Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Targeting Iran: A Day at the Arms Races

Posted by Mickey Z on 01/17 at 06:56 AM
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  1. its a little crude bt i love the duck soup joke about

    “c’mon boys we are fighting to defend this womans honour which lets face it is more than she ever did”

    it seems undecided how far the UK are going to go with the US on the Iran thing. Blair is using the ‘ruling nothing out’ chat but the foreign secretary (jack straw - or jackboot si vous prefere) has been contradicting him saying the UK will not get into it. for the record, vietnam was the last time the UK didn’t go, although they did provide logistical support.

    In powells interview he was asked if he deceived the UN. he said no, its just that we were wrong.

    so thats ok then?!?

    the full interview is worth a look. all about iran and iraq so on topic for today. its about 15 minutes long and you can get it here http://tinyurl.com/bjbnb (video link top right)

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  01/17  at  08:35 AM

  2. i wan’t particularly involved with the powell thing. it was way too cold!

    a lot of other people had red paint on their hands and were doing the blood on your hands thing. i had a little solo to myself and sang ‘gloves on my hands’

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  01/17  at  08:41 AM

  3. The bbc has started listing news items with relevance percentages? ugh that´s nasty. Here is the most explicitly Orwellian advert I have ever seen, currently in every metro station in city. It reads “You want peace. We work for it.” It´s for the Spanish army, and they say Happy Holidays at the bottom. Excuse the size if it is too big, but the only other size is to small to see.

    Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

    p.s. cheers Michael.

    Posted by Owen from Barcelona  on  01/17  at  09:06 AM

  4. Hi All...I have just returned to the computer after a very unpleasant interruption from the brutal fist of the government. Have been under a Court Order. Yesterday was a 300 mile day, on very icy roads...10 hours, mostly in a car, no time for food or meals of any kind. Fortunately, I was allowed to take my own bread and water. It is a good thing that I am not any older, I would not be able to keep up this pace. I am recovering and VERY happy to be back among friends at Mickey’s.

    Just read comments from Sunday. This one from Keir #32 has special meaning today for me. “There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The line that divides them is not clear. But the Penal Code distinguishes between them by the useful concept of premeditation. We are living in the era of premeditation and perfect crimes.”
    #34 from Cart about the bumper sticker is a good one. I am waiting and hoping to see one someday that says, “GOD FORGIVE AMERICA” instead of, “God Bless America”.

    I am snowed in and iced in, so I better try to deal with the little food emergency at the moment. A big glass of carrot juice is part of the plan for today.  Later...... (my captcha word is “cold”. Mickey, your site is psychic and the captcha word has a very sadistic sense of humor.)

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  01/17  at  09:14 AM

  5. Good morning all, and a shout out to Big Country JOS!

    Forbes Book Club, eh MZ?  Let’s hope you’re outraged all the way to the bank.  Boxes and boxes and boxes of your books being given as corporate gifties, and the money flowing in just in time for you to go house-hunting.

    Good morning, Michael, chilling (pun optional) stuff re: Powell.

    Hi Owen!  What a creepy sign.  Recruitment posters are always a little disturbing to me, but this one’s (you should forgive, Michael) Orwellian in its Big Brother eyeball-ness.  One wonders, or at least I wonder, who that guy just “shot” to need to confort the litte girl....

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  01/17  at  09:17 AM

  6. Just glanced at today’s paper....Yesterday one of my friends was arrested at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant. Mary Alice Herbert was also the VP nominee of the Socialist Party. Knowing Mary, it was her way of honoring MLK.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  01/17  at  09:22 AM

  7. Just one more thing...all of newsspeak about whether or not a “terrorist” was killed in the drone attack in Pakistan is missing the point. The news speakers never mention that maybe it is not a good idea to kill civilians just because someone that the USA doesn’t like might be nearby.

    Hi Mudge, michael, Owen, et al.
    Now, I am really going in chase of that carrot juice.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  01/17  at  09:29 AM

  8. Good morning MZ, Mudge, RMJ and the rest of the Ever Expanding Expendables…

    MZ: Seems Press Action beat you to your own article (read it yesterday)... As far as the Forbes Book Club: I think you should be flattered in the sense that your work is considered important enough to be included. The book is also your most accessible work to date, and I think that’s a major reason as well. Then again, maybe your name is now on the official “spy list” and they just want to keep tabs on you (eek!)...

    RMJ: Been away for some time because of my computer, so I’m kind of lost as to what’s going on with your case. Care to give me a quick summary? Wishing you the best.

    Posted by RT from The Buyou City  on  01/17  at  09:35 AM

  9. Good Morning MZ, Michael, Owen, RMJ and Good morning JOS,

    Great press action piece Mickey.

    Owen that advert is creepy. That sort of clever marketing really bothers me. Subconsiously affecting the way people percieve the services for which they are taxed and the administrative bodies that provide them, and of course the language and the photo peace=good hospital care? STFU about global politics because you’ve got health care??
    CREEPY.

    Rosemarie I’d like to ask more about your experience and the court order etc. but I assume that now’s not the appropriate time. I sincerely hope that you’re vindicated promptly and without much further ado. It’s a disgrace that you’re being made to run hither and yon and not even being able to feed yourself properly while you’re doing it.  I look forward to a day very soon when you’re free to tell your side of this story.

    Hey where’s Joe been lately?
    Mudge I hope today’s a good gout day. (surely there must be such a thing - or am I just being twisted?)

    Anybody: Am I correct in thinking that yesterday was a holiday in the US? The idiot box said that your stock exchange in NY was closed and I wondered what with James mentioning the community action ...how’d that go?

    Execution #2 in California today.  Is that the 2nd in as many months? Apparently it’s the mans birthday too. Birthday=Deathday.

    So many “ways” in which the state attempts to strip it’s citizens of their minds and their dignity.

    Posted by Amelopsis from Canada  on  01/17  at  09:36 AM

  10. RMJ, don’t let the bastards grind you down (as if you ever would)

    i don’t know that much about forbes so i won’t say anymore about it!

    want to post a couple of pics that r better than the video clip from scotland indymedia. the tv always misrepresent what really happens at these things. a few people blocked the road for a while and were shoved back. there were no arrests and no violence.

    Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
    Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

    my back is in the second one bt i not telling where!

    P.s. i have never been a member of the communist party and don’t ever intend to be.

    captcha is “activity”!!

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  01/17  at  09:41 AM

  11. Hello all, I am back for short visit.  I saw Studs Terkel last night at the Steppenwolf Theatre.  I was there watching an Antiwar event which ended with him reading a poem he wrote.  It was pretty cool…

    All is well otherwise, great to “see” everyone.

    Posted by JOS from Northwestern University's Theater Department  on  01/17  at  10:17 AM

  12. Good morning, dear RMJ!  I am so pleased you survived your miserable ordeal.  What was it the court ordered you to do up there on the Canuckistani frontier?  At any rate, scarf that carrot juice and recover your strength, okay?

    Youngfox, from yesterday: “Mudge” is a clip of “curmudgeon,” which appropriately sums up my dyspeptic attitude about the human race.  We’re vile, irredeemable scum, and there is no shred of hope that any system based on honor or fairness not backed up by hideous, draconian penalties for abuse will ever do anything except magnify and multiply the miseries of the weak majority.

    Happy Tuesday!  Glad you’re here!

    Helga, from yesterday:  I am even more mortally wounded and offended than I was before!!  You mean to tel me that I went to all the trouble of ignoring you for something you don’t even remember doing?!  >sob<

    You committed a crime against my ego, and here in the NUtI that’s punishable by eternal membership n the Conservative Party’s Yes-Man Squad without the possibility of parole.  You failed to acknowledge publicly that, when we were posting poems, my haiku was a Saddam-style masterwork, or a Kim Jong-Il-type artistic rave.

    Of course I’m just teasing you!  I know you’re always very aware of people’s feelings and sensitive to their perceptions of themselves, so I wanted to have a little fun by pretending you weren’t.  First rule of teasing, according to my family: Never kid about what’s true!  If someone is a little bit slow on the uptake, that’s taboo in teasing.  If someone’s heftier than they once were, that’s taboo in teasing.  The exceptions are all on the part of the person whose “flaws” one might tease...I can say I’m fat, you can’t, kind of thing.

    So, if I’m teasing you about being unkind even in the mildest way, it’s because I know you’re the soul of kindness and can rest assured that I’m not knocking you for real.  If you prefer, I won’t tease again.  I haven’t any desire to cause stress where I intend merriment!

    Empress, from yesterday: Podcasting is the wave of the future in blogging.  It’s the Internet version of satellite radio…no commercials, just content.  No worries, dearie, we’re a long way from being able to afford anything like that.  I’m still more interested in a webcast/public-access talk show of Cool Observer.  I assume MZ will chase Sander up about the idea, since it’s part of the marketing proposal for There Are No Good Wars that I hoped Sander would make to Jeffrey Skoll, the eBay billionaire.

    When shall I come for lunch?  It might end up as a longer stay, be warned…I’m still homeless….

    Chris, from last night: Brass bras, eh?  Don’t let CatLady James hear you say that, he’s got a thing about freaking out over bitch tits.  That’d send him over the edge, and we’d have to find homes for Frank and Roddy.

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  01/17  at  10:23 AM

  13. Big Country!  Good to see your name, and glad all is well, and the chance to see Studs Terkel was cool!

    RT, welcome home.

    Empress #9: MLK Day is indeed a Federal holiday.  In Texas when I was a youth, we had January 19 off because it was Robert E Lee’s birthday.  This was the 1970s.  Court-ordered integration in 1972 put an end to that little vestige of the Confedracy.

    I do not get at all why the State of California felt it necessary to kill that mean old man.  One of the long-ago victims’ sister was on morning TV yesterday, saying she felt the execution was merited because his mind was still sharp.  He understood WHY he was being exeecuted.

    What a nauseous way to start the day THAT was.  No one watching it could escape the conclusion that this woman was out for revenge.  Her sole motivation for wanting this evil deed to happen was so she could feel like her side won.

    Mutually Assured Desctruction, anyone?

    Michael #10: Great photos, you Commie bastard.

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  01/17  at  10:34 AM

  14. #12: agh! Big Bob didn’t have a brass bra! This’ll never go away…

    Posted by James from Hell's Kitchen  on  01/17  at  11:21 AM

  15. Hi everyone!
    Glad to get a chance to drop in, our internet has been mostly down this last week or so because of massive rain. I got a lucky window this morning. smile

    Owen, that ad reminds me of one AOL has been broadcasting recently against the internet.

    “Voice over The internet is one of the most dangerous weapons every created. A way for the unhinged to spread evil, free of supervision or censorship.”

    It’s really, really creepy check it out over here.

    http://tinyurl.com/e2uh4


    Looking forward to book club this Sunday. Take care everyone.

    Peace,
    Luna

    Posted by Luna_C from the Delta  on  01/17  at  11:30 AM

  16. Hello Expendables,

    From Mickey’s post:  Senator John F. Kerry declared: “The United States of America never goes to war because we want to; we only go to war because we have to.”

    Is there a better example of the concept that money and power will corrupt the best of them?

    He went from war hero to war protestor (his pinnacle)... then married into the Heinz fortune, sold his soul to the Senatorial Satan… and has come full circle as an apologist for war.

    What’s left but to feel utter disdain for the man?

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  01/17  at  12:30 PM

  17. totally off topic but i just went outside for a cigarette and a fox came up and sat right next to me.

    i didn’t think they were supposed to do that

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  01/17  at  01:03 PM

  18. Enjoy it Michael. I love it when stuff like that happens. And greetings to all. Sweet pic Owen, thanks for sharing.

    Hey Mickey on the Forbes thing, it’s probably a good thing. Hey, maybe one of those businessmen will take something to heart, and those dudes have power and influence. Maybe he’ll make everyone beneath him read it and take it to heart. Maybe I’ll be working for him and finally get a copy of my own!

    But on the other hand, I was thinking yesterday about all those movies out recently--Lord of War, Syriana, etc etc etc. And then “Live from Baghdad”, this tv-movie about CNN in Gulf War I with Michael Keaton, came on tv (complete with Dutch Airforce commercials). Is Hollywood getting a conscience---and then, by extension, popular culture, including the smattering of businessmen who will read your book---or are they just selling one?

    Posted by Keir from The Hague  on  01/17  at  01:14 PM

  19. Oh dear lord Expendables-- staffing agency just contacted me saying they need me to interview ASAP for a full-time proofreading job! Off I go, wish me luck from around the globe… whammmy sure could help now, Uncle Mudge… !

    Posted by James from Hell's Kitchen  on  01/17  at  01:28 PM

  20. Good Luck James!

    Kurt Nimmo’s Brilliant ‘Another Day in the Empire’ Is Gone: http://tinyurl.com/bcdy6

    Posted by tm from a town  on  01/17  at  01:57 PM

  21. Afternoon Expendables.

    James my captcha says “living” so that MUST be all about you making one with a spanking new job - Best of luck at the interview!

    MZ I think the voice of Skeletor should feature on your future podcasts, providing Mudge approves of the ‘talent’?  Come to think of it, I’m sure Skeletor should be able to magic up the required funds too. (Maybe he’s working through Forbes!?)

    Horrible news about Kurt Nimmo.
    Zionism’s consequences have long tentacles indeed, and the US ‘democracy’ takes yet another blow as free speach is stifled yet again.

    Luna I hope the rain stops for you out there - one day’s respite is hardly enough to fend off landslides.

    Michael you must be blowing off some good vibes for the fox to join your company. I think an event like that is an omen of sorts.

    Hawk, if Kerry or any other Democrats wish to be a viable alternative they’ve got plenty of work to do. I doubt they’re overly concerned though. They’re a dark gray pot to a black kettle.

    Hope the day’s going well for all.

    Posted by Amelopsis from Icey Canada  on  01/17  at  02:21 PM

  22. Another great post, Mickey - Helga is repeating herself again.  Love the Marx brothers’ films, and you always find the right quotes.  I think the reasons for going to war are often frivolous, and not only in the US. 
    And Mudge, thanks for your explanation - you can tease me again if you want to!  Should have known that someone with such a great sense of humour meant no harm.
    Here’s a joke re MLK Day coming from a New York Jew on the occasion of our 1996 visit to the States (that was the year with the worst snowstorms in 50 years, and we were in the middle of them in NYC):  a tradesman did not want to come to his house because of the public holiday, so Jason had this to say:  “Now he discovers it is MLK Day.  If he had caught the guy while he was alive, he would have tarred and feathered him.”
    And hi, Michael, Owen, RMJ, Amelopsis, JOS, James, Luna_C, tm, Hawk, Keir - the whole rest of the expendables family.  Have I forgotten anyone?  These greetings come from a warm Daylesford (another day with more than 86F ahead).

    Captcha:  ‘later’.  Catch you all later!

    Posted by Helga Fremlin from Daylesford, Australia  on  01/17  at  02:44 PM

  23. Michael, thanks for the link to the metro advert in Barcelona.  Didn’t Gore Vidal say it was now ‘perpetual war for perpetual peace’?
    And RMJ, I hope you are felling good!  GOD FORGIVE AMERICA sounds like a good slogan - could equally be GOD FORGIVE AUSTRALIA ..

    Posted by Helga Fremlin from Daylesford, Australia  on  01/17  at  02:48 PM

  24. Mudge from Dear, dead Austin, you might be interested: I’m listening to the Michelangelo Signorile show even while I type this.  Mike just mentioned that there is an initiative underway in Ca trying to get rid of certain outrageous defences put forward in the instances of gay bashing.  I hope it succeeds!
    And JOS, I heart Studs Terkel.  A great guy!

    Posted by Helga Fremlin from Daylesford, Australia  on  01/17  at  03:02 PM

  25. Best of luck, James.

    Mudge, I never discuss my man boobs with those who are oddly effected by them. 

    MZ - I don’t know what to say!  All those Fortune 500 dicks reading your book over their cigars & $200 dinners ... the world gets odder by the day.  Doubt you’ll start using high tech organisers & limos, but if you do, hope Michelle biffs you over the head with a rolled up newspaper. 

    How did that happen?  I wouldn’t have thought it was their bag at all!

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  01/17  at  03:06 PM

  26. GOOD LUCK, James!

    And I LOVE the fox story, Michael.  There are quite a few foxes in Australian suburbs, too.

    Posted by Helga Fremlin from Daylesford, Australia  on  01/17  at  03:08 PM

  27. Helga re 23 - what has Oz done wrong in the same league as current US foreign policy?  The Aboriginies (sic?) got a terrible time, & Rolf Harris wasn’t easy to get over, but you bear no responsibility for Kylie Minogue.  That’s just genetic modification gone too far.

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  01/17  at  03:08 PM

  28. BTW, saw Jarhead today.  Found many parts of superb & what wasn’t said, but implied, was excellent.  The achieving of military “respect,” for example. 

    A superb illustration, though, of how much the government values those who fight their wars.  I woudl recommend it, but maybe (& this is an unusual recommendation) read the book first.  The book is far better, natch.

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  01/17  at  03:15 PM

  29. MZ, I have a request.  Could you quote the necessaries from Spins that cover the Iran build up?  Especially if that could be mixed in with current refs.  I realise there is part of that in today’s article, but more reminders are always welcome.

    Best to all.

    Posted by Chris Wood from Manchester, England  on  01/17  at  03:26 PM

  30. Hello Expendables. Wow, I am so far behind with the comments, I’m not sure if I can even catch up. For now, let me say it’s great to see Luna, RT, and JOS back. Good luck on the interview, James. Chris, I can’t get to your Spins request at the moment. Very cool fox story, Michael. I wish I could’ve seen it.

    Hello Hawk, Mudge, Helga, Empress, Keir, Owen, RMJ, and TM (the news about Kurt Nimmo is absolutely chilling).

    Be back soon…

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  01/17  at  03:35 PM

  31. Regarding Kurt Nimmo:

    I emailed him about closing down his blog, and he wrote back to say that he will continue to do his normal kick-ass journalism and is looking for a proper venue, having decided that a blog is not the right place for his stuff.  He wants to put out one or two serious pieces a week.

    The good news is, he also plans to write blog-type pieces on a mostly-daily basis, and email them to anyone who asks to be put on his list.  Just write to him at:

    k.nimmo at comcast.net

    ... and ask to be included.  He seems pleased at the positive response he’s received.

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  01/17  at  03:51 PM

  32. Hi all dashing in to say MOJO WHAMMY MO-LUXE on James’s new permanent gig, with salary and benefits.  I read it, meditated on it, now live it.

    Off to writer’s group soon and still sorting out papers.  Many many trash bags.  All have confidential info, so I sracked to eggs in each bag to rot and stink.  Try that when discarding old confidentials if you have no shredder, or if you just wanna be REEEEEAL sure no one opens that bag.

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  01/17  at  03:54 PM

  33. For those unfamiliar with Kurt Nimmo: http://tinyurl.com/daurr

    P.S. Where’s Joe?

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  01/17  at  03:58 PM

  34. Great piece on Kurt, Mickey.  Thanks for posting it.

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  01/17  at  04:11 PM
  35. \melopsis #21:  I just noticed that you responded to my Kerry comment.

    For me, John Kerry is the face of a hollow shell of a political party—a party that once stood for the working person, for women, minorities and all the rest of us who don’t sit on a corporate board of directors.  That party is long gone, replaced by platitudinous corporate shills who, to varying degrees, manage to mouth phrases carefully crafted to keep the “base” in line.  The “base” may be hypnotized by the machines of our consumerist culture… but at some point, even the most brainwashed of us has to realize that we’re being enslaved, one stolen election at a time.

    The time for choosing the least odious option is long “past” as far as I’m concerned....

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO, USA  on  01/17  at  04:16 PM

  36. Okay, here’s an attempt to catch up. Forgive me if I miss someone. Firstly, Rosemarie, please update us on your case. For anyone wanting al ittle background on RMJ, here’s an interview I did with her: http://tinyurl.com/byb6w (I have an article for every occasion)

    Mudge: What are you plans, re: moving?
    Owen: Great image.
    RT: Well, if I’m gonna be on spy list, let it be the “official” one. Seriously, I doubt anyone in the gov’t is wasting time monitoring yours truly.
    Empress: What does Skeletor sound like? I often find a weird image and use it without context...on a whim. I know nothing about Skeletor but I just liked the way it looked when he (?) laughed.
    Luna: The Fight Club discussion starts on Tuesday, not Sunday.
    Keir: I think Hollywood is doing something like what it did in the post-Watergate era. The Bush debacle has opened a window for dissent. Let’s hope it doesn’t lead to another Reagan as the 70s wave did.
    Helga: When I worked in a big, ritzy gym, all the rich Wall Street brokers used to laugh and call MLK Day: “ Black Monday.” Clever, huh?
    Chris: Can you be more precise as to what you’re asking me to do?
    Hawk: Kerry is the perfect example of what happens when one enters the world of U.S. politics. He was never exactly radical...but whatever rebel he did have in him had to be erased. I just hope some of the Left learned their lesson in 2004.

    How’s that?

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  01/17  at  04:39 PM

  37. Hi everyone...Wow, I can’t keep up....so much going on here today.
    First about Mickey and the Forbes Book Club. Soon our leader will be joining the Country Club and buying a yacht. Actually, I think that it is great news. The farther to the Right that we can penetrate, the better. Let’s work to get him on with Bill O’Rielly and Rush Limbaugh. Mick could take them both on in his sleep.
    That is terrible about Kurt Nimmo. I am really not too surprised though. We need to stand by him.
    RT, Michael, Mudge, Helga thanks for the kind words of support. I won’t lose, until I give up, and that’s not about to happen. VT Supreme Court is still making its decision, RT.
    I have been thinking a lot today about the homeless men in Florida (and other places) who have been being beaten up by young men. I think that approx. 25 homeless are killed every year like that. It takes a really sick culture to produce that kind of hate crime/sadism/perversion.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  01/17  at  04:43 PM

  38. Yo, regarding Jarhead...I haven’t seen it yet but I did read a fascinating article about it, and war films in general, in the November Harper’s. Anyone else catch it? It’s not online yet but when it gets there I’ll drop a link here, I think all y’all Expendables would enjoy.

    Posted by Keir from The Hague  on  01/17  at  06:44 PM

  39. Hey everyone, thanks too Mudge’s whammy and the worldwide support, and maybe my eagle eyed proofreading skills, I now have a full-time job starting next week! Proofing in an evil accounting firm further east in midtown, so I guess that Ward Churchill has a certain nasty name for me, but unless he’s gonna pay my rent, the heck with him!

    And lay off Kylie Minogue, she’s beautiful and just battled breast cancer and back in college or whenever I used to believe that she and I would be together someday.

    Posted by James from Hell's Kitchen  on  01/17  at  07:44 PM

  40. Way to go, James!

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO  on  01/17  at  08:12 PM

  41. Thanks Hawkman, and you do all know that you’re invited to my housewarming party, right? Saturday 1/28, I’ll be cooking so much food, inviting everyone I can think of, blasting lots of lousy 80s music, it’ll be awesome.

    I’m exhausted from this proofreading test and interview…

    Posted by James from Hell's Kitchen  on  01/17  at  08:16 PM

  42. JAMES!!! Congratulations! That’s great news. How’s Frank been btw?

    MZ, Skeletor sounds a lot less imposing than you might think:
    http://tinyurl.com/8fqpy
    (sorry - best I could find and it’s odd - skeletor does the intro)
    I also found a video of some guys doing a song they made up about Skeletor’s love of Beast Man but I decided it was too rude to post here.(I laughed my head off though - it was so off the wall ridiculous)

    Posted by Amelopsis from Canada  on  01/17  at  08:47 PM

  43. Just read this interesting bit about CNN and Iran regarding the network having incorrectly translated ‘nuclear weapons’ instead of ‘nuclear energy’. Here’s an excerpt of CNN correcting their quote of Ahmadinejad :

    "In fact, he said that Iran has the right to nuclear energy. He added that ‘a nation that has civilization does not need nuclear weapons and our nation does not need them.’

    full article here: http://tinyurl.com/9ler4

    Captcha says “hospital”. Here’s hoping no Expendables are to be found in one.

    Where IS Joe?

    Posted by Amelopsis from Canada  on  01/17  at  08:57 PM

  44. Come home, JOE!!!!!!!!!!!

    Posted by Hawk from Boulder, CO  on  01/17  at  09:00 PM

  45. Bravo, James. And Empress, thanks (I think) for the Skeletor link. I was expecting something a bit more, uh, Darth Vader-ish.

    I have a confession to make. Michele and I spent some of tonight sitting on the couch, laughing our asses off at the American Idol auditions. I’m not sure, but this may mean I have to turn in my secret radical I.D. card. (captcha sez: square)

    P.S. Hawk, I e-mailed Joe.

    G’night, all.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  01/17  at  10:03 PM

  46. James #39: So so so so happy to hear the good news!!  {{{James}}} (cyberhug protocol from other boards)

    American Idol auditions were exactly what I needed.  I watched the last hour and snorted cuckled groaned screehed and gaped.  I was, in short, Murrican for 44 min.

    The whole thing I’ve carefully crafted fell apart.  The friend I was planning to stay with chose now, thank GOD, to tell me she has 4 cats.

    I can’t breathe for long with cats in the room.

    Oh, and her elderly chow doesn’t like other dogs.  So she’d rea;;y rather not have the dogs.

    Dave (brother) said he’s game to keep them for a while.  Then he caled me back to tell me he can’t yet because he forgot he’s going away this weekend on his stag camping trip.  And his fiancee might need the house, so I ,ight not be able to stay there, which was my first proposal.  He’ll get back to me tomorrow.

    Then there’s the niece situation.  At this point, I think I’ll just move into their garage and set up my desk, my bed, and call it good.

    Writer’s group kept me sane.  My friend Jason the right-wing Christian has been a complete rock, showing up with his bright yellow pickup and hefting boxes and generally making me feel like I’m getting stuff done.

    But damn, this sucks when I can’t control any facet of my own life.

    /whine

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  01/17  at  10:31 PM

  47. With an emboldened and arrogant Israel willing to drop bombs and terrorize any given neighbour at any given time (while holding a nuclear arsenal speculated to be approximately the size of France’s nuke arse), I would not blame any Arab or Persian nation for wanting to have the same M. A. D. as say the U.S. and Ruskies had during the “cold war”.

    Quite frankly, I prefer Iran’s bellicose sabre rattling because it let’s me know what is going on as far as their intentions.
    (unlike the Zionist state that wages a cowardly ‘war by way of deception’, often skilfully setting up their enemies to take the blame for their murderous actions.)

    The question is not why would Iran want the bomb. I think the question should be why isn’t Israel’s benefactor (‘Merka) attempting to disarm Israel and ban nukes in the Middle East altogether? 
    Yes, it would be hypocritical but isn’t hypocrisy the Cheney Cartel’s specialty?

    Too many of the “End Time” Neocon fundies in the American power structure are too busy trying to facilitate the coming of their War God and the end of humanity. They love Iran’s new Fundie leader (who is also a big “End Time” believer).
    His hubris-riddled bravado makes their pernicious goals more easily attainable.

    It never ceases to amaze me how the most murderous and hate-filled people in the world claim to be the most pious advocates of their respective monotheistic control cults.
    .......

    WWSD?
    He would blackmail and extort his way through the ranks of Neocon America to become the minister of Homeland Security.

    ”Hahahaha not even He-Man can stop me from turning America into a police-state prison camp!”

    .......

    Nimmo’s withdrawal is a shame. His in your face style of no nonsense observations is BEST suited for a blog/website. I believe he is right about the stifling of “real” media and as the Repugnicans attempt to light the world on fire it will only get worse.

    Posted by Youngfox from The end of Canada  on  01/17  at  10:52 PM

  48. Mick,
    Don’t fuss - the Forbes thing is an honour.
    (even those swine know the value of real American history.)
    With writings like yours it is all about exposure. You must get the word out.
    You must expose your work.
    If you must be temporarily aligned with pigdogs in order to “catapult” the message-so be it!  Take a nice long shower and I’m sure the stains will wash out.

    I would imagine being an indy media darling is great but it is well past time to go mainstream where you may rake the eyes of the mundane breeder/eaters who would otherwise not get MZ exposure.
    It’s the message not the medium in this case and all possible methods must be utilized in order to snap Americans out of the trance-like zombie stupor they have been labouring under since 01’. Your slice of unconventional history will be a refreshing tonic for those who have been forced to drink the poisoned bile of the military industrial coup and the rise of the new evil empire.

    Hell I even began to write a review of your book for the seven people who read my blog (until I realized that I have no business reviewing books or anything else).

    Rock n’ Roll, Kung fu Writer Monkey !

    Posted by Youngfox from Soon to be NeoConada  on  01/17  at  11:18 PM

  49. “In powells interview he was asked if he deceived the UN. he said no, its just that we were wrong.”

    I saw that. I was actually pretty impressed with the interviewer for pushing the matter with him. Of course, Powell knew he was “misleading” the world when he presented his sleight-of-hand show before the world.

    He held up that little vial and insinuated that Iraq had weaponized powdered anthrax, knowing all the while that even if Iraq still had any anthrax, which was doubtful, it was a toxic sludge that could only kill you if it landed on your head or you scooped it up and drank it.

    My favorite part was where he said that the tubes precise manufacturing was evidence that they were to be used in a centrifuge, even though he just acknowledged a few sentences earlier that the tubes would require alteration before being used. In other words, he argued that evidence AGAINST such a use was evidence FOR such a use. That was very Orwellian of him.

    As for Iran, I seem to recall the IAEA issuing a report saying “To date, there is no evidence
    that the previously undeclared nuclear material and activities referred to above were related to a nuclear weapons programme.”

    Let’s hope the propagandists in the White House aren’t so successful this time around. Might do Americans some good to learn from the past.

    Peace

    Posted by Jeremy from   on  01/22  at  01:01 AM

  50. Thanks, Jeremy. You said it: Might do Americans some good to learn from the past.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  01/22  at  07:54 AM

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