Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Sean pointed out a great review(critique) of F 9/11 by Robert Jensen. Basically it points out all the flaws in its argument. I think that the most fundamental problem of the movie is that it's more of a polemic than a real analysis. A lot of the flaws he points out in Bush are flaws that most presidents have had since WW2, and all of his answers to the problems seem to be to get Bush out of the White House. So, check out the article. Michael Moore got owned.

Sean also points out some irony in the movie's purpose. It's on its way to being the highest-grossing documentary of all time, but:
Unfortunately, while the movie is spreading information about Bush and Co.'s war profiteering exploits, it is may also end up filling the pockets of the Carlyle Group, one of the most infamous war profiteers with direct links to the Bush family. On Tuesday June 21, the previous owners of Loews Theatres in the United States agreed to sell the theatres to Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group and Spectrum Equity Investors for $2.0 billion"
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Hmm... Kerry picks Edwards for VP running mate. Interesting. I was hoping for Kucinich, but I hope for a lot of things that never end up happening. I guess it's a good tactic for the Democrats because he was pretty popular in the primaries and he's a Southerner, which could attract some votes in the South from the states that are generally more likely to vote Republican.
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By Louis Charbonneau

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear watchdog head Mohamed ElBaradei hopes to get Israel to begin talks on ridding the Middle East of nuclear weapons, whether it admits to having them or not, when he flies to the Jewish state on Tuesday.

Under its policy of "strategic ambiguity," Israel neither admits nor denies having nuclear arms. But international experts believe Israel has from 100 to 200 warheads based on estimates of the amount of plutonium its reactors have produced.

ElBaradei had wanted to get the Israelis to abandon their ambiguity policy, Western diplomats said, but Israel has made clear this is impossible at present.

"There are no signs of a policy change in Israel," said a diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which ElBaradei heads.

The diplomat, who declined to be identified, said ElBaradei would not be pushing Israel to abandon the policy, which it has kept up for decades for fear of sparking a regional arms race.

But the diplomat said ElBaradei intended to "promote the concept of a nuclear free zone in the Middle East" in meetings with senior Israeli officials including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

Israel is the only Middle East country not to have signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). This keeps it exempt from opening up its nuclear program to U.N. inspectors.

During his visit, ElBaradei is to tour Israel's atomic facilities -- except for the reactor at the desert town of Dimona, where independent experts believe the Jewish state has produced plutonium.


Hopefully they will tighten up scrutiny of Israel. I'm tired of them getting off easy on their militarism. To the region, Israel is probably one of the biggest threats to peace but everyone kisses their asses because they're U.S. allies. Plus, people are afraid of criticizing Israeli policies because people like to throw around the word "anti-semite."
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I heard about the booing of Cheney at the Yankees game, but seeing this quote from David Letterman on Infoshop makes it that much more significant... and funny.

Dick Cheney was at the ball game last night. During the 7th inning they showed him on the jumbotron at Yankee Stadium and everyone started booing him. You know Dick Cheney has a temper. He went a little crazy and went around the stadium and grabbed everyone that booed him and then he ran them all around naked on a leash. -- David Letterman
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This are heating up "Four Palestinians and an Israeli army officer have been killed in exchanges of fire around the Ain Bait Ilma refugee camp in the northern West Bank town of Nablus, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said.

The shooting occurred early on Tuesday during an attack by an elite wing of the Israeli occupation army on the camp. Three soldiers were wounded, one seriously, in the ensuing firefight.

Two of the four Palestinians were resistance fighters while the others were civilians, Palestinian security and hospital sources said... [they] were named as 52-year-old doctor Khalid Salah and his 15-year-old son Muhammad." - Aljazeera
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This is some pretty scary shit and a moving article.

Baghdad has confirmed that a US bombing raid on Falluja took place after consultation with the appointed interim government.

Hospital sources in the town said at least 12 people were killed and five more wounded, listing women and children as among the victims.

But interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi justified the decision to bomb on Tuesday, insisting that the two tonnes of explosive dropped had targeted a hide-out for alleged supporters of the fugitive Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The PM insisted the raid hit "terrorists" who "kill innocent Iraqis and destroy schools, police stations and hospitals with booby-trapped cars and jackets stuffed with explosives".

However, local residents did not accept the explanation.

"They talk about terrorists, but these are just families," said a man belonging to an angry crowd of locals who gathered at the lip of a large crater gouged by the blast.

The six bombs used in the air raid left little of the target. Many residents began to dig around the massive crater in search of more bodies following the attack.

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