What I don't know...

Hmm, I sometimes forget that I can have opinions, opine until I start repeating myself, but I am shamefully low in a lot of knowledge many I look up to take for granted.

Sure, I had a brief bit of Latin at school, I have a smattering of Spanish, I know something of history, geography and sociology. I have a deep interest in psychology and communications media. I have a passive interest in cosmology and physics.

But I know very little about the technical nitty gritty of computers, HTML, classical literature, political history, art, poetry, anthropology, biology and many other topics.

In non-UK and US current affairs I really feel undone. I really know nothing of what goes on in South America, the Far East, Africa or..or..well you get the idea.

It boils down to the fact I am not the fastest reader in the world and I work about 70 hours a week. I don't mean my lips move when I read, I mean I simply read in such a way that means I don't need to reread it (it all goes in).

I am also so skint that buying a broadsheet paper on a daily basis is impossible and reading that sort of stuff on the internet is much much more time consuming.

So I'm left with simple gut reactions to things. I try to be detached but I largely rest my responses to subjects on the principle I outlined in earlier posts.

What set this little...thing off? I saw an "around the world in 80 seconds" segment on Fox News!! I, in my smug little way, thought typical Fox, devoting 80 pitiful seconds to non-American stories, how ill informed is the American public? But then they reported on protests in South Korea against Japan because there is some longrunning Falklands-style dispute between the two countries over some islands. Didn't know that. I would probably never have known that if I hadn't tuned into Fox News at that time. Scary. This sort of incident is a wakeup call and no mistake. If I need to tune into Fox News to fill in some knowledge blanks I REALLY need to get me some reading done, urgently.

I've also notice my spelling has drifted to the depths of a 10 year old. I don't know why, I just find myself totally unable to spell words I know for a fact I have used before. If it was CJD I would not be surprised. I was something of a cheeseburger addict 10 or 15 yearsago...

So, aside from this lack of varied knowledge, an everdiminishing spelling facility and a lack of creative juices (see, used lack twice in one sentence, similies are too much to generate!) this blog should be crammed to the rafters with insightful, high quality writing. Enjoy!!

Ah..christ.

A battle the Neo-cons lost...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4354269.stm

This report tells a very important story. Nevermind that Big Oil won out over "mental neo-cons" just look at who the neo-cons are and what they wanted to do. It really is scary.

All Change - stay tuned

Well, I'm finding it increasingly hard to write, especially now that I have become a freelance photographer. So, with that in mind, I doubt I shall add any posts to this blog for around six months. Once I do, I shall reveal who I am and start publicising my work - Pets and kids portraits welcome, sort of thing - and showing my favourite pics on this blog.

Should I ever write anything else - and hopefully, once I'm established, I will - I'll put it up here.

So, to the reader of this blog (I can't believe there's any more) hold tight until I'm settled down.

I may add thoughts on events here, so don't assume this blog will be blank for six months.

A catch up on events

It seems I have to be tanked up on spirits and cola to have any writing impulse these days so, as I am currently half cut on said concoction, here I am.

You can't imagine how creatively constipated I have been. I have been so busy that I have been unable to concentrate on anything long enough to even be passionate enough to comment on huge stories. It also makes me slightly uneasy at the vague potential prospect that I have to be drunk to be creative. I see so many alcoholics and see how tired and wasted they are. I don't want to have to be fucked up to write.That would be more than depressing.

I'll get on to the tsunami in a second. Blunkett's affair really seems minimal now but it has been event I was never particularly animated about even before we lost a further 124,000 poor people in the tsunami. I don't really feel Blunkett had a serious upward route in politics left and he was really nicking ideas from America most of the time in his role. Although, I think the fact that the US hasn't even seen it fit to create an ID card scheme shows how relatively pointless it is. If the US (the bullseye of terrorist targets) hasn't even begun to countenance it that why should we? I don't have a principalled stand against ID cards I just want to have a damn fine argument why they are essential.

OK, I think I can move on to the tsunami. It is a disaster that would not have been as bad had these countries been richer than we allowed them to be. The psychological damage done to individuals must be huge and this is what affects me most. The random and sudden death, largely based on chance and the heart breaking "what if"s that produces (what if I'd held on to her/him, what if I'd not missed the bus etc.) really gets to me.

I hope this historical disaster has a real effect on the soul of the rich world. I hope it (in dreadful ironic pun) causes a seachange in the developed world's thinking of how the world works. I just hope it doesn't smother the larger poverty campaign being co-ordinated this year. I hope those behind it are astute enough to use this disaster as a tool to push this broader agenda. I want to wish them the best of luck.

A interesting thing to do is look at coverage of the disaster on TV and see that all 24 hour news channels have virtually wall to wall coverage except Fox. Surprise surprise, Fox was all about Iraq, Bush and Law and Order. As I type, Fox is adjudicating the biggest News Stories of 2004 as being the election and Iraq above the tsunami. They have said that basically, the tsunami "may" beat the latter two as the biggest story!!! Come On!. This beats 9/11! This should be called the Boxing Day disaster and be referred to it as such like 9/11 is refered to. Then again, the commentator on Fox just said that Reagan was one of the "seminal thinkers of the 20th century". Jesus H Christ. John Kasich on Fox just tried to imply that the Florida hurricanes and the tsunami were possibly hinting at the end times. Jesus H Christ!! It really is staggering such tossers get on to mainstream TV in America. But the fact that CNN, ABC and NBC news are really looking at the Boxing Day Disaster so intensely is heartening.

Happy New Year.

It's a rough time

Busy, tired all the time and unemployed is not what you want in the run up to Christmas. It's also not want you want if you want to write. I currently have difficulty typing accurately due to tiredness and a worryingly unfocussed mind. So this is a brief post. If it was any longer I'd miss typing errors, so knackered am I. :(

Sky+

I'm getting Sky+. Should I be fortunate enough to have snagged any non-British eyes to this rather substandard blog, Sky+ can be explained better than I can by visiting http://www.sky.com

I have been getting more and more bored with TV and being able to choose from more channels and being able to record better is also a boon, together with easy DIY upgrading of the hard drive for a few pounds. So, I'm gonna give it a go. Wish me luck!

Hostettler mounting campaign to change the name of Interstate 69

Hostettler mounting campaign to change the name of Interstate 69 Only in America, dude, seriously.

We're a creature of three levels and they ruin our lives,
What we are, what we show and what we want in our lives,
We want to be seen as calm and true and happy souls,
But we're really insecure and lose sight of our goals

We ignore our selves at the cost of happiness,
The image of it's easier even if you're a mess,
In truth, we hate ev'ryone including ourselves,
But we never admit this, whoever delves

We're our own locusts,
Feasting on our own feast,
Burying our own lusts,
Trapping our own beast

The surface is a sham whoever you may be,
What's the point of "liking" a rich celebrity?,
We're all caked in lies and pretence like stage makeup,
We compress the real selves only crises rake up,

We're our own locusts,
Feasting on our own feast,
Burying our own lusts,
Trapping our own beast

We aim for popularity, success and love,
But then we sacrifice them in life's push and shove,
Preachers and mentors try to give them back to us,
But we all know what they're game is, they're after us

We're our own locusts,
Feasting on our own feast,
Burying our own lusts,
Trapping our own beast.

(c) Schoolboy 2004.

You blew it Kerry - Just as I thought you would.

I had written a piece but then it got deleted before I could publish so this will be a little rehashing of it.

"Kerry was the wrong man. About as charismatic as a rheumatoidal filing clerk."


I never supported Kerry, I just didn't support Bush. Kerry fucked up this election like no one else could. The Democrats fucked it up.

This was always an election for Kerry to lose rather than for Bush to win. Bush has his 48 million Christian evangelical idiots to vote for him but Kerry made so many mistakes it's hard to know where to begin.


"Bush was elected not on issues...Simply on gut fear."


Firstly, Kerry was the wrong man. About as charismatic as a rheumatoidal filing clerk.

Then you have all these targets he barely touched upon: The millions in lost jobs, the millions living on food handouts, the millions without healthcare, the deficit etc. He allowed Bush to hype his "war president" message. He allowed Bush to get away with consistent distortions of pretty much every issue.

"They accepted Bush (as did Kerry) declaring that the "American people know I have a plan" without stating what the damn plan IS."

Bush was elected not on issues, not on whether he's any good or not. Simply on gut fear. Fear of change, fear of terrorism and fear of the unknown. They accepted Bush (as did Kerry) declaring that the "American people know I have a plan" without stating what the damn plan is. Kerry failed to tell the voters who he was. He was insincere (pretending to be pro-gun, for instance) and just not a good match for the electorate.

Bush was perfect at speaking in general, simplistic, convicted terms. It didn't matter if he was right or wrong he knew what he thought. That was basically the only attraction to Americans.

He underused Edwards and they just weren't ruthless enough against the most ruthless election machine in history that Rove has constructed.

"He is free to select Supreme Court judges the average Brit would scarcely believe."

Kerry also massively fucked up in concentrating almost entirely on the swing states and leaving those that subsequently switched from Gore to Bush in this election to themselves. Bush, through his media friends and spinners, has bombarded the entire country with propaganda about terrorism and the like so much so that Kerry strongly underestimated how this had affected people's judgments across even formerly Democrat states. In a country so ignorant that 40% of people still think Iraq was behind 9/11, where virtually no one knows where Iraq is, where over a third of of under 25s think Italy, Japan and Germany were allies in WWII this propaganda sinks a lot deeper than it would in Britain.

Time and again, you speak to an average American and they'll spout the now stock oneliners Bush has dripped into their minds "with us or against us", "war on terror", "we are a beacon of freedom" and other complete myths.

So now Bush is free to run the country into the ground to bed the US into a virtually permanent and pointless state of war. He is free to select Supreme Court judges the average Brit would scarcely believe, and he is free to set up the nation for either a Jeb vs Clinton or Rice vs Clinton 2008 race. Or maybe we'll see some other race. But I see death, destruction, waste and further poverty for millions of Americans and the world.

If Bush is assassinated I wouldn't be surprised. After all, pretty much the only people on earth who do not wish him gone from the Whitehouse are the 60 million Americans who voted for him. Other than them basically the 6bn other people on the planet feel differently. Probably more enemies than any assassinated president ever had. Hope it doesn't happen, but then it's not up to me. I think it would be the worst outcome imaginable but, sadly, a far from impossible one. Given the unprecendented depth of hatred in certain parts of the world.

CBS News | Even Republicans Fear Bush | October 31, 2004�14:23:31

CBS News | Even Republicans Fear Bush | October 31, 2004�14:23:31

Every American should read this article. It may then have an effect on the election in my opinion.

FAIR MEDIA ADVISORY: If Only They Had Invented the Internet

FAIR MEDIA ADVISORY: If Only They Had Invented the Internet

This is the sort of weakness many members of the media on both sides of the Atlantic. Both parties play the game, of course. That is, Kerry and Bush. Now journalists expect to be spinned to but why do they seem so naive as to barely question if they are being outright lied to?

Answers on a postcard please...

What's going on?

I intend to embark on a bit of question asking and look back over recent history to figure out why the hell has world politics (with the notable exception of some European countries) swung so far to the right?

It would be a relatively simple matter to analyse if this was purely a US phenomenon in isolation but this is not the case. If you look at where Eastern Europe is going, where France is leaning and Italy plus Australia, New Zealand, Southern America and, one might even say, China you see a definite patter of right-wing governments claiming and keeping power.

I've got say here and now that I do not consider myself left-wing - as a non-party member of any group and a non-politician I have real problems with labels like this - I certainly can put my hand on my refried heart and say I am not right-wing. To me, the right-wing world view is profoundly illogical. It struggles consistently to balance the mutually exclusive notions of liberty and conformity. They wish for near perfect social conformity but also wish for individual freedom (small government) which is an impossible mix. And those "libertarian" right-wingers have an even more illogical world view which relies largely on some phantom innate trustworthiness on behalf of profit-making companies. The simple fact is that neither of these approaches is workable in the long-term or makes much sense.

I, on the other hand, don't subscribe to a philosophy as such. I merely start from an atheist standing start and work from there. The next step is to say individuals and any institutions should treat others in the same manner they would wish to be treated themselves. Any transgression of this should be disapproved of at best and outright prevented and criminalised at worst. This social framework is what, I believe, government is designed to form and maintain on behalf of the electorate. Is this such an unworkable platform to form a world view? I don't think so.

As government is an instrument of the people's will, this fact will inevitably affect a government's policies but, frankly, I would have thought that if there was a consensus on the above stated purpose of government in society then the policies favoured would only serve to further that aim. Let's apply what I am thinking to specific instances. In terms of sexuality, in my opinion government and everyone else should continue to treat every straight, gay, bi person as they would wish to be treated themselves. Being gay does not forfeit your right to this. So, government's role in this area is to ensure that every citizen respects this right. As transgressions of this right can affect employment and profoundly affect someone's quality of life there must be legislation that ensures that no one will be treated badly simply on the basis of their sexuality. This would be the same for all forms of discrimination on the grounds of an unchosen aspect of an individual's identity.

The right-wing mentality has it that we should dictate as little as possible to companies what they can and can't do yet individuals should be brow-beaten into living a 2.4 children nuclear family lifestyle as closely as possible. Individuals should be prevented from having sex at 16 if they're gay but not if they're straight. Huh? This is not the actions or policy of a government treating people like they would wish to be treated.

So onto this phenomenon which has crept up on us across the world. Now, of course, a large part of the blame has to be laid at the Socialists' doors. They have failed in many countries to run the nation properly. And this fact cannot be ducked. As I am not a socialist I think socialism, too, is lacking in logic in swathes of their thinking. Nationalising everything is not the panacea they claim, for one.

But in large part, the Right has risen of its own accord. It has, almost simultaneously, found a way of shaping the public's minds to their world view by, in many cases, hijacking truth and beating into such a pulp you only see small traces of it beneath the damage inflicted on it by spin and lies. For evidence of this, witness the credit for election wins by right-wing or right-leaning politicians being heaped upon their spin-masters. Karl Rove, Alastair Campbell, Lynton Crosby (Oz prime minister John Howard's Karl Rove) and the like are the real forces behind the rise of the right and the shaping of people's increasing tendency to spray right-wing deodorant over the stench of societies' problems.

As these people, by definition, have tentacles deep within the media machinery they can plant stories, influence vocabulary and the agenda of the press in such a way that the people simply don't realise their opinions are being changed. A fantastic example of this is the staggering number of US citizens (over a third) that still think Saddam Hussein was directly responsible for 9/11. That fact really says it all, as far as I'm concerned.

Another example of this is the increasing use of the phrase "tax relief" - a phrase the right always uses - which even anti-tax cut people find themselves being suckered into using. Now you don't need to tell me that that phrase has very significant connotations. You also have this interesting notion that rights are held to ransom with the prices being "responsibility". This is the phenomenon where politicians say "we aren't going to let you fully realise a basic right until you start taking some responsibility". If it is a right then "taking responsibility" in a related area should not be a pre-requisite for receiving this right. It is a right, not something earned from lawmakers if we're "good" people. What they are referring to is a privilege not a right.

Then again, the whole "war on terror" thing is completely and entirely a concoction of spin. It is an utter fantasy. When they could have approached 9/11 with an air that these are sad and desperate religious fanatics who are not a formal organisation nor a threat that can ever even dint western society, they decided to actually legitimise these idiots by giving them the "war" they so wanted. They are an fully fledged "enemy", rather than simply some nasty mosquitos to be swatted by the twin tools of the FBI and CIA. This is utter madness and far exceeds the real life situation. Thousands of per cent the number of those who have and will die from terrorism this decade die every year from violent crime and drunk driving in America alone. Are tens of billions spent on combating this? No.

And this is why so many people think there has to be another reason for this "war on terror". When you look, you see the neo-cons with their Straussian myth-making history (witness the non-existent threat from the Soviets hyped by them in the 70s to being an "evil empire") and you see the vested interests blanketing the pentagon and White House. Look at Dick Cheney's wife -a board member of Lockheed Martin from 1997 until 2001. Look at George Bush's dad, an employee of the Carlyle Group - a company heavily involved in the arms industry - until only about 6 months ago. This has never happened before, where so many conflicts of interest have been allowed without an outcry and barely any reporting. I haven't even mentioned Cheney's Halliburton connections - Halliburton apparently traded with Iraq during the sanctions period - http://www.truthout.org/docs_01/02.23D.Cheney.Circumvented.htm .

So what's going on? Of course, it's not like these countries have never been right-wing before. They have had conservative/Conservative governments and so on. But these have previously been of a notably different flavour. They have been somewhat less coated in a snooker-ball hard veneer of ideology that countenances no moderation. Even Thatcher had Hesletine, Clarke and Hurd in her cabinet. In Labour in the UK, the noted left-wingers have slowly left of their own accord as the government has gone on. Short, Meacher, Field, Robin Cook all left for numerous reasons. This cabinet is now full of Blairites with a sprinkling of Brownites.

Of course, I'm no expert in world politics but I know when I see a trend. In Italy, you have a very different political system and culture - and, of course, history - which has seen dictatorship and wild swings from virtual communism through to virtual fascism within a few years. Now we have a person who practically owns the nation's media and is the richest Italian in the country now also prime minister of the country. Despite this, due to the old footbrake of proportional representation, he has to share power with a ragbag of right-wing parties, each with some frightening and some moderate views. But Berlusconi's initial offering of a gay-hating, woman suppressing man as EU Justice Commissioner - where he must oversee human rights implementation - kinda shows where he's coming from. Yet he has been the most long-serving premier the country has seen since Mussolini. Italy went through a long neutered period of constantly changing prime ministers and deadlocked government which allowed the Mafia to thrive. Then years of ridding the country of such corruption (at least as far as Italy's concerned, it certainly wouldn't meet British standards of a corruption free system) has finally resulted in relatively stable government, though a far from blistering economy. Still, as the selling of the defence part of an Italian government-owned engineering company to Carlyle shows, there are real ties to the US administration which suggests why Berlusconi went into Iraq with them.

I'm afraid that I can't really go much further than to say that it does appear to be a mixture of interconnected interests, tactics and aims that have brought nations round to a right-wing angle but I must say I have not forgotten that Bush lost the popular vote and that there are still many millions of people in each country who have not been seduced. I can only hope that more people see through the right-wing folly and begin to throw them out. A good place to start, of course, would be Bush.

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Afghan vote boycott creates turmoil

BBC NEWS World South Asia Afghan vote boycott creates turmoil

So we see how hard it really is to force democracy on a never democratic country. A democracy invades a tyranny and we get this complete and utter mess. Deaths daily, a country so unstable the unelected president can only venture outside the capital once to campaign and then the election process itself brings about a massive candidate boycott. Let's hear Bush brag about this.

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Iraq war illegal, says Annan

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Iraq war illegal, says Annan

About bloody time he said this. I think if any does know then he should! I've been saying this since the invasion began.

Things better for me, God knows about the rest.

Well, at last I get broadband and I also get a laptop and digital camera. And a job. And a car. And prospects and I start writing scripts again. It's all going on.

That said. Into the world, which this blog is more about than anything else, and things are getting worse. The media constantly banging on about rapist lottery winners and dodgy vaccinations and the like. Then look at the state of Iraq and Blair suggesting they treat the unelected Prime Minister of Iraq (who was put into power after an illegal invasion) as guest of honour at the Labour party conference!

Utterly astonishing. The good news in the US is that there appears to be a growing groundswell of people trying their damndest to stop Bush getting elected. Michael Moore, of course, pulling out all the stops. Releasing the DVD of Farenheit 9/11 and a book of supportive letters from US servicemen just before the election cannot fail but have an effect. Plus, the other campaign groups involved quite diverse public figures provides some hope.

Make no mistake, this Bush administration (especially a certain Karl Rove ) is a dark and ruthless one. Hence the very suspicious anti-Kerry ads causing Kerry to file a complaint. Problem is, once they're out, they're out.

More consistent enrichment of the oil companies in the $49 barrel. They are making obscene profits on this. The value of which sometimes equates to several countries' entire government budgets.

Here is more dodginess: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6776.htm

Never mind the collosal amounts of book cooking going on in the Pentagon anyway: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/05/18/MN251738.DTL

Sheesh.

It's late...Bed for me.

Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | PM admits graves claim 'untrue'

Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | PM admits graves claim 'untrue'

So Blair has not only sexed up the WMD claims "in good faith" but also the known and provable atrocities. Can we get just one straight fact about Iraq from this man?

The spinning of truth, the hyping of third-hand estimates and "evidence" continues so that Blair can cling on to some figleaf of "justification" for this illegal and still deadly invasion.

Also, you may have missed it that the provisional Iraqi PM has allegedly shot 6 prisoners with his own gun "to prove a point". Nice.

Go to http://www.informationclearinghouse.info to find a link to the story and further background on Allawi.

The Happy Coat

A mad, nonsense (in the Lewis Carroll sense) rhyming story I wrote
when bored at work a few months back. For any US readers who may not
have come across the phrase "Am Dram", it means Amateur Dramatics -
i.e. amateur theater.

--------------------

The Happy Coat

Pam the Am Dram fan who did plays about spam walked past a shop for
fops with chopped poptarts in the window. She sighed as she spied her
dyed hair (a colour shared with Cher and the hair bear bunch)
reflected in the window. She hated that her mate had over rated the
stuff when she stated she'd bought a crate if it.

She was feeling down, looking down at her brown shoes, which cost a
pound and made her feet bark like hounds. Then she saw a store with
more than she bargained for. A big coat with a note, on which was
wrote "Stoat lovers should gloat wearing this dead cheap coat". I love
stoats and weasels squealed Pam who's mind reeled at the deal.

She went in and binned the thin tin shinguard she was wearing and
spinned her yarn about farms, barns and stoats. She got the coat and
she did gloat like a boat with a new coat of paint. She was happy.

Time went by in units I can't rhyme and by the time she was in her
prime her mime act had got her sacked and the odds were stacked
against her. The fact was the coat she backed was lacking the knack to
help her crack a smile. So she sold the old coat, folded in a jelly
mould, to a bold soldier with a cold. He was Stan, a man with a Gran
who ran an african bran shop in Oman. His cold began when another man
sneezed on his flan and ran away. He was miffed that he'd felt iffy
and had sniffed and coughed for days. But the coat made him happy.

He loved his coat so much it shoved Doves off the number one spot
(second was crop tops on top popstars). His coat made him feel blest
and he tested how rested he would feel if he nested in bed in it. It
made him smile, feeling nine miles high but then he got piles.

Out of work and realising he'd been a berk he had to shirk the coat.
Thrown away, the coat swayed an amazed radio ham (who wrote plays
about spam) who was passing and was a massive bluegrass fan. As it was
Christmas he passed it off as a crass present for Cass, his last
girlfriend. She was depressed cause she'd messed up a dress in a
trouser press with excess pressure. She took the coat cause it looked
like one in a book. A crooked duke in this book had worn it to spook
his cook, who's cooking was puke, but died in a fluke hook accident.
Cass was happy.

Later, she dated and estate agent and his mate in a spate of dates she
hated. She wasn't well, she felt like hell and felt like she'd been
pelted by melted egg shells. She put the coat on Ebay, saying it was a
ray of light, in spite of the way she hated it. And there it stays to
this day waiting until they want it. Constantly reposted on Ebay for
days and days and days.

If you're sad or feeling bad because of some cad or lad you had the
hots for, this coat might make you happy. But not for long.

Farenheit 9/11

OK, so I finally got to see Michael Moore's latest opus and it was, as a
film, not quite as good as Bowling for Columbine but the content and the
power was definitely there.

I have researched Bush quite a bit and can confidently vouch for every fact
presented in F9/11. Few facts presented were not already known to me but it
is important that a film, or some other mainstream media channel, clearly
bound them all together to show people why Bush has got to go and the
methods he'll use to stop himself from being kicked out.

I'm not one to post my flag on a commentators like Michael Moore. I only
link to his site because it is accessible and full of facts and stories
worth knowing. Moore the man does not interest me in the least. His approach
is a little too overtly manipulative but his points are very valid. I'm and
atheist and find it gratifying that a committed Catholic can come to very
similar world view conclusions to mine using a wholly different route.

If you want some sober, even more well researched and even more cogent
arguments try Gore Vidal, Noam Chomsky and their ilk.

If you want to see what many Republicans think of Bush, try reading some
Republican internet magazines, you'll find senior Republicans are very
worried about what Bush is doing.

Look at the many former US and UK diplomats vocally and jointly protesting,
the former CIA, military and FBI men screaming until they're hoarse about
the shocking, appalling things the administration has done, both policywise
and in how they run the government.

What was important in F9/11 was in how he demonstrated that the Patriot Act
and the massive military budget increases and the illegal wars Bush has
started are not and never were to do with safeguarding the American in the
street. National Security does not need the Patriot Act.
The cutbacks on policing and border patrol, the cutbacks on veteran and
serving military personnel benefits and pay that Bush wanted - and sometimes
pushed through - shows you this. The fact that the Bush administration
reportedly wants to collapse Iran's government shows how expansive their
ambitions are. They don't want to set up a friendly government for the "sake
of the Iranians", they want to secure the oil and make sure the Middles East
as far as possible, toes the US line under threat of their now substantial
military presence.

We cannot allow Bush to continue this way. His Neo-con slimeballs are going
to wreck not only America but huge swathes of the world (and that's not
counting the suicidal environmental policies) if they are allowed to
continue for another 5 years. I urge you to see F9/11 if only to see a good
film. But it must have some affect on you. My girlfriend felt physically
sick with fear and anger after seeing it.

Rant over. :)

Incidentally, the still is from the CG company who made the Sprite. Glassworks: www.glassworks.co.uk 

This is a still from one of my favourite adverts on TV at the moment. It's for Sprite but the whole concept and the execution of the CG sprite is beautiful to behold. He's one of the cutest "grotesques" I've ever seen.