The RipZAW |
|
|
Guaranteed Fair and Balanced, or your money back. Send a letter to the Editor... err, Writer. Blogger. Something.    Links to StuffNewsSalon.com Google News CNN International The Onion The Motley Fool Slate Fun Stuff Mark Fiore's Cartoons Homestar Runner.com Daryl Cagle's Pro Cartoonist Index Internet Bumper Stickers Belief System Selector Odd Todd As the Apple Turns Where's George? Oddlots Irregulars Citizen's Survival Tools Project Vote Smart Congress.org Government Information Awareness Clicks for Charity The Hunger Site Ecology Fund Things I'm a Member of American Civil Liberties Union League of Conservation Voters MoveOn.org Our Campaigns Other Blogs The Homeless Guy Spinsanity The Moderate Republican Where is Raed? Granny D Atrios Daily Kos Talking Points Memo Political Animal IMPORTANT Cartoons We Drink Ritalin The End of the World Super Mario Brothers: [1] [2] [3] All Your Base 
Visitors:
Archives
|
Saturday, April 05, 2003
OK, this is getting kind of ridiculous. Now Peter Arnett is reporting for Al-Arabiya TV, based out of Dubai, UAE. Now, I've been willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, and figure he just made a really dumb move by giving and interview to Iraqi TV, but I'm starting to wonder just whose side this guy's on. I'm still not on Jim "think like me or get out of my country" Bunning's boat to accuse Arnett of treason, nor do I ever plan to be unless he starts telling Saddam where our troops are, how to get at them, and wishing him luck. I'm just saying, the man ought to realize he's making a lot of people back home very uncomfortable, and destroying his career in the process. Note: I have never seen Al-Arabiya TV, nor have I read any transcripts of their coverage. For all I know, they might be gung ho pro US. I am operating solely on the basis that reporting for an Arab network right now looks really, really bad to all us unwashed masses. | Friday, April 04, 2003
Philip Morris thought that changing their name to the innocuous-yet-bizarre Altria Group would help save them from the ravaging hordes of anti-tobacco crusaders. Unfortunately, the factor they left out when considering this strategy is that they are, in fact, still a tobacco company. The current $10 Billion judgment against them in Illinois may have helped them toward that realization. The lawsuit stems from Flip Mo's "light" cigarette brands, which they marketed as safer, even though they weren't. The Marlboro man claims that this judgment will drive the company into bankruptcy, which seems rather unlikely, given Altria's steady $2-$4 billion net quarterly profits, but the company might just be looking for an excuse to go into Chapter 11 - it would likely get them out of their obligations under the 1998 tobacco settlement, at least temporarily. The State of Illinois refused to write a new law to make it cheaper and easier for Altria to appeal, in a rare example of government not caving to corporate demands. I don't know exactly what my position is here. I'm certainly no fan of the tobacco industry. On the other hand, everyone knows cigarettes kill you, and I sort of want to say that if you're still smoking them, that's your problem. At least this lawsuit has some amount of sense, as it implies that the people harmed had good reason to beleive that the cigarettes they were smoking wouldn't kill them. $10 billion though? That's a lot of cash for an issue we've been over a thousand times before. And if Flip Mo does use this as an excuse to get out of its tobacco settlement payments, it's going to have a ripple effect on a lot of near-broke states that are counting on that money. The issue's more complicated than I wish it were. | Thursday, April 03, 2003
At least it's better than Operation "Iraqi Freedom": The British operation in Iraq has been named Operation "James". Apparently, Saddam is a rabid 007 fan, so it's only fitting that the super agent is coming to get him now. So far, the British have bombed targets code named "Blofeld", "Connery", and of course "Pussy" and "Galore". | Interestingly enough, Arnett has been picked up by TV stations in Greece and Belgium to do daily reports from Iraq, in addition to his print work for the Daily Mirror. | I have a feeling this war's starting to wind down. I'm hoping it's true. I noted a few items in today's CNN news: First, Iraq's propaganda claims are starting to get more ridiculous. Apparently, we're not within 100 miles of Baghdad, and we never even got to Umm Qasr. Second, Iraq just released Grand Ayatollah Sistani, one of Iraq's foremost religious leaders who had been under house arrest for some time. Sistani had issued fatwas urging Iraqis to resist the US invasion while in custody; he changed his tune upon release, urging Iraqis not to interfere with US forces. Then, third, there's Iraq's expulsion of an Al-Jazeera journalist, which caused Al-Jazeera to fold up their Iraq operations. Al-Jazeera was Iraq's main media ally, if it could be called that - I can't imagine what they were thinking unless this was some kind of act of desperation, turning on everyone as the end approached. None of this stuff by any stretch of the imagination constitutes hard evidence of the war's progress, but I'll take whatever I can get. | It seems Peter Arnett was immediately picked up by England's Daily Mirror after being fired by NBC. While I can't blame NBC for firing him, I also can't blame the Mirror for picking him up. It's not often that you get the chance to grab a Pulitzer Prize-winner who happens to be set up to report in the middle of a war zone. Meanwhile, Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky) has announced he wants to try Arnett for treason. I propose we try Bunning for being a moron. | Tuesday, April 01, 2003
Apparently, the "adult entertainment" industry has got their strategery on, as they ask "Will War be Good or Bad for [the porn] Business?" Today's moment of Zen, courtesy of Eric J. White of Virtual Reality Innovations Inc.: "In this case, I think the liberation of the Iraqi people and the freedom to think for themselves will create a new customer pool for everyone in the adult industry," he said. "What better way for these people to finally be able to deal with their pent-up sexual frustration? When they have freedoms like us, they'll have access to the World Wide Web and unfettered access to satisfy their sexual urges." | Monday, March 31, 2003
By the way, shortly after I published the link to Philip Robertson's report earlier, I found this report. A van didn't stop at a military checkpoint in Iraq. The US Army fired on it. It was full of women and children. 7 of them are dead. I don't know if it was avoidable, but 7 innocents are dead. War is hazardous to children and other living things. Noctem in pace. | Looks like Geraldo Rivera is getting kicked out of Iraq by the US military for being a dumbass. He probably deserved it. Plus, I'm always happy to see FOX News get a black eye. Guilty pleasure. | The Defense Department has announced it is treating captured Iraqis as Prisoners of War. To which I respond, what the hell else would you treat them as? "Terrorists"? What kind of sense would that make? | According to Philip Robertson, Salon's correspondent in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurdish militia has been slowly advancing toward Kirkuk as the Iraqi army retreats under US bombardment (the report is here). Only a few Iraqis have surrendered, thanks to a Stalinesque military police that shoots deserters on sight. Those who have made it over the lines seem to believe that the US air strikes have been more a warning than a concerted attack. As one of them said: "The airplanes were flying very low over our position and it was very easy for them to kill us, but they did not. They were so close we could see the pilots. We understood that it was a message and it was a warning for us. The message was, 'We don't want to kill you. Run away.'" Good to know. If it's true, it gives me faith in the goodness of the American soldier. They want to win, not kill. | So Peter Arnett, NBC and National Geographic reporter (formerly of CNN during Gulf War I), gave an interview to Iraqi state television. That didn't make much sense to me, but NBC immediately put out a notice saying they supported him, and that he had given the interview as a professional courtesy. Then they fired him. While I hate to see a veteran newsman go like that, I can't say I blame them. | |