~ bush is pissed that a christian in afghanistan is scheduled to be executed for being a christian in afghanistan:

“It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because he chose a different religion over another.” -gwbush

didn’t we march freedom into that place years ago? we sponsored the afghan’s writing of their own constitution which establishes islamic law. the afghan people have spoken (‘kill all christians’), which is what we asked for, so why the bitching from bush? if our marching of freedom and spreading of democracy is to always result in islamic fundamentalist regimes, then we can skip iran – it’s already spoken for – because we know that ‘spreading democracy’ will be the next excuse for invading iran once the administration realizes that every sensible listener will hear the claim that iran is moments away from transforming dallas into a mushroom cloud and know that is bullshit they have heard before.

~ to those vegans who cared that l’oreal is buying the body shop: tom’s of maine sells out to colgate [enn.com].

~ after two (2) visits to the vet(s) phobos was diagnosed with conjunctivitis; after a week of ophthalmic drops, his eyes have cleared, and we recommend cat vet of south street whilst unrecommending girard veterinary clinic.

~ we do not know if anyone still uses lipstick or soap and shops in the mall, but we wonder if groups like peta [w] will still recommend body shop, now that it has been purchased by l’oreal, a notorious abuser of animals, according to bbc [w].

~ according to w bush, the publication of notice of a criminal act is ‘shameful’, not the criminal act itself; bush expects us to believe that there has been some revelation of terror fighting techniques which terrorists never would have imagined on their own. well, here’s some news that the nytimes didn’t publish: terrorists are already aware that the united states government is monitoring them. they did not read about the tapping of americans’ phone lines and emails in the newspaper and realize, ‘wtf, the u.s. gov’t is taking steps to prevent us from launching attacks’, nor did a terrorist forward a yahoo link to his buddies with the comment ‘hey, d00ds, it looks like the u.s. gov’t has a problem with what we are doing!’

~ however! maybe we do need the new york times to let us know when we are being watched:

One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct surveillance as part of a “Vegan Community Project.” Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group’s “semi-communistic ideology.” A third indicates the bureau’s interest in determining the location of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. –nytimes

~ anyway! the point of having polar bears in the title was due to the fact that we would like to see those polar bears who are forced to swim 60 miles across open ocean show up on the doorsteps of the folks responsible for global warming and wiretapping with the intent to exact vengeance.

~ yes, we talk about green line cafe a lot:

regarding the avant garde:
mp: ‘avant is french for before’
sd: ‘can’t it also mean ‘against’, though?’

regarding the bush administration meme that democrats are ‘rewriting history’: we don’t think the democrats are claiming that they never voted for the war on iraq; we think they are complaining about the fact they voted for the war on iraq based on the incomplete, inaccurate, and fraudulent information that the bush administration provided? we think that is what bothers most people. we doubt that history would have been written the way it has, if senators had been able to understand – before the war – that the bush administration was lying…?

regarding the upcoming supreme court case involving folks in guantanamo bay: we don’t think the distasteful idea is that the base is located in cuba or is named ‘gitmo’; we think that the idea which makes most people uncomfortable is that up to 500 folks have been incarcerated without being charged with a crime for up to 3 years? we think that is what bothers most people. moving them to be tortured by the c.i.a. in a different country likely won’t settle the issue…?

~ cold:

“In a month, who will remember the name Harriet Miers.” –Senator Trent Lott

~ irony:

“This [statement from Iran’s president] is a clear contravention and breach of the UN charter and it should be dealt with by the international community.”

–Zvi Rav-Ner, israel deputy ambassador to the UK

~ open letter to All Things Considered [w],

You featured a commentary, ‘Insurgent Violence vs. Terrorism in Iraq’ by Anisa Mehdi in which she expressed, in a supercilious, condescending manner, her belief that participants in the conflict in Iraq are incorrectly referred to as ‘insurgents’; she states that they should be labeled as ‘terrorists’. Her claim hinges on the superficial similarities in appearance of how the conflict is waged, not on the source of anger or intention of the participants; by painting a portrait of scary gunmen attacking children in our schools, she intends to have us agree that any horrific act waged by one person against another should be labeled ‘terrorism’. This is a short-sighted interpretation of the motivation for violence; a school, for example, can be attacked by foreign Islamic jihadists, by domestic survivalists, or by disaffected loner with no discernible purpose.

Ms. Mehdi seems to miss the fact that insurgency is a movement while terrorism is a tactic. Insurgents are made by the notion that they are rebelling against an authority, be it a government or an occupation by a foreign army, regardless of how they work towards that goal; terrorists can have a panoply of ideologies, but what ties them together as terrorists are the methods by which they seek to achieve these various goals. Insurgents can utilize terror—bombing a hotel housing foreign media—or they can engage regular forces—mortars and firefights against U.S. Marines.

In other words, an insurgency can contain terrorists, but it is not equivalent to terrorism. Insurgents are defined by the end they seek, while terrorists are defined by their means; these notions are sometimes intertwined, but quite often exclusive. George Washington’s Continental Army would be considered insurgents by any party involved: British, French, or American; I presume Ms. Mehdi sees the distinction between these men and terrorists.

What is more discouraging than Ms. Mehdi’s misunderstanding of insurgency and terrorism is her repetition of the meme, which has been disproved – even disavowed, with a wink and a nod, by the administration which pushed the notion from the beginning—that the war against the people in Iraq is a retaliation for the attacks by al Qaeda on the United States; in her own words, Ms. Mehdi claims that the United States has ‘avenged’ the 9/11 attacks with its war in Iraq. Facts on the ground and even reports by the CIA have stated repeatedly that there was no connection between Iraq and the attacks on 9/11/01, and yet, four years later, there is a commentator on your show, repeating this falsehood.

-the angry red planet, Philadelphia, PA

~ re: london

Suicide bombers kill at least 33 in Iraq
25 die, dozens hurt in attack on Baghdad military recruiting center

-MSNBC News Services, July 10, 2005

reports state that the g8 leaders did not release a statement praising the resolve of the folks in baghdad; amercians, finns, and germans are not placing candles and flowers outside their respective iraqi embassies; no one is leaving well wishes and prayers on the craigslist baghdad rant and rave; australian parliament did not hold moment of silence for the victims; there are no cute headlines such as ‘baghdad calling’.

~ until that coffee review site by those sisyphean [w] guys is set up, we’ll just say here that the only male barista at tuscany is an uptight bastard – standing and holding the cap over you as you add soymilk to your coffee, then pouring it himself when you go back for refills. stand down, jackass; we will use all of your soymilk if we choose, then you can go buy more.

~ this past holiday, we saw a glimpse of information regarding the notion that karl rove was the source for the revelation of the identity of cia operative valerie plame. ‘surprisingly’, however, the headlines since that moment have been about a kidnapped little girl, unless you delve into newsweek [w] and countdown [w] and, of course, ted rall [w].

~ “If they gave the award based on presentation, we would have won,” [nyc mayor] Bloomberg said.

too bad they give the award based on merit, substance, and bribery! those guys from the work.group should be heartened.

~ more instant messaging filler:

terra cimmeria: i don’t understand why [kirstie alley] is a heroine?
terra cimmeria: b/c she is ‘taking on’ the notion that fat people are undesirable
terra cimmeria: ?
xx xxxxxxxx: i dont know
terra cimmeria: her show is supposed to be bold b/c she says ‘i am fat’?
terra cimmeria: 60% of american women are overweight,
xx xxxxxxxx: haha
terra cimmeria: so i don’t see what the accomplishment is
terra cimmeria: i am going to post this on my site, as filler
terra cimmeria: i have been waiting to do s
terra cimmeria: o
terra cimmeria: lol
xx xxxxxxxx: your thoughts on kalley?
terra cimmeria: ((((xx xxxxxxxx))))
xx xxxxxxxx: shit
terra cimmeria: haha
xx xxxxxxxx: dont touch me!!!
terra cimmeria: ‘thoughts on kalley: a rant in 4 parts’
xx xxxxxxxx: >>>>arp<<<< terra cimmeria: is that me getting stabbed? xx xxxxxxxx: yes xx xxxxxxxx: [or] perforated by a crossbow

~ most readers have probably missed most news unrelated to movies ecstatically click on the links to find out which award nominations are garnered by another film with leonardo and that woman from ‘pearl harbor’, but someone at yahoo had the wit to post the following headlines in succession; a known fact is that no one would read the articles, yet the incongruous nature of the moves of bush’s government is revealed in two simple phrases. in a way, it makes sense when compared to the responses of “remember 911!” to the bbc photos of bloody kids who have just been orphaned by american soldiers:

• Bush Wants $80B More for Iraq, Afghan Wars (AP)
• 2,000 new border agents aren’t part of budget, Ridge says (USATODAY.com)

the ‘b’ is for ‘billion’.