives Into Lake, Tries to Smoke Crack
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040814/ap_on_fe_st/police_chase_lake

Here's the least charitable opinion (thanks, Mike):
The Case Against George W. Bush
Ron Reagan, Esquire, September 2004, Volume 142, Issue 3
http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2004/040729_mfe_reagan_1.html
It may have been the guy in the hood teetering on the stool, electrodes clamped to his genitals. Or smirking Lynndie England and her leash. Maybe it was the smarmy memos tapped out by soft-fingered lawyers itching to justify such barbarism.
or:
The Case Against George W. Bush By Ron Reagan Esquire http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/073104Y.shtml

Could it be true that even the Republicans are seeing the truth, especially the greediest among them?
The Right Wing's Deep, Dark Secret
By John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge The Los Angeles Times
Some hope for a Bush loss, and here's why.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/072904L.shtml

I mean, the same people who were just in Venezuela are coming up here to make sure the results are sanguine:
Foreign Monitors to Report on U.S. Presidential Vote
By Saul Hudson Reuters
Washington - Major international monitors will issue an unprecedented report on the handling of this year's U.S. presidential election, after the 2000 vote raised concerns of disenfranchisement, U.S. officials said on Monday.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/081004V.shtml

And with good reason; these clowns might do anything to keep the oil flowing:
Terror Alerts - Substance or Politics?
By Howard Dean YubaNet.com
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/081204X.shtml

Let me pause briefly to remember another country we helped undermine; no, it's not Panama, it's not Grenada, it's not Saharawi or El Salvador or Guatemala, it's the star of 1984 (remember Ed Asner and the holiday mining?)...Nicaragua. Optimists about Iraq can only look on with faint smiles at our success in rolling back the enemy on this front:
Sandinistas Revisited
By Sara Miles San Fransico Chronicle
A quarter century after the promise of the revolution, Nicaragua is bitter and exhausted.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080404L.shtml

If meat is murder, than politics is barbeque:
Angry doll marketer threatens to market Schwarzenegger urinal cakes
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040813/od_afp/us_people_offbeat_040813183426

Shall I say, like John Kerry, that "hope is on the way", or like the emergency light in the subway elevators, that "HELP IS ON THE WAY"?
The Race Is On: An Analysis of the Post-Convention Zogby Poll
By John Zogby and Christopher Conroy Zogby International
The most recent Zogby poll shows deeper trouble for President George W. Bush beyond just the horserace. Mr. Bush has fallen in key areas while Senator John Kerry has shored up numerous constituencies in his base. The Bush team's attempted outreach to base Democratic and swing constituency has shown to be a failure thus far, limiting his potential growth in the electorate.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080404K.shtml

Even in the South?
Across State of Virginia, Kerry Backers Sense a Shift
By Michael D. Shear Washington Post
Echoing Warner's words, Democrats think nominee can upend decades of GOP domination.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/073104J.shtml

But as I said, these people are without scruples:
Bush's Republicans Prepare for Their 'Dirty War' on Kerry
By Andrew Buncombe Independent UK
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080304E.shtml

What if they get what they want...will it be World War III or global economic collapse...or just us?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1272402,00.html
Pity the man who wins this election
Given the state of the economy, it would be better for Kerry if he lost
Larry Elliott
Friday July 30 2004
The Guardian
If defining Kerry has dominated events in Boston this week, a more interesting question is whether this is an election worth winning. For those who believe any price is worth paying to get rid of Bush, the answer, of course, is a resounding yes. Yet one look at the state of the world's biggest economy suggests that this may be a good election for the Democrats to lose. The next four years could be tough for the US - very tough indeed - and it would be fitting if Bush were left to clear up the almighty mess he has created.

I think my European friends would agree with this decision:
In Europe, passionate cheering for Kerry
Charles M. Sennott/The Boston Globe The Boston GlobeTuesday, July 27, 2004
The choice between John Kerry and George W. Bush will have its deepest impact not in the Middle East, but in Europe.
http://www.iht.com/articles/531202.html

A few Brazilians will cheer:
Singing Cabinet Minister Disowns 'Die, Bush' Call
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040818/od_nm/people_brazil_bush_dc

But the Russians will be busy with other matters of grave national significance:
Russian scientists claim discovery of alien spaceship wreck in Siberia
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040812/od_afp/russia_space_meteorite_040812065130

It's not like George Bush isn't trying...he's trying very hard to be President:
How to Lose the War on Terror
The American Conservative
A CIA bin Laden expert's lament One of the striking things about the Iraq War is the extent to which American foreign-affairs professionals-intelligence analysts, diplomats, and high-ranking military officers-recognize it is a tragically misguided venture. Among the most recent to speak out is the CIA officer formerly charged with analyzing Osama bin Laden. Known only as "Anonymous," he is the author of the new book Imperial Hubris -a scathing look at the way the United States has conducted the War on Terror thus far. TAC editors Philip Giraldi (a CIA veteran with extensive Mideast experience), Kara Hopkins, and Scott McConnell recently visited with the author. Here are excerpts of the conversation.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/072804L.shtml
or:
Pakistan: U.S. Blew Undercover Operation
MSNBC Islamabad, Pakistan - The al-Qaida suspect named by U.S. officials as the source of information that led to this week's terrorist alerts was working undercover, Pakistani intelligence sources said Friday, putting an end to the sting operation and forcing Pakistan to hide the man in a secret location.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080804Z.shtml
or:
White House Has Some Terror Experts Worried
By Jeffrey Fleishman Los Angeles Times Officials here and overseas say U.S. alerts and release of information could hinder broader investigations.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/081204W.shtml
or:
Unmasking of Qaeda Mole a U.S. Security Blunder-Experts
By Peter Graff Reuters London - The revelation that a mole within al Qaeda was exposed after Washington launched its "orange alert" this month has shocked security experts, who say the outing of the source may have set back the war on terror.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080804W.shtml
or:
Latest Bush Blunder:
A Mole Made Public By Joe Conason New York Observer
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/081304J.shtml

Yes, our spies here are also valued employees...
Whistle-Blowing Said to Be Factor in F.B.I. Firing
By Eric Lichtblau New York Times
Washington - A classified Justice Department investigation has concluded that a former F.B.I. translator at the center of a growing controversy was dismissed in part because she accused the bureau of ineptitude, and it found that the F.B.I. did not aggressively investigate her claims of espionage against a co-worker.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/073004Y.shtml
and:
UQ Wire:
Sibel Edmonds Letter To Thomas Kean Scoop
Open Letter To Thomas Kean - Chairman Of The 9/11 Commission - From FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080304W.shtml
or:
Another F.B.I. Employee Blows Whistle on Agency
By Eric Lichtblau New York Times Washington - As a veteran agent chasing home-grown terrorist suspects for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mike German always had a knack for worming his way into places few other agents could go.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080304Y.shtml

It's hard for me to care about unemployed spies, though, when my own career is in peril:
** Robots get bookish in libraries **
A robot prototype is being developed which could be the perfect companion worker for librarians.< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/3897583.stm >

Whatever works:
Giggling lawyer forces judge to briefly halt sentencing in Hong Kong
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20040810/ca_pr_on_od/oddity_laughing_lawyer

And finally, especially for Beth, the revenge of the RABBIT,
Blazing Bunny Spreads Fire at Cricket Club
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040814/od_nm/odd_britain_rabbit_dc

Vive le screed!