A Small Victory

My photo self potrait is up at Picture Yourself
Carnival of the Vanities 6 has rolled off the assembly line

GO VOTE FOR ME FOR THE MOST BLOOD-HUNGRY HAWKISH WARBLOGGER! NOW! I SAID NOW! Don't make me hurt you. (use the sidebar voting thing)

i bet the place cards had donkeys on them

The theme of the evening, "Stand up, keep fighting," became the anthem for the faithful, who vowed to carry Wellstone's legacy into the final days of the Senate campaign.

Theme of the evening? Did they have matching paper plates and napkins at the subsequent dinner dance?

Anyhow, my point is this. And this is really a note to both my sisters, who frequently drop by here to read my rantings:

I know how both of you love themes and party planning. Go ahead. Hang decorations at my funeral. Make invitations. Hell, you could even charge to get in, I don't care. But I know you guys. I know how you work. And I'll be there, watching over everything. So just remember, if you dare play that "Seasons in the Sun<" song, I will have all the ghosts in hell follow me to your homes where we will devour your pets and set your beds on fire.

Posted by at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (1)

flying fists of death

I would just like to thank Meryl for her encouragement while I endure The Lure of Forbidden Nicotine: Day 3.

Now, if anyone would like to volunteer to let me beat them up (or just offer up someone I can physically abuse), then perhaps I can work out this aggressive adrenaline that seems to be taking over my life in lieu of smoking.

Did I mention that I have a horrid bout of PMS right now, too? If anyone even looks at me wrong today, I may be forced to use the flying fist of death on them.

I'm looking at you. Yea, you.

Posted by at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)

short and sweet

Dear Ted Rall,

You are an ass.

Sincerely,

Me

And while we are on the subject of asses, to the person at Indymedia who wrote this:

Corporate Media Black out of Wellstone Memorial

As I write this, a Memorial service is being held for Sen. Wellstone. If you turn to CNN, MSNBC, FOX, CNBC or any of the other corporate media channels, you won't see any coverage of this. None. A memorial service for a sniper victim gets hours of coverage on all of these channels. A memorial service for an opposition politician who dies violently gets zero coverage. None, nada, nothing, zero. Completely blacked out.

Both FoxNews and MSNBC were carrying it. I know I wasn't that drugged out on NyQuil that imagined seeing it on both channels.

Maybe they cut away from it when they realized it was really a Democrat convention.

Posted by at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

get your memorial popcorn right here!

The stands were packed to the rafters and the beach balls were flying. The music played over the loudspeakers as people waiting for the event to begin clapped their hands and sang along. The smell of hot dogs was in the air and the floor of the arena had already become sticky with soda.

A basketball game? No. A concert? No. Toy Story on Ice? Nope.

A memorial service for a dead senator, his wife and daughter.

I've been to more memorial services and wakes in my life than I care to count. From setting up a wet bar in the parking lot of my grandmother's wake to attending a memorial service where sharpshooters were poised on the roof of the church, I have seen just about everything.

Until last night. Watching "highlights" from the service for Sen. Paul Wellstone some time in the middle of a sleepless night, I thought I was having another one of those strange dreams.

Was this a political meeting or a memorial to a dead person? It seemed like more of an election night pep rally than a memorial for Wellstone.

Every five minutes, applause. Every five minutes, laughter. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I haven't been to a million funeral masses where the priest says funny things about the deceased and everyone laughs in a relieved sort of way. That's fine. This...this was more like a comic relief show for the Democratic Party. At times it was a "get out the vote" campaign stop.

In the hours before the memorial, those in the stands bandied beach balls or munched on foil-wrapped hot dogs from the concession stands.

Let it be known that if anyone is seen eating a hot dog or playing with a beach ball at my funeral, I will haunt you to your last dying day. The music is fine, the laughter and applause are nice. But the first person who starts the wave will be hearing a lot of chain-rattling and spooky noises coming from their closet at night.

"For Paul Wellstone, will you stand up and keep fighting for social justice? Say YES!" Harkin shouted. The crowd roared.

Rick Kahn, Wellstone's friend and former student, whipped up the crowd before Harkin took the stage by adopting the late senator's fiery speaking style.

He chopped the air with his hands, as Wellstone often did, and exhorted the crowd to keep Wellstone's dream alive.

"A week from today, Paul Wellstone's name will not be on the ballot," Kahn said. "But there will be a choice just the same ... either keep his legacy alive, or bring it forever to an end!"

They may as well have charged $100 a head to get into the service. Tax-deductible write off for political contribution.

Kahn continued:

"If Paul Wellstone's legacy in the Senate comes to an end just days after this unspeakable tragedy, our spirits will be crushed, and we will drown in a river of tears. We are begging you, do not let this happen."

That's right, folks. You are here to mourn Sen. Wellstone, his wife and his daughter. And oh yea, those other people who died, also. But let's take a moment to turn the Senator's death into a rally speech. Let's use his death as an excuse to get this party started. I wonder how many of the people who spoke and the people who cheered later on last night patted each other on the back and lit celebratory cigars. I wonder how many of them were thinking "when opportunity knocks, let it in, even if it's ugly."

I wonder, mostly, how the family of the campaign workers and pilots who died in the crash feel.

No one is eating hot dogs at their services. I bet not one politician who who grinned for the cameras yesterday can even tell you the name of just one of the campaign workers who died.

But I bet a lot of them, ex-president included, went to bed last night with a smile on their face, thinking of what a great publicity moment this all was for the Democratic party in Minnesota.

Me, I didn't sleep much after seeing all that. I was too busy cringing.

*Addendum* I found this over at Right Wing News:

Another White House official said privately that with the memorial service expected to draw thousands, the Wellstone family told the White House they did not want mourners subjected to the kind of security screenings that Cheney's attendance would have required. This official also said White House advisers worried that the memorial service, with unions bringing supporters by the busload, would double as a Democrat get-out-the-vote rally and be awkward for Cheney.

As Rachel Lucas says, despicable.

Posted by at 05:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (38)

bongs and thongs and amish porn

Take 36 hours without a cigarette. Add NyQuil, two sleepless nights in a row, antibiotics, Motrin and Ventolin and you have a mind that knows not what it sees or hears.

I was lying on the couch, hoping that a coma would overtake me. No such luck. While my body resisted all attempts to move it, my brain, sadly, was still in action. The tv was on and the remote was far away.

The combination of all the above factors plus an overdose of campaign ads flipped some sort of switch in my brain that caused every signal in my head to get crossed.

Here's what I heard and saw: Tom Golisano, should he be elected as governor of New York, will legalize both marijuana and prostitution. The money garnered from the prostitutes will go into the school system so that our children's education will be funded by sex. (Why not - it's already funded by gambling)

I finally fell asleep, with thoughts of a Career Day booth at my daughter's school featuring bongs and thongs.

I dreamed I won the bloodthirsty blogger contest and Laurence sent his killer cats after me. I caught them, sliced them up and then baked them into a beautiful loaf of bread which I served Laurence for dinner, along with a nice glass of Chardonnay. I laughed when he slathered his slice of bread with butter. Then Carl McCall came storming into the house, singing Funky Cold Medina and searching for Laurences's kitties. I hid under the table while the LAPD came in and cuffed McCall, accusing him of taking pictures of a polling place. He said he just wanted to hide out in the bushes and try to hear if anyone was talking about him. The cops told him to go home and watch the debates. Laurence came out of the house, butter dripping from his chin and bread crumbs all over his shirt. "That was some damned good bread," he said. "It tasted like pussy." Golisana laughed so hard that milk came out of his nose.

I did not make any of that up. This is your brain. This is your brain on medication and too much blogging.

I need a cigarette.

Posted by at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBacks (1)

i smell the blood of an englishman

If you're here from Daily Pundit looking to see if I'm a ruthless, blood-thirsty hawk, I've done the work for you. I'm still not as worthy as the rest of the nominees, especially Cato.

armchair quarterbacking: terrorist editions
dear susan sarandon
that's T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-T-S
I'll bite your legs off
life's not fair
my agenda
prof. plum in the blogosphere
wartime fun with photoshop: the post that started my descent into madness

That's just a couple of weeks worth.

Posted by at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

rules, regulations, clarificaitons and by-laws

Now I'm pissed. I'm about to close down my email account.

Last time, people.

Number 1: I was never a full-fledged liberal. I never wanted to free Mumia, I always thought Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky were boorish fools, I detest the utlra liberal way of protesting things. For christ's sake, people. I drive an SUV. What kind of liberal would do that?

Number 2: I have not "crossed over" to the extreme right. Please. I am pro-choice, I despise homophobes and racists and I don't believe in God. I don't think they would accept me even if I wanted to be on their side.

Number 3: Stop using my email as a venting point. If you want to comment on something I wrote here, that's what the comments are for. If you are afraid to make you statement by putting in public like I have, or using an actual name and/or email address, don't bother. And if you write me emails filled with innacurracies, horrible grammar and you spell the word "you" as "u" I will delete the mail without caring whether you made a valid point or not.

Number 4: If you have so much to say that you need to email me three times a day, get your own fucking blog and rant away. Don't waste my time if all you are going to do is call names and spout conspiracy theories that have no basis in reality.

Number 5: If you don't like my solutions to problems, come up with an alternative before you start bitching at me.

Number 6: I know you are but what am I, and I'm rubber your'e glue are not valid retorts.

Number 7: I welcome any and all debating on the issues I present here. I will never delete a comment unless it is abusive or threatening. I will not delete a comment just because you oppose my point of view. But I will not debate you or get into a discussion with you if all you want to do is call names and fight like a two year old.

Number 8: If you don't like me and don't like what I have to say, or what direction I've gone in, or what I believe in, and if your only reason for coming here is to tell me how wrong my personal opinions are and how disappointed you are in my political ideals, do me a favor. See that little "x" in the upper right hand corner of your screen? Click on it. Don't come back.

Posted by at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (41) | TrackBacks (3)

there goes that darn "T" word again

Via Interfax:

Four die in helicopter shot down in Chechnya MOSCOW. Oct 29 (Interfax) - An Mi-8 helicopter was shot down in the vicinity of a helicopter pad in Khankala on Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Stanislav Kavun, deputy commander of the interior units, told Interfax.

"By early reports, the helicopter was shot down as it approached the helipad. Four people have been killed," he said.

Anyone want to draw conclusions? Or are we just going to call this coincidence and avoid the "T" word again?

Posted by at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

the family that turn tricks together gets treats together

Will the parent who thinks that these are appropriates costume for their child please stand up?

I can hear the conversation now.

I bought you a costume, Jimmy. You are going to be a pimp!
What's a pimp mommy?
A pimp is a person who sells girls for sex and takes all their money.
Kick ass, you're the coolest mom ever!
But wait, Jimmy, it gets even better! Look at what your little sister will be!
Oh boy, mommy! You just knew I wouldn't want to be a pimp without a hooker! I love you!
Awww, I love you too, Jimmy. Now let's go make your sister up like a whore.

(Ok, this isn't much different from the DJ-as-a-hooker scenario, but still).

Posted by at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBacks (1)

seeing the sailboat

While the Beltway Sniper (as he has been dubbed in that way the American media has of dubbing every event and/or perpetrator of a crime with a nickname) was still on the loose, everyone had a theory as to the person/people commiting the crimes, their motives and their race/religion/background/how much they hated their mommy.

My theory was terrorism. People from all over the globe came out to laugh at me, point their fingers at me and call me silly names. I defended the use of the word terrorism. I defended my feelings on the subject.

Most of the detractors of my theory pointed to the "lone white gunman" theory, the one that says most serial killers and mass murderers are middle-aged white men whose mother used to force them to wear dresses and sit in the attic and pray that their pee pee would fall off and they would turn into a girl.

So, to all those who called me every euphemism for "idiot" just two weeks ago, what do you think now? Can we call it terrorism yet?

Let's take the facts as we know them at the moment:

• In 1985, John Allen Muhammed converted to Islam, Religion of Peace™.
• He has been quoted as being a sympathizer of the September 11 attackers, and an al Queda symathizer.
• He has most recently been linked to vandalism on a synagogue (p.2) in Tacoma, Washington.
• He has links to a terrorist training ground in Alabama.
• He was a member of the anti-semetic radical group Nation of Islam.
• His funding is in question in that he was jobless, homeless and yet was able to procure guns, ammunition, and take frequent trips to the Carribean

Need I go on? These facts do not mean that he was acting in concert with organized terrorists groups. It does, however, lead one to believe that the killings were not the random gunplay of a white boy with mommy issues, but of a man and accomplice on their personal jihad against America, inspired by their "religion" and anti-American feelings. He was reported to the authorities twice (before the shootings began) for suspicion of being involved in terrorism.

Hmmm. He's anti-America. He's anti-Jew. He's a killer.

Did you see the movie Mallrats? Remember that one guy who spent the entire movie looking at the Magic Eye poster, trying to see the sailboat?

Almost every has seen the sailboat now. Stop averting your eyes and look. It's right in front of you. And just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.

Muhammed was not killing in the name of childhood trauma or some weird sexual dysfunction or simply for the joy of killing. He had a motive, he had a mission, and the more we know about him, the more we know that he is a terrorist.

(On the subject of Islam, I would like to state for the last time (to avoid any more emails) that I do not believe, nor have I ever said, that all people who practice the religion of Islam are radical extrememists or murderers. Muhammed is obviously practicing (or interpreting) an extreme and distorted form of Islam, the same extreme an distorted form practiced by the virgin-seeking members of al-Queda.)

Posted by at 04:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)

brain.hurts.

PLEASE! MAKE THE CAMPAIGN COMMERCIALS STOP! FOR GOD'S SAKE MAKE IT STOP!!!

AHHHHHHH....GOLISANO ATE MY BRAIN! IT'S TOO LATE FOR ME........SAVE YOURSELF...........

Posted by at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

more oxygen!

It's hard to be outraged or witty when you are bogged down with antiobotics, a hacking cough and a lack of sleep. I've quit smoking (again) for the final time. That rattling in my chest this morning - and the subsequent vision I had - scared the living crap out of me.

I imagined a future me, rolling down the aisles of Target in my moveable chair thing that I bought on QVC, my dutiful husband lugging my oxygen tank, trying to keep up with me. I'd be a menace in those aisles, screeching my tires and popping wheelies while the other old ladies recoiled in horror.

"More oxygen, damn it!" And my poor husband, once so young and full of hope, now relegated to being my breath regulator, would run after me and turn the dial up on the tank. We'd leave the store and I'd light up a cigarette, mindless of the wheezing in my throat.

It all sounds like so much fun, but I think I'll pass. Bad enough that my poor husband, being 20 somewhat years younger than me old, will someday suffer the humility (or my humility) of having to change my Depends. I don't need him chasing me down the aisles of a department store, waving my oxygen tank after me.

So what was I saying?

Yes, I've quit smoking for good and that only means more vitriol, rage and misdirected anger from me. This may qualify me yet for the new position Bill is holding elections for.

I'm headed for the couch soon. Me, the tv, and some NyQuil. I have to find something to watch that will get that vision of the future out of my head.

Posted by at 07:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

at the doctor's

Appointment time: 10:15. Actual time doctor called me in: 11:45

What I told the receptionist when I called: "I'm having a hard time breathing."

Diagnosis given after two breathing tests and a treatment: "Well, it looks like you're having a hard time breathing."

Overheard conversation at reception desk:
Receptionist: "Mr. Green! How have you been?"
Mr. Green (who is about 60 years old and is wearing a layer of gold chains over to go with his wide collar leisure suit): Great! I've got a twenty year old girlfriend and she's still a virgin!"
Receptionist: "Um...that's nice, Mr. Green."
Mr. Green: "Hey, I'm just kidding sweetie. You know I only date whores!"

Oh, that's not the best part. There's more.

Guy 1 (about 35-40 years old, has that freshly hungover look): "Hey, dude! I haven't seen you in months!
Guy 2: Oh..hey. How you been?
Guy 1: Not bad. Still not working, just drinking and shit.
Guy 2: You still fucking Samantha?
Guy 1: Nah, Samantha is fucking girls now.
Guy 2: Oh, I hear ya on that.
Guy 2: Oh, look there's that sniper thing (looks up at CNN on waiting room television). You know, I thought of you when that shit first happened.
Guy 1: Heh, you thought it was me?
Guy 2: Well, it wouldn't have been the first time you went around shooting people.

I moved down about three seats at that point.

Posted by at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Site of today: Weblog Action Center

armchair quartbacking: terrorist edition

With all the second guessing in the media regarding the gas used to help free the Russian hostages, I wonder if any one of the terrorism armchair quarterbacks have thought about what could have happened had the gas not been used.

Yes, perhaps the dosage was too high. Perhaps the antidote should have been available in a quicker fashion. Regardless, imagine what could have taken place had the authorities not used the gas. Imagine the headlines, the second guessing, the protests, if Putin did not take the action he did and the terrorists ended up blowing the theater to bits, killing every single hostage. Sample headline: Putin's Inaction Leads to 700 Deaths. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

There's something else the media and naysayers seem to be forgetting. It was the terrorists holding the hostages in that theater. Where is all the media outrage over this? Where is are the endless opinion pieces on how horrid it is that terrorists can sweep right in and cause such havoc? Where are the rallying cries to bring down every Chechen rebel and make them pay for what they did?

Nowhere. The media, especially the media right here in the U.S. - the same television outlets and newspapers that relegated the hostage story to third string so they could spend more time interviewing former serial killers or show videos of a tree stump being hauled away - all have lead articles about the gas. They are asking questions, demanding answers. They are villifying Putin, who is between that proverbial rock and hard place. Had he not used the gas, they would be villifying him anyhow.

Where is the outrage over the terrorists? And still, no one wants to refer to them as T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-T-S. Hostage takers. Rebels. Poor, misunderstood citizens who only wanted their complaints heard. For some unfathomable reason, the press would rather stick it to Putin that come down hard on these murderers.

At least someone is speaking sense:

The White House declined to criticize the rescue operation, making clear the Bush administration's view that blame for the deaths lay with the captors.

"The Russian government and the Russian people are victims of this tragedy, and the tragedy was caused as a result of the terrorists who took hostages and booby-trapped the building and created dire circumstances," spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday.

Almost every article I read is blaming Putin for the deaths of the hostages. Hello? Putin would not have had to make the decision if the terrorists did not take over the theater in the first place.

Why is the media so eager to protect terrorists? Why do they give more sympathy to the plight of our enemies than to the victims of our ememies? Has the idea of "root causes" so overtaken the mindset of the media that they fail to see the end result of those causes?

I've had enough of standing still and dragging feet. I've had enough of the apologists of the media who are afraid to use the word terrorist. I've had enough of reasoning and appeasing and negotiating. When will people realize that the only option to those ways of dealing with terrorism is none of the above?

Send a message to the evil, heartless, ruthless terrorists everywhere. Start with the biggest terrorist of them all. Drop the damn bombs already. Get the preamble to the war on terrorism overwith and move on to the real action.

Kill 'em all.

On the same subject: Safety Valve; feces flinging monkey; Samizdata; Emperor Misha, Glenn Reynolds (who sent me a nice Instalanche yesterday); Cato; silent running.

Posted by at 05:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

and the loony pacifist of the day award goes to........

A group of Americans known as Voice of The Wilderness, took a little trip to Iraq this week to show their support for Saddam the anti-war movement.

Kathy Kelly, a 49-year-old former Chicago high school English teacher who is a co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness, spoke out against the Bush administration and in defense of positions taken by Mr. Hussein.

At one point, she said she wished that the United States government would follow Mr. Hussein's example in ordering the emptying of Iraq's prisons, a move the Iraqi leader made last Sunday, in part to counter Mr. Bush's descriptions of him as a murdering tyrant.

"I wish people in our country would be willing to show the same spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation to the two million people in our prisons," she said.

Sure, Kathy. We'll in your home town, in fact. Let's open the prison gates and let all those convicted murderers and rapists and child abusers walk through your neighborhood.

Of course, you wouldn't know it was even happening because apparently, your head is up your ass.

"When I ask myself who has created the greatest threat to the people of Iraq, my answer is, the United States," Ms. Kelly said.

Yes, because gassing your own people and killing children and torturing your citizens is not a threat at all. Right?

The issue for the Bush administration, she said, was not Iraq's weapons of mass destruction but control of its oil.

You know how on the Charlie Brown cartoons the adults don't really speak, they just say wah-wah-wah-wah-wah? That's what I hear everytime someone says "it's about the oil."

"However I come from the United States, and my primary responsibility is to speak out against the U.S.A. My responsibility is to speak out against my government inflicting punishment unto death upon hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children under the age of 5."

I had on idea that our primary responsibility as United States citizens is to speak out against our government. Hell, I speak out against it all the time. But I had I known I had a responsibility to do it, I might have taken the job more seriously. As for the inflicting punishiment and death upon the little ones, I must once more delve into yesterday's back of tricks. Let's see, which of the quotes shall I use this time? Oh, here's a good one: This is a regime that will drag in a man's wife, daughter or other female relative and repeatedly rape her in front of him. This is a regime that will force a white-hot metal rod into a person's anus or other orifices. This is a regime that employs thalium poisoning, widely considered one of the most excruciating ways to die. This is a regime that will behead a young mother in the street in front of her house and children because her husband was suspected of opposing the regime.

But no. It's the good old USA that is killing the Iraqi children.

And don't tell me about sanctions. I know the sanctions didn't work. So what do you want us to do now? Oh...more sanctions? Please, take off your rose colored glasses. They are making you blind.

Is there really anyone besides this lone voice of delerium in the wildrness who thinks that Saddam's reasons for letting those felons out of prison was anything but altruistic? She's either very naive or she's been smoking way too many peace pipes.

link via Kathy Kinsley, who manages to say what I wanted to say in so many less words, rather succintly.

Posted by at 07:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

idolizing

Natalie went to the America Idol concert tonight. She and her friends made humungous signs to carry around. Most teenage girls, when making such signs for a concert, will often make posters with hand drawn hearts and "I love you!" plastered all over it.

Instead, Natalie and her friend made one sign that said nothing but 'JUSTIN, YOU FREAK,GET A HAIRCUT!' The other had a very large picture of Simon's face. They drew a bullseye target over the picture and made horns sticking out of his head. They also put lipstick and eyeliner on him.

Natalie is, unfortunately, her mother's daughter. Save for the crappy taste in music.

Posted by at 06:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

audience participation

This stems from a discussion with a friend last night about using music as a personal soundtrack. We've decided to do a current events case study (ok, we were drunk and the idea sounded great at that moment) using the theory that people will be more likely to quote a movie or a song rather than themselves when asked for a quote on a specific subject. Following? Good.

We need you to be our subject matters. Give us the current event (war, terrorism, elections, snipers, reality tv, etc.) that interests you most and a quote from either a movie or a song that you would use to either further or support your views. Use the comments. And then maybe I will do something interesting with the results. Depending on how interesting the results are.

And now, we are off to spend the day outside with the cameras. A new photo essay is long overdue and it's an absolutey gorgeous day outside.

Posted by at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)

dear susan sarandon

Reprentative quote from yesterday's anti-war (oops, sorry, pro-peace) rally in DC, from Susan Sarandon:

Actress Susan Sarandon spoke as well. "I am here as a mother because I am afraid for my children," she shouted. "I'm afraid for our children. I'm afraid for the Iraqi children."[emphasis added]

Susan, dear. Hang on one second while I go peruse a post I made yesteday.

Ah, there it is:

"This is a regime that will gouge out the eyes of children to force confessions from their parents and grandparents. This a regime that will crush all of the bones in the feet of a 2-year-old girl to force her mother to divulge her father's whereabouts. This is a regime that will hold a nursing baby at arm's length from its mother and allow the child to starve to death to force the mother to confess."

Now, whose children are you afraid for, Susan? Yours? What you should be afraid of is not the war that needs to be waged, but what will happen to your children's future if we don't wage it.

You're afraid for the Iraqi children? Do you think the life described above is something they enjoy? Unlike your children, who enjoy the spoils of your riches every day and lead pampered lives, the children of Iraq live in fear of their brutal leader. Their lives mean nothing to Hussein. They don't expect to have a future, let alone a good one.

What do you propose we do about that, Ms. Sarandon? Do you want to go over there and rescue each and every Iraqi child so they don't have to endure a life of pain and misery? Wouldn't it be easier to get rid of the one thing that puts the fear and pain into their lives - their leader?

No, in your world everything can be solved with a peace pipe and a handshake. You and your friends better start coming up with some viable alternatives besides making nice if you are going to continue your protests. I mean, rallying and marching is all well and good, but unless you have some kind of action and plan behind it (blaming the Republicans for everything does not count as a plan) then just shut your mouth, go home and take your hairy-armpit, placard wearing, thickheaded friends with you. Then go hunker down in your fallout shelter while the people who know how to take real action make your country a safe one and free the Iraqi children that you care about so much from the reigns of a tyrannical regime. You can thank them later.

Posted by at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (26) | TrackBacks (2)

and they say the right are conspiracy theorists....

What.The.Fuck? (make sure to read the comments, also)

Wait, there's more: CNN Involved in Jesus Box Hoax, News service is major pipeline for Illuminati propaganda
--U.S. Government uses mind control to create an assasin dream team, including John Hinckley, Jr. and Mark David Chapman.
--Covert Intelligence Group Uses Psychotronic Weapons Disguised as Garbage Trucks on US Civilians

The things you can find by clicking on links in your referrer stats is amazing.

Posted by at 07:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

that's T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-T-S

As the news slowly trickles in - and now that the sniper situation has calmed down enough for it not to be sensationalist, CNN and other outlest are finally giving Russia due coverage - there are reports of knockout gas being pumped into the theater before the seige began. Of course, I told you that 5:30 yesterday morning.

It's being said that most of the hostages who died, died from the effects of the gas.

It had to be done. While I feel deeply for the families of the hostages that did not make it out, this is a case where you need to look at the bigger picture. There were approximately 700 innocent people inside a theater rigged with bombs and mines. Two hostages had already been shot by the terrorists. The small number (relatively speaking) that died from the gas were a necessary casualty. Had the Russian commandos not been able to get into the theater, they would have ended up with 700 dead innocents, not 90.

Decision to use gas during storm of Moscow theater approved by hostages: Former hostages agree that if the gas used before the storm of a Moscow theater had not been sufficiently strong, the terrorists would have had time to blast their explosives.

"When gas seeped into the theater after the terrorists killed the first hostages, I saw that one of the terrorists, who sat on the stage, jumped up and tried to put on a respirator. He made several convulsive moves, trying to pull the mask over his face, and fell," a former hostage, currently undergoing medical treatment at a Moscow hospital, told Interfax, recalling the first minutes of the storm.

He said the terrorists had expected the use of incapacitating agents and brought in respirators and gas masks. "If they had not been incapacitated so quickly, they would have had time to carry their plans through," he said.

At least the former hostages and Interfax are referring to them as terrorists, unlike most U.S. news agencies.

Let's turn to the non-U.S. press: from the Telegraph:

The Telegraph has learned that a number of Arab fighters, believed to be of Saudi Arabian and Yemeni origin, were among the group that seized control of the theatre...."There were definitely Arab terrorists in the building with links to al-Qa'eda," said a senior Western diplomat. "The Russians will now want to know how much help the Chechens received from bin Laden's organisation."

Mr Putin had claimed that "foreign elements" were involved and suspicions about al-Qa'eda's connection deepened after the Chechens broadcast a pre-recorded message on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television network, which is frequently used by bin Laden and his lieutenants.

How are these people not terrorists? Why is the U.S. press so afraid to use that word? It's not a matter of semantics this time, as were my arguments with people over what to call the sniper. This is not only outright terrorism, but the more we learn about the murderers, the more we see the link between them and Arab terrorists. The Chechen 'rebels' are just one of many enemies in the war we are fighting.

As the links between Iraq and al-Queda grow, the lines between terrorist forces will become so blurred as to all but disappear. Our enemies are morphing into one giant killing machine. If you think that a hostage situation like the one in Russia could not happen here, you are sadly mistaken. If you think that terrorists world wide are not all being funded through the same channel, then I want to know what world you live in because it sure must be a nice, pretty place.

There are no peace signs in my little corner of the world anymore. You can march all you want, and refuse to use the word terrorist all you want and try to understand the psyche of our enemies (see, Horsefeathers), but I'm not playing that game anymore.

The world is a big, ugly place. It's getting uglier by the day. Playing nice and using euphemisms and pandering to the appeasers are not going to get us anywhere but dead.

T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-T-S

Just in case you were having trouble with it.

Meryl weighs in on the same issue

Posted by at 06:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I revamped the about me page. It is now a short version with all the basic things you need to know; a primer for figuring out what makes me tick, and one of the only about pages with comments open. I'm not afraid of you.

cranium blowout!

I was just about to make this long, rambling post about the media not referring to the "hostage-takers" in Russia as terrorists, even though that's precisely what they are.

Alas, it will have to wait. I just realized that Dead Alive (aka Brain Dead) is about to begin on IFC. Run, run, run to your television sets! Goriest movie ever! Peter Jackson! Blood! Gore! Campy dialogue! Ridiculous plot line!

Best horror movie ever, no doubt.

Seriousness shall wait until tomorrow.

Posted by at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (1)

sadistic leathermaster

We nixed the comic book shopping because I just didn't feel like driving all the way out to West Babylon in the drenching rain. We nixed seeing Jackass the Movie because the people waiting on line were downright scary. Instead, we headed over to Best Buy and spent $207. Relax, some of the loot was Christmas presents.

Justin bought some cult B-movie called G-Men from Hell, featuring an all-star cast the likes of which has not been seen since Cannonball Run 2. Bob Goldthwait, Zach Galligan, Paul Rodriguez, Robert Goulet and Gary Busey in lip gloss. Stellar, I tell you. The only redeeming quality of this movie is the campy dialogue by Mike Allred, the man behind Madman.

The highlight thus far has been Gary Busey, throwing a police department colleague up against the wall when the co-worker refers to Busey as gay. Busey, lips a-shining, leans into the guy's face and sneers "I am a sadistic, leathermaster, homosexual!"

Sadly, it turned me on.

Posted by at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

all i need to know i learned from mad magazine

Happy 50th anniversary to Mad Magazine.

Back in my day, kids honed their reading skills on Archie comics or Encyclopedia Brown books. Not me. I was in my room, door locked, stealthily reading Mad Magazine as if it were pornography. I actually hid the mags under my mattress at night.

I was nine or ten when I first started reading Mad. I didn't get a lot of the humor, but what I did get was funny. In a way, Mad Magazine taught me my first lessons in the politics of America. It's where I got my information on Watergate and gas shortages and nuclear power, which probably explains why I didn't fair so well in current events in school.

What I remember most about Mad is how it got me through our vacations to Roscoe, NY. Our aunt and uncle had a house up there, right on a lake. Beautiful woods and trails and streams; lots of fishing and outdoor activities. Unfortunately, my cousins were all there, too and the fishing turned into a game of who could keep away from the boys' out of control fish lines, and the outdoor activities included running away from cousins with bb guns.

One summer I found a stack of Mad magazines in the corner of the upstate house. While all the other kids were outside being healthy and productive, in the words of my mother, I was curled up in a corner of a tiny room, reading The Lighter Side Of... and laughing even though sometimes I had no idea what I was laughing at.

I spent hours folding the back pages just right so I could see the punchline to a joke that always poked fun at our society. I studied the movie parodies, I played Spy v. Spy in my head and swore I would be Don Martin when I grew up.

I laughed out lead at the "we'd like to see" pieces. Spray Cans We'd Like to See....Movie Ads We'd Like to See... My parents thought I was nuts. My cousins thought I was weird. Eventually, everyone began to ignore me and they stopped trying to force me outdoors. They left me alone with Alfred E. Nueman.

Mad taught me many things besides world affairs and the ills of society. It's where I learned satire and sarcasm, skills I think I have employed rather admirably in my life.

I stopped reading Mad at some point, probably when I got to junior high and became a stupid teenage girl. But hey, I had my sarcasm intact.

Mad also lead me on the trail to comics, something that is still an obession in my life.

Hey...wait a minute. Let's take stock here. What exactly did Mad Magazine do for me?

It give me verbal skills that get me into trouble. It gave me writing skills that my teachers couldn't understand. It kept me from becoming physicall active, therefore ensuring that I would never have the desire to try out for a team sport in high school, causing me to become an outcast. It turned me onto comic books, a hobby that has kept me from saving any real amount of money because all my free cash goes towards pricey graphic novels and accompanying action figures. And honestly, satirical skills only come in handy if you are a writer.

On the other hand, I only got shot with a bb gun once, I never got a fish hook stuck in my head like one of my cousins did, and I totally avoided the jocks in high school. And I still know more about Watergate than my parents do.

Thanks, Mad and happy anniversary!

Posted by at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

a moratorium on idiots in front of the camera

I tried to imagine American journalists working with regulations like this:

The Press Ministry ordered the second-tier Moskovia television station off the air Friday for its coverage of the hostage crisis and issued warnings to a number of other media outlets.

Deputy Press Minister Mikhail Seslavinsky said Moskovia had "directly violated" legislation on the media and the fight against terrorism and had incited ethnic hatred, Interfax reported.

Seslavinsky said the shutdown had to do with a program that showed exit routes that the hostage-takers could use to leave the theater where hundreds of people have been held captive since Wednesday night. He also criticized racist statements made by journalists and people interviewed, as well as a report about new members joining the neo-Nazi Russian National Unity group.

*******

On Friday, the ministry scolded the government's Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper for what it called an "inappropriate" photograph showing the body of a young woman killed by the hostage-takers, Interfax reported.

There's a part of me that thinks - especially after the whole sniper thing - that this is a great idea. Of course, the free speech lover in me would never really want this to happen. Just to certain newscasters. For instance, newscasters who write letters to serial killers in prison asking for their expertise. Or interviewers who thrust a microphone or camera into the face of someone who just lost a loved one in a tragic accident and asks "how do you feel?"

The more I think about it, the more I could go on. Good thing I have some comic book shopping to attend to today. But feel free to carry on my pissant point of view.

Posted by at 02:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

today's reading assignment

An excerpt from The Threatening Storm by Kenneth Pollack, read by Sen. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) this month in the House of Representatives.

Found at both American Kaiser and the Safety Valve.

In the words of Toren, have a nice day.

Posted by at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

hostage situation ends

While I was sleeping off those margaritas, the hostage situation in Russia ended. I have to say, it did not end as badly as I thought it would.

The news from my tv is still sketchy. It's being reported that shots were fired before the Russian forces went in, and that the rebels had killed two hostages.

The Times of India is reporting that the theater may have been gassed before the troops went in:

Some of the hostages who died Saturday during an assault on a Moscow theatre may have been poisoned by gas Russian special forces released into the building to disable Chechen separatist gunmen, Moscow Echo radio reported.

Several hostages may have choked on their own vomit, a likely effect of the gas, the radio station quoted doctors as saying.

Up to 30 hostages died during the operation, Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov said.

Two of the rescued hostages earlier said there had been a strong smell of gas inside the building shortly before the storming began.

CNN says 22 of the 50 rebels have been killed, including the leader, Movsar Barayev.

What I haven't been able to find out is how many hostages died in the battle that took place after the troops entered the building.

Even though innocent people died in the raid by the Russian troops, it still ended with less blood and less death than I imagined.

And then there are thoughts on what this all means to world affairs. The rebels are almost undoubtedly linked to the same forces that were behind September 11. There is a bigger picture here. It may take time to see it.

Meanwhile, I'm still having trouble digging up information on the number dead, wounded, etc. Most news outlets are using the wire services. I think I just read the same words ten times on different web pages.

More as I wake up.

*update* AP is reporting that 67 hostages died and no children were among the dead.

Posted by at 05:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

what a compassionate man

So our copy of The Ring sucked (what do I expect for free?) and Justin is working on a deadline. That leaves me and you, baby. And a bottle of tequila. And this:

His Excellency President Saddam Hussein of Iraq has urged the Chechen terrorists holding 700 hostages in a Moscow theatre to release their prisoners. President Saddam Hussein claimed that “the true enemies of the Moslems” are the USA and Israel, not Russia. “Listen to the voice of Baghdad and if you are convinced, do what you should do (free the hostages and do not harm them)” said the Iraqi President on a televised message on Iraqi TV tonight.

He added that “Islam is a humanistic doctrine and not a fanatical one” and warned the Chechen terrorists that fundamentalist religious tendencies would deprive the Moslems of the sympathy of the Russians and the other countries of the world.

“This is Baghdad’s message. Zionism and the USA are the oppressors, not Russia, China and India”, continued the message. [emphasis added]

Yea. Anyone still think Saddam can be reasoned with in a diplomatic manner?

Posted by at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

a picture is worth a thousand margaritas

A digital camera is a dangerous weapon in the hands of the slightly drunk.

This one is for Christine and her Picture Yourself project. About damned time, I know.

Posted by at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

raise your cup and let's propose a toast...to the thing that hurts the most

It's been this kind of week.

Margarita glasses courtesy of Kymberlie
Bar set courtesy of Miguel
Impetus to drink courtesy of Tanya
Dinner courtesy of Stephen's recipe
Laughs courtesy of Laurence, as always
Depression courtesy of the news
Illegal copy of The Ring courtesy some program that makes me a thief
Satanic tendencies courtesy of Joe

It's Friday. No kids, no schedule, no particular place to go except on the couch with my husband and my drink.

It's time to get my drunk on and forget the world outside my house exists.

Hey, let me know if you know where the title of this post comes from. I'll buy you a drink if you do.

Anyone joining me in a toast to a better world?

Posted by at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

breaking news

A small plane crashed today in Eveleth, Minnesota. Sources are saying it is the plane that Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn) uses, but no one can confirm that he was on the plane. No major newsites have a link yet.

Wellstone is campaigning for re-election.

*update* ABC news is reporting that Sen. Wellstone is dead, as is everyone who was on the plane. This is awful news, regardless of how you feel about the Senator's politicics. My thoughts go out to the families of the victims.

*another update* His wife and daughter were on the plane, also. How very sad.

(ABC link spotted at Juan Gato's)

Posted by at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

attention blogger users

found at plasticbag.org:

Blogger has been hacked. Many many people have been affected. change your server password immediately - it might have been compromised. Your passwords have been changed so you can't access your account. your url has been changed so you can't publish. if you gain access there's no way to change your settings back because the database has collapsed.

If this concerns you then follow these easy instructions to rectify the situation:

Go to Dreamhost.com
Sign up for service
Register a domain name
Download Moveable Type
Put the past behind you.

Posted by at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

a bleak situation

From Gazeta.ru: (I also posted this on the updated edition of my Russian News post from yesterday)

The rebels have issued an ultimatum to the Russian authorities. According to the Gazeta.Ru correspondent reporting from the site, through the hostages the rebels contacted the nearby crisis headquarters and said that by Saturday morning the authorities are to fulfill the following three conditions: firstly, an anti-war rally must be held near the theatre building, secondly, a similar protest must be held on Red Square, and, most importantly, federal troops must leave Chechnya. Should any of those demands be ignored, the rebels have threatened to start killing their hostages.

Some 30 relatives have already held a rally not far from the theatre. However, they fear that the terrorists might not have seen them, because police stopped them from moving closer to the building. The protesters even attempted to approach the building from the rear, and called on TV channels to broadcast the action.

According to various reports, between 50 and 100 people gathered for the rally. They held up hand-written banners and posters reading: ''No to the war in Chechnya'', ''Down with the Russian Army'', and ''Stop the war in Chechnya''. The protestors looked despondent and many women cried.

My heart is breaking for those inside the theater, and for their relatives. The rebels are not taking food that has been offered for the hostages. Instead, the captive people are existing on water and chocolate.

And then this:

At around 0300 on Friday a group of NTV reporters and a cameraman entered the building that has transfixed the entire country. The rebel leader Movsar Barayev granted reporters a short interview. He confirmed that his gunmen were anticipating a storming of the building and that they were ready for such a development. **********

However, neither Barayev’s interview, nor the words of the six female hostages with whom the terrorists allowed reporters to converse, went on air. The viewers could see the footage but could not hear their voices. Barayev’s words were related by the news presenter. The Ekho Moskvy radio station has learnt that the Press Ministry banned NTV from broadcasting Barayev’s voice. Under Russia’s media laws it is prohibited to give terrorists a platform to voice their views.

The hostages, who use their mobile phones to keep in touch with the press and relatives, said they were very deeply concerned over that ban.

There has to be some kind of medium between letting the media treat terrorists like talk show guests and completely banning them from the media. If, in some cases, it may help some hostages go free, the government should do what's right and rescind the ban, with condidtions.

In this case, I have a bad feeling that the government is going to do the only thing they feel they can; storm the building or blow it up, counting the hostages as casualties of war.

I can't see a good ending ahead.

Posted by at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

site of today: short strange trip

News From Russia has been update (10:30pm EST)

whose child is this?

You give birth and moments after you hold your tiny child in your arms, stroke his head, look into his eyes and feel an overwhelming sense of love. You hold him close to your chest and vow to keep him safe forever. You vow to love him unconditionally.

As the first days go by, you stare in awed wonder at your child. You listen to his tiny little cries, watch as his fingers curl and uncurl, sing softly to him as his eyes close and he falls asleep on your chest, his tiny baby breaths falling softly on your neck.

You imagine what the world has in store for him. In your mind, his life fast forwards and you see your child reaping all kinds of rewards; the honor student bumper sticker, the baseball MVP, valedictorian, employee of the month. Your mind only lets you see great things ahead for your child. You don't look into your baby's eyes and envision him growing up to be a terrorist, a murderer, a junkie.

I wonder about this as I watch the news and the cops surround a car, pulling out guns and barking orders. Someone's child is in that car. Sure, he's 41 years old now, but he is still someone's son. I imagine him as a baby, his mother cradling him in her arms, brushing his cheek with her finger and silently hoping that her son will have all the good things life has to offer.

That man in the car was a baby once. Someone had hope for him. Someone held him and sang to him. He was a toddler, unsteady on his feet. He was a young boy, watching cartoons and playing ball. What happened to turn that toddler with his goofy, milk-stained grin into a killing machine?

I sit at my desk each work day and watch the parade of prisoners that are brought past my office. Some are in orange jump suits, feet shackled. There are men and women both, some well-dressed in business suits and dresses, some unkempt and reeking of alcohol. They all have their arms behind them, their wrists bound together in metal cuffs.

They were children once. They were babies who smiled and toddlers who giggled. What does a parent think as they appear in court to bail out that child? What does a parent think when they turn on the news and see their son or daughter's face in mug shot form with the words "wanted" underneath it?

I look at the tv and try to imagine killers and terrorists as babies. I see the drug addicts and petty thiefs march into the courtroom every day and I try to imagine them learning how to ride a bike, their fathers holding tight to their arms so they don't fall.

As a parent, all you want is to be proud of your child, from birth to adulthood. You want to look at them one day and say "what a fine young lady you turned out to be." I don't care if my kids end up being doctors or professional cashiers. I just want them to be good people. I want them to respect the human race and the earth they live on. I don't want to see their faces splashed on the cover of the Daily News with target signs drawn over them.

I think of mothers in other countries, mothers who praise their god when their son dies in a suicide bombing because he was able to kill many "enemies." I think of fathers who train their children in the use of explosives, parents who dress their children in weaponry and ammunition, parents who teach their children that killing is good, that being a martyr will get you free sex in the afterlife.

I can't imagine raising my child to die. I don't know what it's like to have a policeman knock on your door in the middle of the night to say your son has been arrested for manslaughter. I don't know what it's like to have your daughter call you from a payphone in the city, asking you for help in getting away from her pimp. I don't want to know.

I just know that I look at baby pictures of my children and the journals I kept for them when they were infants. I see all the hope I had for them and I worry that this world has killed the hope, has killed the chances my kids have for a future free from bombs or poverty or terror. I worry that every word I whispered to them when they were little and slept in my arms, all that talk of the world being theirs, the life that stretched before them being filled with promise and hope, I worry that I said those things in folly.

All the things that happen between infancy and young adulthood, all the things that create your path and direction and lead to your future, they are not at all controllable. I can only do my part to give my children the values and morals they need to become decent adults. But I have no control over the outside world. I have no control over the influences of people they meet outside my home, the affect the events of the chaotic world around them have on their psyche.

I just know I feel for every mother or father who has had to watch their child become something less than human. I feel for the parents who did all they could but lost their children to evil in the end.

In the end, the ultimate responsibility for a person's behavior lies with themselves. But you can bet that the parent of every serial killer, evey mass murderer, every shoplifter or hooker or societal drop-out has said to themselves at one point Where did I go wrong? How did my child go from that laughing infant to the man I see on tv in handcuffs?

That is, every parent save for the ones who bring their children up to hate and fight and kill. And to that I ask, where did the world go wrong in making it a place where parents like that exist?

Teach your children well. It's the only thing you can do to help make your future and their future one that doesn't involve hatred and gunfire.

(note: the preceding was not what I sat down to write this morning. It's just what came out. It may be edited later for clarity once I really wake up)

Posted by at 05:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBacks (1)

moose and elk all night long

I spent most of this evening engaged in the lost art of diorama making. The subject was elk habitats and the child whose project it was had become unbearably hostile towards his endeavor. Towards the end I was tempted to make a few elk out of molding clay, squish them into the shoe box and write a sign that said "Elk as Road Pizza."

By the time the elk were happily nested in their snowy habitat, the sniper news had already broken and the Moose conference had wrapped up.

Hey...elk....moose. There's a story in there somewhere.

Anyhow, I felt as if I had watched a suspense movie and the cable went out just as I was finding out whodunit.

Of course, I knew whodunit in this one, since Mr. Mohammed's face was plastered all over the news today. The question that remains is, whydunit?

No one will be able to convince me that this was not an act of terrorism. Mohammed and his companion were extracting their own personal jihad on America. Domestic terrorism, they call it. Unorganized terrorism, I call it. Either way, Mohammed has a message and he just hasn't delivered it to the mountain yet.

Posted by at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

relentless

FoxNews TV just announced that the FBI has issued a warning that al-Queda is planning an attack on U.S. railways.

Let's face it, folks. It's going to be a long, long time before we feel safe again.

Posted by at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

the more you know...

Found at Daily Pundit:

Two men wanted for questioning in the deadly sniper attacks were arrested early today in western Maryland in a car with New Jersey license plates obtained in Camden on the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The license plates were issued to John A. Muhammad, 42, with an address of 1400 Sheridan Street, a state Motor Vehicles Division agent said. A bomb scare of undetermined origin occurred just minutes later.

Muhammad was arrested driving a 1990 Chevrolet Caprice with license plate NDA-21Z, which New Jersey authorities said had been issued for a different vehicle registered to Muhammad.

Neighborhood residents said today they did not know Muhammad and had never seen him. They also said they did not remember seeing the car.

*****

Edmond Bonnette, agent at the state Motor Vehicles office at 2600 Mount Ephraim Ave. in Camden, said the car was registered at 8:52 a.m. on Sept. 11.

"At 9 a.m., we had a bomb scare," Bonnette said. "The police said it was called in from a phone booth on Kaighn Avenue. We had to evacuate everyone."

The more you know....the more you know.

Posted by at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

news from russia updated 10/25 10:30am EST

If you are looking for news of the Russian hostage situation, being that the U.S. media is all but ignoring it in favor of showing you the same scenes a car being towed over and over again, here are some English language Russian newspapers with up to date information.

Gazeta.ru has several personal accounts of what went on inside the theater:

''They talked to each other in some incomprehensible language. Only one of them talked to us in Russian. Without any threats he asked the assembly not to panic.'' Afterwards, the theatre-goers were divided into two groups – men and women were taken into opposite parts of the hall and asked to show their passports. After checking the documents, the terrorists started to release a few of the hostages – some foreigners and Muslims. The Chechens also released about 20 children.

Interfax Information Agency has a wealth of stories on the situation, including this interesting bit:

The Russian Press Ministry has issued a repeated warning to the media against letting the hostage-takers speak on the air, press secretary of the Ministry Yuri Akinshin has told Interfax.

"We insist on the inadmissibility of providing the terrorists with the opportunity to speak through certain media outlets, including the Echo Moskvy radio station," Akinshin said.

The circulation of such information violates the law On Mass Media, he said.

"If this is repeated, we reserve the right to take all proper measures, up to the termination of the activity of those media," Akinshin said.

From The Moscow Times:

Interfax and Russian television, citing rebel web site Kavkaz.org, reported the attackers belong to a group headed by Movsar Barayev, a nephew of slain Chechen field commander Arbi Barayev. The web site could no longer be accessed in Moscow late Wednesday night.

Movsar Barayev has been reported killed several times during the ongoing Chechnya military campaign, most recently 10 days ago during Russian bombing raids.

Barayev was quoted by kavkaz.org as saying that the gunmen arrived in Moscow "to die, not survive" and that 40 Chechen widows are participating in the attack, Interfax reported.

The Radio Voice of Russia:

President Vladimir Putin has called the hostage crisis in Moscow another symptom of international terrorism. He compared Wednesday’s terrorist act with the latest attacks in Indonesia and the Philippines. Those who masterminded them were involved in the Moscow raid, he told Russia’s Moslem leaders in the Kremlin on Thursday. Mr. Putin noted that the hostage drama had been planned in one of foreign terrorist centers and that the executors of the crime had been found. The bandits want to sow religious and ethnic strife in Russia, they want to impose the rules they once imposed in Chechnya, he said, assuring that the authorities would not yield to these provocations. The Russian Moslems have sharply condemned Wednesday’s terrorist act and offered to exchange themselves for the hostages

Russian Information Centre:

There are four US nationals among those who were taken hostage in a theatrical centre in Moscow's Dubrovka street, American ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow told reporters Thursday.

The diplomat said the embassy was not 100% sure of the information, but it seemed likely as of that moment.

One of the American hostages made a cellular phone call to his relatives in the States, who were quick to contact the embassy, according to Mr Vershbow.

He emphasised that the United States was eager to join hands with Russia to resolve the problem. Among other things, the US could offer intelligence assistance, according to the diplomat.

*update*

The Russia Journal Daily has some quotes from the hostage takers:

"I swear by God we are more keen on dying than you are keen on living," a black-clad male said in the broadcast. "Each one of us is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of God and the independence of Chechnya."

"Even if we are killed, thousands of brothers and sisters will come after us, ready to sacrifice themselves," declared a female covered in a black robe except for her eyes.

Interfax has updated their information on the Americans being held in the theater:

There are three U.S. citizens and one person who permanently lives in the U.S. and has a 'green card' among the hostages held in a Moscow theater, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow told the press on Thursday.

He noted, however, that this information is preliminary.

One of the Americans called U.S. diplomats on a cell phone from the theater and provided information about himself. Another American woman among the hostages managed to call her family in the U.S., from which American diplomats in Moscow learned about the situation inside the seized building, Vershbow said.

The U.S. Embassy does not have any confirmed information on the health of the remaining American hostages, he said.

Taking questions from the press, Vershbow emphasized that the action perpetrated by the hostage-takers in Moscow cannot help the Chechen cause but, on the contrary, can only provoke anger towards those employing terror for attaining their ends.

The U.S. is still convinced that the conflict in Chechnya can be resolved politically, but this cannot be done by way of terror, Vershbow said.

*update* 9:28pm EST

Gazeta.nu has some info on one of the main rebels:

Movsar Barayev is also known as Movsar Suleimenov. He is the nephew of the infamous warlord Arbi Barayev, who gained notoriety by establishing a huge slave-trading network throughout Chechnya. Arbi Barayev was slain in summer 2001 in his home village of Alkhan-Kala. After his uncle’s death Movsar took command of most of his uncle’s men.

It is believed that Suleimenov and his younger subordinates controlled all the rebel groups in Grozny, though his name was hardly ever mentioned in connection with rebel raids against the federals. Federal forces, though, have repeatedly claimed to have killed him.

On October 12 the deputy commander of the combined federal forces in Chechnya Boris Podoprigora reported that Barayev was killed in an artillery raid. The official notice read that Barayev was killed by precision strikes delivered by Russian artillery and the Air Force. Governmental news agency RIA-Novosti reported that the warlord and his gang were destroyed near the village of Komsomolskoye, in the Urus Martan district of the republic.

Interfax is reporting that many people in the theater, mostly children, are suffering from medical conditions:

A box with medicines for children needing medical aid has been passed to the theater, in which a group of armed Chechen fighters have been holding hostage hundreds of people since Wednesday evening.

A crew of the NTV television and a foreign doctor entered the building with the medicines several minutes ago, a source with the crisis center has told Interfax.

They are also reporting that all the children may be released on Friday.

*update* 10/25/02 10:30am EST

From Gazeta.ru: this is just incredibly heartbreaking

The rebels have issued an ultimatum to the Russian authorities. According to the Gazeta.Ru correspondent reporting from the site, through the hostages the rebels contacted the nearby crisis headquarters and said that by Saturday morning the authorities are to fulfill the following three conditions: firstly, an anti-war rally must be held near the theatre building, secondly, a similar protest must be held on Red Square, and, most importantly, federal troops must leave Chechnya. Should any of those demands be ignored, the rebels have threatened to start killing their hostages.

Some 30 relatives have already held a rally not far from the theatre. However, they fear that the terrorists might not have seen them, because police stopped them from moving closer to the building. The protesters even attempted to approach the building from the rear, and called on TV channels to broadcast the action.

According to various reports, between 50 and 100 people gathered for the rally. They held up hand-written banners and posters reading: ''No to the war in Chechnya'', ''Down with the Russian Army'', and ''Stop the war in Chechnya''. The protestors looked despondent and many women cried.

Posted by at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

connecting the dots

Let's see what we have so far:

John Allen Muhammad, 42 years old. Born John Allen Williamsm but changed his name and religion 17 years ago. He is a former member of the U.S. Military, a Gulf War veteran with combat training. He has declared his sympathy towards al-Queda and the Septmember 11 hijackers. He has links to an Islamic militant training camp in Alabama. A rifle, a scope and a tripod has been recovered from his car.

Now, let's go to Russia. The Chechen rebels, who have reportedly killed at least one hostage already, let all the Muslims in the theater go, in addition to children. Chechyna is a mainly muslim Republic. According to news sources, the hostage takers called themselves "smertniki," a word that in Russian refers to fighters who die for a cause.

*update* found on a comment at Cold Fury: The Chechens are backed up by Saudi Wahhabis, the same sect that organized the attacks on Bali and probably the WTC.... by Ralf Goergens

Connect the dots. The big picture says we are in deep trouble here.

And...Am I the only person out here that thinks these two guys they arrested are not the actual shooters, just the fall guys for a larger contingent?

*clarification* I didn't mean to imply that the two incidents are related in any way, I was just saying that the world is in deep shit.

Posted by at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

brass monkey, that funky monkey

There is so much disinformation about the sniper case coming over the airwaves or, in the case of the Russia story, lack of information, that I am going to bide my time and wait until the lies, half-truths and fabrications are filtered out before I pass any more judgment on either either story.

Meanwhile, blame the rest of this post on Solonor. He seems to have passed some Monkey Madness on to me.

At Empty-Handed, I found lyrics to a ditty called Song of the Burmese Land. This is of great interest to me because my nephew David is Burmese. So I read the lyrics and I thought, wow what a great cross-stitch sampler this would make to hang in David's room! Nevermind that I don't know how to cross-stitch or that the song makes very little sense; it has the word monkey in it!

Burmese land is like monkeyland
A bothersome, troublesome place
Burmese land is like monkeyland
Listen, I'll tell you so

Burmese land is like monkeyland
A bothersome, troublesome place
Burmese land is like monkeyland
To the lunatic asylum I'm going

Is that beautiful, or what?

And if you like that, maybe you should go spank the monkey over at Monkey Island.

Movie of the day: Alakazam (animated). Whenever this shows up on one of our cable channels, we end up watching it just because the blurb reads "an arrogant monkey learns about love and humility."

I think I will use that phrase as an insult in the future. You, sir, are an arrogant monkey!

Enough with the monkey madness. There's news to watch for.

Posted by at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

no tinfoil needed

Not for nothing, but it looks like the white supremacist theory is out. So is the lone gunman theory.

What have we got left?

Hmm...two men arrested, tv stations reporting that they are "anti-American" and "sympathetic to al-Qaeda."

Which, of course, leaves one to wonder: if they are part of a group, how many are in this group and where are they?

I thought the capture and arrest of the sniper(s) would bring a bit of peace and closure. Instead it's just blown the climate of fear wide open.

Posted by at 07:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

waking to a nightmare

There's so much going on with the sniper investigation that I haven't had time to digest it all yet.

I find myself distracted from sniper talk by the events in Russia: "At least 40 armed Chechen rebels stormed a crowded theater and took hundreds of people hostage in the midst of a musical, threatening early Thursday to shoot their captives and blow up the building if Russian security forces attacked."

This situation is beyond frightening. The theater has been planted with explosives and mines. Most of the rebels are wearing explosives.

I feel as if everything is spinning out of control. Snipers, bombs, civil wars, explosions. Something must be done to send a message to purveyors of terror and evil world wide that we will not stand for it any longer. The world will not be held hostage by martyrs and infidels and dictators. A message needs to be sent, before there is no one left to hear it.

Faster, please.

Ok, one thing on the sniper. This is what he asked Chief Moose to say last night:

You have indicated that you want us to do and say certain things. You've asked us to say, quote, We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose, end quote. We understand that hearing us say this is important to you.

Kathy Kinsley did a little research on the phrase "duck in a noose" and came up with this:

The latest message to the killer caught my interest. Moose said, at the killer's request: "We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose." So I started a Google on this. I think the reference may be to a Cherokee story of a trickster rabbit who goes duck hunting, and catches a duck in a noose. The duck flies away, carrying the rabbit until the rabbit can't hold on anymore and falls into a tree. In short, the duck isn't caught at all.

I think the Moose is playing right into the sniper's hands with that one. He is most likely using the media to broadcast coded messages of his own to any cohorts he may have.

Anyhow, let's see what the latest happenings bring while I go make some coffee. It could be a very interesting day.

Posted by at 06:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

the plot thickens

This is getting interesting.

My terrorism theory is gaining ground. I'm not the only one who thinks so.

This search has spread from one end of the country to the other. A wide net has been cast and it puts every American smack in the middle of it.

I would still love to be proved wrong. We all would rest much easier if they arrested (or killed) one lone, crazed guy found to be responsible for the shootings. The connotations that come with it being terrorism...well it's a bit too scary to think about.

Posted by at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

one step forward, two steps back

Brainwashing in Grade School: By Edgar B. Anderson

When I was in grade school, there was a good deal of revisionist history taught. Now that the radical left has gotten ahold of our textbooks, our kids are learning distorted history; lessons that go too far in making America accountable for its actions in the past.

I have no problem with teaching our children the realities of life and war in the past. America was not always the good guy. But I do believe that as Americans, we should portray a somewhat balanced outlook on history. Not lies, not distortions, just balanced truth.

How can you possibly teach about Pearl Harbor, recounting the horrors of the bomb, without recounting the Americans killed in the attack by Japan? Sometimes an absence of truth is as bad as a lie.

Have we gone so far in our attempts at political correctness that we are teaching our children to forget everyone but minorities? Please don't get me wrong; I think it is wonderful that kids are learning about more than white-bred heroes. But must we leave the majority out in order to teach about the minority?

Then there's this gem:

Now we are teaching kids to view graffiti as meaningful artistic statements? Our town just spent a million dollars on removing graffiti from walls and educating children about vandalism. Now they want to introduce grafitti as literature into the school system?

I can imagine it now. My daughter, at the police station, hands staind with spray paint.

"But mom, you should think about how I felt when I wrote that. I mean, my words are on the side of the Dairy Barn. I'm an author!"

I do not agree with the author of the article on everything. I do think that it is about time we taught our children more than what is in their history books now. I do think that other races, religions and nationalities should be reprsented in our history books.

What I don't like is the America as the Bad Man mentality that seems to be cropping up in our schools. Sure, America has been the bad man at some times. Let the kids know that. But don't include all the bad parts without teaching them the good parts. If you want to make room to include the negative aspects of our history, you can not do at the expense of the good parts of our history.

(link via: I'm not sure what weblog I saw this at today!)

Posted by at 07:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (1)

we all cope in different ways, i guess

Natalie took the hamster death rather well. She said she had a "feeling" about it last night. Her friend Jessica came over and Justin took them outside and helped them bury Kobe and the babies.

Ten minutes later DJ comes in the house with his friends. I carefully explain to him what has transpired. He looks in the cage.

"So, there's only one hamster left?"
"Yes."
"And it's my hamster?"
"Yes."
He peers into the cage and says nothing. A few seconds pass and he suddenly pumps his fist in the air and shouts to his friends, "HAMSTER SURVIVOR CHAMPION!"
His friends high-five him and they run outside.

Don't worry. He's already seeing a good therapis.

Posted by at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Carnival of the Vanities 5 is over at the Amish place this week. It's a good round-up, with blurbs and all. Plenty of posts offering good reading on a variety of subjects.

Also, tell us a scary story at Raising Hell and be eligible to win a neato prize!