Fairweather Friends The raid on erstwhile US puppet boy Ahmad Chalabi has put pressure on the New York Times, according to this article in Editor and Publisher. Today, if you read the two front-page articles and the editorial about Chalabi in the Times, you would think that "the paper of record" has never done anything except hammer the Man of Cats, spotting him for the fraud he is from Day One. For those intrepid travelers willing to climb aboard the MLWL's patented Way, Way Back Machine, though, the story is much different. Chalabi was the favored source of Judith Miller, the neoconservative reporter who slashed and burned the Times' credibility on Iraq throughout 2002 and 2003 by credulously reporting everything Chalabi said. Today, the Times sneers at Chalabi as a fraud. Last summer, Miller wrote this in an email to her bosses: "I've been covering Chalabi for about 10 years, and have done most of the stories about him for our paper. ... He has provided most of the front page exclusives on WMD to our paper." Any chance we're going to get a correction, Keller?
Ho and, Indeed, Hum President Bush will give a primetime speech on Monday about Iraq, bracing Americans for more violence and explaining in whatever detail he is capable of understanding our plans for that country. News junkies who would like an advance look at the president's speech should send me an email: Although I don't have a copy, I know exactly what he is going to say. Good people of the Internet, the president will tell us that we are fighting against deadly enemies with a destructive agenda, that those enemies are on the verge of defeat, that they will not be allowed to disrupt the peaceful transition to democratic rule, that the torture chambers and mass graves of Saddam Hussein are a thing of the past, and that, indeed, we will stay the course. There. Now you can watch MTV instead.
Are You STILL Talking About September 11? I know, I know: How retrograde of me. But here's an interesting story: The Bush administration is refusing, point-blank, to answer questions from the 9/11 commission about who authorized the panicked flight of the Bin Laden family from the US during the week of September 11. Right now, fingers are pointing at an authorization from Bush himself. That would make a nice campaign TV advertisement, John Kerry...
Support the Strike For the next four days, 102,000 communications workers will be on strike against SBC, the phone company that I hate so much it makes my teeth itch. If you happen to see anyone walking a picket line, as I'm sure I will, make sure you let them know you support them against their evil corporate masters.
Today's Thank God It's Friday Special From Zenarchery.com comes these possible sticker designs for liberals who are tired of pretending to be moderates:
Some other suggestions:
We Can Have Your Guns When We Pry Them from Your Cold, Dead Fingers.
My President is Bobby Seale.
All Heterosexual Sex is Rape.
Divided We Fall.
Flag-burning is a Right, Not a Privilege.
So Glad I Voted for Zerzan.
I Brake for Black Bloc'ers.
I'm a Blob of Insentient Tissue, Not a Choice.
Tax the Churches.
Everything You Do Reminds Me of Hitler.
-Consider Arms
