Monday, March 31, 2003
••echos and shockwaves••
Scott Ritter's back. glad to see it.
new piece here. The moneyquote -- a rather "Ellsebergian" echo:
"It is too late for stopping the war, but we can change the government that got us into this war," Ritter said. "It is a dereliction of duty for us to not oppose this with all of our strength if this war is not justified."
oh and while Rummy's laying low ducking blows from Pentagon G.I. Joe's, the Bush admin marched out Powell to further amplify Rumsfeld's “Syria/Iran” warning from last week.
As Josh Marshall posits in his chilling and lucid new piece featured in the upcoming Washington Monthly, Rummy’s introduction of Syria and Iran into the Bush Admin.’s crosshairs, was intentional and part of the neocon plan; he suggests that even though it will “appear” to the Amerian people and the world that - just as many of those opposed to this Iraqi war forewarned -- this war might pull us into further conflict in the middle east and there is the potential for it to expand -- is exactly what the necons want. they need another casus belli.
The neocon objectives in this admin. seem eerily parallel to the goals outlined in Clean Break, authored by Perle and Feith, which state that Iraq is just a tactical “goal”. it makes you kinda queasy when -- if this turns out to be this current admin.’s intent -- one thinks about the deliberateness of the massive deception these men are pulling on their fellow Americans and the world at large. it’s revolting -- in every sense of the word.
Mickey Kaus recenty wondered why it was that, as the Washington Post reported, ”Rumsfeld actually cut in half the number of troops the Pentagon’s daring war plan called for”.
I'm almost certain he's already read it, but i took the liberty of firing off an email suggesting that all one has to do is take a look at pg. 11 of the New American Century boiz’ 1997 Playbook [PDF File] to get a closer look at the military gameplan:
ESTABLISH FOUR CORE MISSIONS for U.S. military forces:
[1] defend the homeland.
[2] fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars.
[3] perform the “constabulatory” duties associated with shaping the security environment in critical regions.
[4] transform U.S. forces to exploit the “revolution in military affairs".
if left up to these men in washington, Operation Iraqi "Freedom" is a necon wetdream about to come true.
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/31/2003
Sunday, March 30, 2003
••Right to Freedom of Speech co-opted••
MEMO TO HOLLYWOOD ACTORS: shut the fuck up.
UNLESS of course, the hollywood actor is a former President of the USA or leading spokesperson for the NRA.
That's what the The Citizens Against Celebrity Pundits and the Boycott Hollywood Project folks would like to make loud and clear. But the CACP and the BHP have upped the ante and stepped into a brand new area of "free speech": protesting against others who exercise their right to it -- if -- they have differing views.
their caveat: disagree with us, and suffer the consequences.
Sadly, their argument is that they -- and only they are "the American public" and that Americans speak with only one voice to the exclusion of anyone who dare speak out against that one voice.
We here at boycott-hollywood.us support the boycott of the following list of Hollywood Actors and Celebrity Musicians, etc.
These "Hollywood/Celebrity Pundits" need to realize that they do NOT speak for America. They need to stop saying and acting as if they speak for the American public - because we are here to tell you YOU DO NOT SPEAK FOR US!
Currently, the Boycott Hollywood Project has listed the names of, and adding links to, 94 actors, directors and recording artists who have excercised their First Amendment right to speak -- not -- as the dimbulbs at CACP and BHP falsely claim -- " for America" and "the American public" --- but rather, on behalf of themselves.
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/30/2003
Friday, March 28, 2003
••Perles of Wisdom for the Feithful••
Today when i was reorganizing and archiving my email folders, i stumbled on an old email i'd sent to the NY Times' OpEd writer, economist Paul Krugman last fall.
In my email, i'd enclosed this article titled "Perles of Wisdom for the Feithful" that i'd read in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz back on Oct/3/02; of course, it never found it's way into any mainstream American newsmedia;
However, when read again in context to what we know now about 1997 Project for the New American Century's "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century" (PDF File) (which after Sept. 11/01 was implemented into what became the Bush Doctrine) and the 1996 Policy Paper Clean Break: "A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" drawn up for Israel and Likudnik hawk Prime Minister Netanyahu who was Prime Minister at that time -- and put into context with what we also know about who the key playas are behind both those Policy Papers and Strategies, who i must add, also happen to now be in key positions of power in the Bush Administration and the Pentagon (even as Richard Perle tenders his "resignation" from his position as Chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board), this story resonates with new meaning.
Add to this, the current backdrop of the war now being waged on Iraq lead by the Bush administration, and it only aides in casting more daylight on the Neocons' intent for restructuring the geopolitical map in that region of the world.
The question remains: for what purpose(s) and to what ends?
* [NOTE]: the link still seems to work, and the piece is still there at their site in the archived section; however the date of origin is gone, and only the current date is time stamped.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
"It's true that restoring a monarchy in Iraq does not exactly fit the Bush administration's vision of a democratic Middle East. But there are signs that it fits some old dreams of a few of the key strategists around the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld triangle running America's Iraq policy.
A few weeks ago, Richard Perle invited the Pentagon chiefs to a meeting with researchers from a Washington think tank with particularly close relations with the Defense Department.
According to information that reached a former top official in the Israeli security services, the researchers showed two slides to the Pentagon officials.
The first was a depiction of the three goals in the war on terror and the democratization of the Middle East: Iraq - a tactical goal, Saudi Arabia - a strategic goal, and Egypt - the great prize.
The triangle in the next slide was no less interesting: Palestine is Israel, Jordan is Palestine, and Iraq is the Hashemite Kingdom."
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/28/2003
Saturday, March 22, 2003
••coalition of the anonymous, the dependent, the halfhearted & the uninvolved*••
a new Get Your War On is in da house.
* the phrase from this post's title is from Bill Keller's most recent Op Ed in the NY Times
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/22/2003
••Perle's UN-savory victory••
Only two days into the U.S. led Attack on Iraq, and New World Order architect Richard Perle is already giddy and gloating.
Yep. In Friday's OpEd in The Guardian, Richard Perle wrote that he's pleased as punch he and his neocon henchmen disemboweled the UN.
Well, he didn't quite say it that way. i'm being unfair. The Chairman for the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board , was far less subtle. Had he never written another word after the title, the headline said it all:
"Thank God for the death of the UN:
Its abject failure gave us only anarchy. The world needs order."
That's right. And Richard Perle's got a plan.
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/22/2003
Friday, March 21, 2003
•• embedded -- in bed with -- the Pentagon** ••
Stockholm Syndrome is a survival mechanism. it takes root in conditions where an individual or individuals are isolated in captivity with only themselves and their captors in conditions where their lives are at risk, resulting in an emotional bond that develops between the captors and the captives.
i am not suggesting that embedded journalists are being held hostage against their will by whichever infantry division they've been "embedded" within. They are there by their own free will. However, as Toronto Star foreign editor Bill Schiller told Toronto Star Media Critic Antonia Zerbisias in her column from last week: "If anyone thinks that the Pentagon is engaging in this embedding project for any other reason than to help improve its image before the U.S. public, they are being incredibly naive."
And when you're half way around the world in the middle of the desert, headed for combat, destination Iraq, travelling in a caravan of humvees and tanks where you've been hunkered down for days in tight proximity with the only people who hold your life in their hands, you just might lose your perspective, and your ability to separate the imperative of your own objectives from those of your "protectors".
Meet CNN's Walter Rodgers. the worst offender.
for the past 4 days, he's been "embedded" with the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry Division.
A reporter, who seems to have lost his raison d'etre, and has been swallowed whole, into the belly of the U.S. Pentagon propaganda machine, absorbed fully into it's surging arteries, processed, pumped and purged of any impurities, and finally, belched out for mass public viewer comsumption.
Here now, in his own words, from his most recent dispatch this morning, he proclaims with glorious Klingon-like awe:
"Imagine a giant wave of steel sweeping across the southern Iraqi desert, and imagine that almost hourly the wave grows in strength and numbers.
As we ride through this desert, we can see the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division's heavy mechanized units have moved up. This giant wave of steel that grows every hour is ever pushing northward, ever pushing toward the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
The goal, is to intimidate the Iraqis and pressure them. If that doesn't work, then they can smash* the Iraqi regime, so powerful is this force that is building out here in the desert."
Note that reporter/journalist Walter Rogers has been so successfully embedded, that he's taken to using the collective "we". and indeed, all for one, one for all.
Pentagon 1, American media, 0.
*(my italics: note that he has editorialized by using the word "smash", which pre-determines the outcome -- and, does so in a way that says that the outcome has only one possibity: utter destruction and victory)
**(the phrase from this post's title is attributed to Norman Soloman, Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and Associate of the mediawatch group FAIR.)
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/21/2003
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
••a shout out right back to Antonia Zerbisias••
to my total surprise, voxpopgirl received a shout out in yesterday's Toronto Star column written by one of my fav writers and columnists, Media Critic Antonia Zerbisias, whose columns have always been linked in my side column under "Media Watchers". at the end of her recent column, she points readers to 2 very interesting blogs "from the Front" (Where is Raed? and LT. Smash) that were mentioned here in my previous post below.
so i just wanna throw a serious shout out right back to Ms. Zerbisias -- thank-you -- the webtraffic has been substantial and instead of the usual 10-15 hits per day, yesterday's hits were nearly 150 -- much appreciated!
and yo -- Canadian readers -- isn't her new national tv programme "Inside Media" on CBC Newsworld da bomb? She puts CNN and Washington Post "media critic" Howie Kurtz to shame.
for any regular voxpopgirl readers who haven't yet been privy to Ms. Zerbisias' work, definitely make sure to swing by Antonia's Toronto Star archives page or visit Common Dreams, BuzzFlash and Democrats.com, where her articles are published regularly.
also would like to send a friendly thanx to my pal Sandra in D.C. over at BushRant for the mention, and for in turn, hipping her readers on to Where is Raed?. i'm a regular BushRant reader, and Sandra's got it goin' on.
so hello and welcome! fellow Zerbiasias readers who are passing through... glad to meet other people who dig her work.... drop by often and don't hesitate to drop me a comment every now and then.
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/19/2003
Sunday, March 16, 2003
••Introducing: 2 New Blogs From the Front••
with the onset of an inevitable pre-emptive war perhaps mere days away, i wanted to introduce voxpopgirl readers to two fascinating if not mysterious blogs that i stumbled upon about 3 weeks ago at completely unrelated times while i was surfing the web; i have taken the liberty of adding them to my right side column of links under the heading "From the Front?", for your easy access and edification.
Where is Raed? is apparently written by a young Iraqi who goes under the name Salam Pax (does anyone know if this translates into Hello Peace?) from Baghdad as Salam and family members prepare themselves for the inevitable, making their home as safe as they can by taping up the windows, digging a new well that can be used with a "manual" pump since they anticipate that the electricity will go down, stocking up on food, heating supplies... and Salam's personal commenting on the general calm contrasted by the certain anticipation that Salam and everyone living there have been through during the daily routines of their lives.
LT. Smash appears to be written by a U.S. reservist whose name is not LT. Smash, who was called to duty a while back and is now writing "live from the sandbox" about the daily routine of preparations and training he and the unit he appears to be heading, from the moment he first heard that he was called to duty, to his arrival at an "undisclosed location", the stories about the sudden desert windstorms, the smallpox vaccination he and everyone had to get a while back, and wondering aloud what their mission was going to be;
who knows about Where is Raed?. maybe it's the real thing, maybe it's not. Where is Raed? seems awfully hip to pop culture and how is it that Salam has access to what would likely be an internet connection with undoubtedly prohibitive costs? it's hard to tell; although in some earlier posts, there are entries at Where is Raed? that mention that access to Russian sites have now been been denied, and how when using Google one day, access had also been denied to certain British newspapers;
however, i do wish to add an additional link to a specific entry at Where is Raed that i think is worth taking the time to read and mull over: it's an entry that notes that "fresh trenches" had recently been dug around the outskirts of the city parameters and had been filled with what seemed to be crude oil.... Salam's family had been wondering what the purpose of that was for, and a sudden overwhelming amount of comments have flooded in with "suggestions" and "warnings". Salam, who often refers to Saddam Hussein as "SH" is both anti Saddam and anti-war.
at LT. Smash, some of the earlier entries have been particularly riveting because the posts included entries as early as when he first received the news that he had been called to duty and had to go in and notify his boss at work... and the story continues from there; there have been other entries where he wrote that he did not want to fight this war, however, what is odd, is that none of those earlier entries are there, as the blog has no archived entries; so it's easy to speculate that "LT. Smash" may indeed be a propagandist tool created by the Rumsfeld Pentagon -- i mean, how is it that this guy appears so able to write so freely, and do so, from a U.S. military camp in the desert in the middle of nowhere halfway around the world (of course, he's not disclosing any military secrets or revealing their missing plans). However, what has made LT. Smash stand out is that it hasn't been peppered with any jingoist language by the writer; although, within the last week, it appears to have now taken a turn in that direction - not by the blogger per se, but by the sudden flood of flag waving, "lefty-hating" Limbaugh dittoheads who have posted in the comments window within the last week, who credit Limbaugh for having sent them there to "support" LT. Smash.
it's impossible to determine the legitimacy of both these blogs and i have to say there's reason to be skeptical about them, but i thought i'd let you know about them, so that as the Bush administration takes the world to where none of us have gone before, you can read Where is Raed? and LT. Smash in real-time, and judge for yourselves.
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/16/2003
Thursday, March 13, 2003
••Wanted: an elected president to restore dignity back to the White House••
Remember just a few days ago, when White House Press Secretary Ari Fleisher and every other BushBot attack dog got all worked up with zeal and immediately jumped on chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and accused him of not mentioning a drone in his oral presentation to the Security Council last Friday? Smelling fresh blood and a chance to make Mr. Blix and his report irrelevant, both Mr. Fleisher and Colin Powell went further and claimed the drone was "capable of dispensing biological and chemical weapons".
Well, guess what?
Fresh off the wire service comes a piece of copy, that if it weren't for the fact that we're talking serious times here, i would swear was the result of some hilarious satirical creation by the comic writers from either Mad TV or Saturday Night Live:"The remotely piloted aircraft that the United States has warned could spread chemical weapons appears to be made of balsa wood and duct tape, with two small propellors attached to what look like the engines of a weed whacker."
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/13/2003
Thursday, March 06, 2003
••sexy food? foodie sex?••
food and sex can certainly be a tasty combination. so says Toronto and Vancouvers' CITY-TV and SeX TV; they've joined together in bringing Barely Cooking into our bedrooms every Friday at midnight.
Billed as, "the first cooking show to explore the relationship between food and sex", Barely Naked serves Canadian television viewers 2 naked female "chefs" and 2 naked male "chefs", clad only in aprons that discreetly cover the front of their bodies, preparing food for our....uh, consumption.
Yielding sharp knives, and "flashy" repartee, let's pray these cooks know how to handle their food with care.....
i mean, good lord, what were the show's producers thinking when they created these promo shots of the chefs with their bare asses perched on the same chopping block on which they're going to prepare food -- would somebody please remind these guys of one of a chefs' prime directives: avoid cross-contamination on all working surfaces.
fellow foodies and voxpopfriends, taste has gone out the window, or at least, down the proverbial drain.
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/06/2003
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
••Martin Amis weighs in on Bush's Crusade••
there's a wonderfully written new commentary in the Guardian UK, by one of my favourite authors, Martin Amis.
on Bush's moral realism:
Without his war, Bush is an obvious one-term blowhard; and he listens to his political handler, Karl Rove, at least as keenly as he listens to Donald Rumsfeld. The supplementary motivation, hatched at the thinktank and prayer-breakfast level, is, I fear, visionary in tendency. It has been noticed that a great deal of the world's wealth is in the hands of a collection of corrupt, benighted and above all defenceless regimes. The war, as they see it, will not be an oil-grab so much as a natural ramification of pure power: manifest destiny made manifest, for the good of all.
on Bush's relgiosity (note the barely veiled reference to empire at his mention of Kristol and Wolfowitz's pet Project for a New American Century):
All US presidents - and all US presidential candidates - have to be religious or have to pretend to be religious. More specifically, they have to subscribe to "born again" Christianity. Bush, with his semi-compulsory prayer-breakfasts and so on, isn't pretending to be religious: "the loving God behind all life and all of history"; "the Almighty's gift of freedom to the world." "My acceptance of Christ", Bush has said (this is code for the born-again experience of personal revelation), - "that's an integral part of my life." And of ours, too, in the New American Century.
and here, on the Bush Doctrine's biblical "fire and brimstone" dogma :
The present administration's embrace of the religious right also leads, by a bizarre route, to the further strengthening of the Israel lobby. Unbelievably, born-again doctrine insists that Israel must be blindly supported, not because it is the only semi-democracy in that crescent, but because it is due to host the second coming. Armageddon is scheduled to take place near the hill of Megiddo (where, in recent months; an Israeli bus was suicide-bombed by another kind of believer). The Rapture, the Tribulation, the Binding of the Antichrist: it isn't altogether clear how much of this rubbish Bush swallows (though Reagan swallowed it whole). VS Naipaul has described the religious impulse as the inability "to contemplate man as man", responsible to himself and uncosseted by a higher power. We may consider this a weakness; Bush, dangerously, considers it a strength.
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/05/2003
Monday, March 03, 2003
••U.S. bugging U.N. Security Council••
A shocking article in yesterday's online version of The Observer out of the UK titled "US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war", revealed that they had obtained a leaked secret document written by a top official at the National Security Agency - the US body which intercepts communications around the world -that "the United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favour of a war against Iraq" via an "aggressive surveillance operation which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York.
All The President's Men. rings a bell, non? thugs thugs thugs. Pat Buchanan was right, they hijacked the Republican party. but they've gone even further than betray the Republican party: they hijacked the American democracy and they're dismantling it as we speak.... wrapping themselves in the U.S. flag, unravelling the Constitution, silencing the majority, muzzling dissent, shaping the news, reshaping the geopolitical map, distorting reality, abusing power to maintain it and expand it.
According to The Age, a Melbourne, Australia newspaper:
"The NSA's surveillance operation is believed to have been requested by President Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and reveals the scope and intensity of spy operation against supposedly friendly nations at the Security Council."
So, here's the leaked NSA memorandum from the NSA DEF. Chief of Staff, Frank Koza; notice the date on the memorandum -- it dates back to Jan. 31/03.
posted by voxpopgirl |
3/03/2003
|
|
|
|
|
