Thursday, April 24, 2003

Fast food comes to Iraq Basra: Fastfood giants Pizza Hut and Burger King have set up their first franchises inside war-torn Iraq, even as many aid convoys waited on the borders for the war to officially end. The arrival of the two restaurants -- sited inside giant trailers on a British military base near Basra -- won a rapturous welcome from soldiers, whose limited range of rations lost their appeal many weeks ago. An officer, who was directly involved in the franchise process, said: "It's an Americanism, we usually have them off the base, but because it is still a war zone we have to give them protection." [Popdex] And now the true American invasion actually begins... 9:53:39 PM

The press and freedom: some disturbing trends Once the news conference got underway, the President did not recognize reporters who raised their hands. Instead, he called their names from a list prepared by news secretary Ari Fleischer, the man who told reporters after Sept. 11 that they should watch what they say. When CNN’s John King attempted to ask a question, the President told him to wait because, the President said, ‘‘This is scripted.’’ Then he called the next name on his list: John King. Then he taunted King for daring to ask a multi-part question. Among the names not called -- and perhaps not on Ari’s Fleischer’s list of approved questioners -- were the reporters from Time, The Washington Post, USA Today, Newsweek and Kentucky’s own Helen Thomas, who for decades has had the distinction of asking the first question and then closing the news conference by saying, ‘‘Thank you, Mr. President,’’ which became the title of her autobiography. But Helen is no longer a reporter. She’s now a columnist, paid to give opinions, and one of her recent opinions is that George W. Bush ‘‘is the worst President ever.’’ Clearly, she did not watch what she said. [blogdex] 9:47:58 PM

Santorum: "I have a problem with homosexual acts" CNN.com - Santorum: 'I have a problem with homosexual acts' - Apr. 22, 2003 [Daypop Top 40] 9:29:51 PM

Richard Anthony Delgaudio, Republican The Right is always going on about how criminals get off light because of illegal police searches and what not and how former President Bill Clinton was "a lawbreaker and a terrible example to our nation's young people". Well, in this case the lawbreaker was Richard Anthony Delgaudio - a "prominent Republican fund-raiser" and "a national figure in conservative politics. He just pled guilty yesterday to production of child pornography by taking photos of a sixteen year old. In some of the photos, he was engaged in sex with her. [Somebody Dial 911] 9:26:45 PM

© Copyright 2003 Michael Alderete.