~ why hasn’t anyone fessed up to driving their submarine into the side of a boat and killing 9 people? perhaps they are waiting for the u.s. to bomb iraq, and divert some of the attention away from them. little did they realize, no one in the u.s. cares if iraq is bombed – again – anymore than they care if its navy kills japanese civilians. heck, the u.s. navy still has not admitted to shooting down a u.s. commercial airliner off long island way back in the 1990’s.

~ no one at the angry red planet can remember the exact quotation, nor to whom it is attributed, but there is something like; ‘the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, take no stand at all.’ notwithstanding the lack of evidence verifying the existence of hell, this is exactly the kind of place that the united states of america’s ambassadors to the united nations deserve for refusing to act in the face of the israeli army’s violence against palestinian civilians…. [cnn.com] …

~ what use is a stealth fighter that can be picked up by a united airlines ‘on-board collision avoidance system’? [cnn.com] perhaps the next ‘state of concern’ that the u.s. goes after can hire some of the troubled united workers, since they seem to have no problems finding the f-117 ‘stealth’ fighter on radar…

~ quote of the day: ‘[being strip searched by american airlines]…intensified our vigilance and hatred towards the united states.’
-li hyong choi, the north korean ambassador to the united nations.

that’s all it takes? what about the over $1 billion in delinquent dues that the united states owes to the united nations?

~ i was *forced* to wait 1.5 hours to see ‘x-men’ and *had* to sit in the third row from the screen, but the movie was suprisingly worth it. having been an unabashed collector of marvel comics for the past 16 years, i have seen repeatedly the shameful adaptations into live action: ‘captain america’ (video), ‘nick fury – agent of s.h.i.e.l.d.’ (television miniseries), ‘fantastic four’ (to my knowledge only bootleg copies exist), ‘blade’ (starred wesley snipes). even a true-believer should be ready for the worst. however, apart from an initial impatience with the back story that had to be spelled out to the philistines who hadn’t picked up an ‘x-men’ comic in the past 35 years, i was more than pleased with both the personalities and the accurate relationships in the film. the good examples of the love-triangle between cyclops, jean grey, and wolverine or the personal respect/professional animosity between xavier and magneto both outweigh the tender footed portrayal of storm by the vapid halle berry. i happen to know that technology is capable of better effects than we are given, but logan’s claws looked totally righteous, even if it seems that the x-men never existed without him…

~ does this week’s news [npr.org] unfair to anyone else? if you live in florida, and are actually stupid enough to misunderstand (and stupid enough to admit it) the dangers of smoking, you now get a piece of $145 billion; on the other hand, if you were forced into slave labor during the holocaust, you have to make due with only splitting $4.8 billion…

~ are *still* you looking for the photos of the new home for the southern california institute of architecture? in seven weeks, this building (*link removed) will be converted into the most intense, ‘avant garde’ graduate and under-graduate architectural school in downtown l.a., if not the world….

~ first we get another citizen beaten by police in philadelphia, and now the u.s. government has just been cleared of its guilt for the waco massacre [cnn] & [l.a.times]. just two more reasons to set it off in los angeles next month…