Let The Censorship Begin!

"People need to be very careful about what they say just as people need to be careful about what they do." -Donald Rumsfeld, commenting on a Newsweek story which allegedly prompted riots in Afghanistan.

"My goodness, why does it take so long for someone to come back with and have the actual facts? Well, it takes a long time to be truthful." - Donald Rumsfeld, being hypocritical.

So Newsweek said that U.S. interrigators flushed the Quran, the Muslim holy book, down the toilet. Nevermind that the allegation may be true. The big thing is, eleven days after the article was published, riots broke out in Afghanistan, and the Bush administration blamed Newsweek, saying that the news weekly's lies got people killed.

Lies getting people killed? Isn't that more of a Bush thing?

Bush and Co., after sitting down to watch Spin City and listen to the Spin Doctors and Spin yarns while taking a Spin class, somehow was able to get away with blaming the media, yet again, for a violent outbreak halfway around the world. And so far, everyone's eaten it up, asked for second helpings, and is calling for journalists' heads on platters.

Doesn't it occur to anyone that, A. The Quran accusation just might be true given what we know of the situation in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere (and that it took 11 days for Bush and Co. to deny the story), or B. That... hmm, maybe it's Bush's policies that are making the Muslim world so mad? You know, policies like jailing people and charging them with no crime?

No. It's the journalists fault, right? We're irresponsible. The job of reporting the news should go to the people we trust. Like Bill O'Reilly.

In the words of Kit Kat, Give me a break.

The truth is, Newsweek did give journalism and the media a black eye. But it wasn't reporting the story. It was bowing to pressure and retracting it. They looked at CBS, which took so much flack over the Bush National Guard memo (which has yet to be proven a fake-- despite a nice animation right wingers like to look at in between visits to anncoutlernaked.com) and the folks at Newsweek started to panic. They sunk to their knees faster than Jenna Bush at a frat party. The result is a form of self-censorship that sets the journalism movement back decades. How can we report on the abuses of this administration, where, according to Rumsfeld, we need to watch what we say? Did reporting on Abu Ghraib incite Muslim violence? Should we have kept silent, shoved the pictures in a drawer and pretended it didn't happen? And should we likewise ignore the daily bombings, the thousands of civilian deaths, the hundreds in top-secret prison facilities around the globe that may be terrorists but may also be cab drivers?

Are we supposed to ignore it? On the chance that telling the world might get the world angry at us?

According to Rumsfeld, yes.

There's your moral values right there.

Rite of Passage

Will They Play Hava Nagilah??


Plus: Man washes up on beach- plays piano. Who gets the rights to the screenplay? (Ewan Macgregor as the pianist, and Sandra Bullock as the nurse that falls in love with him.) Piano Man

Need To Know Basis



The sun is shining, the kids are leaving school, the birds are chirping mating songs in the trees. With so much beauty, the spring to summer transition that marks these blooming days of May, I guess it makes sense that no one would want to bother President George Bush during his mid-day bike ride. Even if there was a scare that a plane was headed for a crash landing at the White House.

Yep. That's right. The White House was at "Red Alert" because two guys had an old aviation map, and didn't know they were in restricted airspace. "Red Alert"-- and no one told the President.

After all, he can't be bothered with these things. Hell, on 9/11, Bush took seven minutes to get out of his chair at a photo op. If that's how he reacts after a terrorist attack happens, then I guess we shouldn't be surprised when he's not even told about a possible one.

Nice to see we take terrorism threats seriously enough that we hurry to hide Dick Cheney, Laura Bush, and Nancy Reagan in a bunker. Now, if we could just remember to, you know, tell the President, then we'd be all set.

Of course, maybe its better he not know.

He was told about 9/11, weeks before in a report entitled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike In U.S." And we saw what happened there.

So let him finish his bike ride.

After all, it's a beautiful day.

Another Hallmark Holiday

"From what I've seen, women have more trouble achieving orgasm than men, especially in marriage" -Espertantina Mayor Felipe Santolia

Brazilian Town Declares Orgasm Day
(AP) RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Sex rarely makes the news in Brazil's conservative Northeast — until a small town declared an official Orgasm Day on Monday.

Espertantina Mayor Felipe Santolia endorsed the May 9 holiday, which he said was intended to improve relationships between married couples.

"We're celebrating orgasm in all its senses. There's even a panel discussion on premature ejaculation. But from what I've seen, women have more trouble achieving orgasm than men, especially in marriage," Santolia said by telephone from Esperantina, 1,300 miles north of Rio de Janeiro.

Santolia said the remote town of 38,000 people has been unofficially celebrating orgasm day for years, but that the town's former mayor had vetoed a bill making it an official municipal holiday.

The city council passed a law Saturday creating the holiday. Santolia, who took office earlier this year, said he would sign the bill later Monday.

"I'm 32, single and I have an open mind. Beside the theme is very much of the moment," he said.

Orgasm Day celebrations include a series of panel discussions by sexologists from across Brazil and a presentation of Eve Ensler's play "The Vagina Monologues."

Santolia said the idea of celebrating Orgasm Day at first created a scandal in this poor region, known for its religious fervor. But he said residents gradually residents warmed to the idea.

"I've seen scientific studies that show when a woman is unloved, when her husband can bring her to orgasm, it affects all aspects of her life, her relationships with her children, at home, with the city and at work," Santolia said.

Happy Orgasm Day Everyone!!!

Chicken Run



Why did the chicken cross the road? He didn't know the pigs were watching.