drat fink
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genuwine concern
bush read a reasonably good speech today, considering his point of view, outlining at least some american position on the middle east conflict. maybe theyve accepted that if they can broker a peace it would actually be a major foreign policy victory for bush. i would accept him as the reluctant peacemaker even if he was forced to confront the problem because of his desire to "get saddam". theres little downside for bush to get involved at this point as his lack of resolve is beginning to hurt him in the polls and he aint invading iraq without some arab acquiescence.
absolutely nothing
“Why should I go to kill and to be killed — for what?” says Ron, one of about 400 Israeli soldiers refusing to join the fight in the West Bank and Gaza.
“This is a war that we have no chance to win,” he says.
Lt. Itai Ryb got the call to serve on Friday. But this week he decided to pack not for war, but for jail, joining other refuseniks who have signed a letter saying they’d rather go to prison than serve in the military campaign.
“This war is not acceptable to me,” he says. “I can’t take part in it.”
The Israeli action in the West Bank is wrong, he says, because “it’s occupation, it’s illegal; mostly it harms the well-being of Israel. The sooner we end the occupation, the sooner we’re going to have peace in this country."
here i go again
"SANTA ANA, Calif. -- Actress Tawny Kitaen, wife of Cleveland Indians pitcher Chuck Finley, was charged Wednesday with spousal abuse and battery for allegedly attacking her husband."
(this was especially linkable because it lets me say, "dude...isnt that the chick from the whitesnake video?")
shotgun mic
"The International Federation of Journalists today launched a global solidarity appeal for Palestinian media staff under siege in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and an "end to targeting of journalists" by Israel in its military intervention in the West Bank."
uk is smoking
"The last political obstacle to the relaxation of Britain's cannabis laws will be cleared this month when the Commons home affairs select committee backs plans by the home secretary, David Blunkett, to downgrade the classification of the drug, the Guardian has learned"
plane facts
"A bizarre book claiming that the plane that ploughed into the Pentagon on September 11 never existed, and that the US establishment itself was at the heart of the New York and Washington attacks, has shot to the top of the French bestseller lists to indignation on both sides of the Atlantic."
flow down
americas most endangered rivers in 2002
flash forward
headlines wed like to see.
spin recycling
thus far, the mid-east conflict is a no-spin zone in washington as neither the dems nor repubs can conceive of any political advantage, at least, that is what The Note is divining from this mornings op-eds. however, the bushies will engage in poll driven nation building photo-ops from afghanistan for purely domestic political reasons, which is why Queen Oprah declined her invitation to tour the newly opened schools in afghanistan. some academic on c-span yesterday claimed the school program wouldnt even have been had not laura bush advocated for it.
next up for the bush pr machine -- poppy with poppies!!
see salts
"Little is known about the drug, salvia divinorum, or how it works on the brain and what its longterm effects might be. But word of its existence is spreading through e-mail chains and Web sites praising its potential, which has caught the attention of the Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA has included it on its list of "Drugs and Chemicals of Concern" and is considering whether to add the herb to its list of controlled substances."