licentious radio

Monday, February 17, 2003
[5:57:27 PM]

Went to the march in SF, had a great time -- more dancing with the drummers than just walking.

There were lots of people there. I didn't try to get a feel for the size this time. If you said it was a little bigger than the last one, or a little smaller, I wouldn't argue. The police said 150,000. BART said they had 150,000 more riders than that day last year. The police may not understand the turnover rate -- a lot of people are still arriving when the first people are leaving. The police don't have much incentive to take the time to make a good estimate.

I got to the rally in time to hear Bonnie Raitt sing, and Joan Baez a little later. Baez compared this wave of protests to the 60s era protests. These are *better* in a lot of ways. Cleverer signs, for example.

[5:56:57 PM]
The black-flag march: As I was leaving the San Francisco peace rally, I saw a flock of motorcycle cops racing up Market. The cops had trapped the "Black Flag" protesters in the middle of a block. A large mainstream crowd gathered to watch.

[11:50:13 AM]
Washington, DC (licentious) -- While the rest of Washington DC was covered in a blanket of snow, the White House was buried in book mailers. 40,000 copies of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Iraq" were delivered just on Saturday.

Letter-carrier Paul Davidson -- who delivered the 40,000 packages -- was glad for the President's Day holiday. "Man, my back is sore," said Davidson. "I get the joke, I really do. But give it a rest, people!"

White House sources say there is no way Bush will have time to read 40,000 books. "Bush really doesn't have time to read anything longer than a page" said one Cabinet member. Another confided that "big words are out, too."

One CIA writer snagged a copy of the book though, and promised to copy-paste some of the sections with really little words into his future reports for Bush.

[11:35:54 AM]
Get Your War on slaps Thomas F. Friedman down for the punk he is:

"Remember when our President's [sic] dad told Saddam Hussein's people to rise up against him, and then played that funny joke where he allowed them to be slaughtered?"

"What a gas!"

"Uh, actually, you're thinking of when we supported Saddam's genocide against the Kurds."

"All I know is, Thomas Friedman said some people are about to get FREE!!!!"

[11:16:54 AM]
In support of our Beloved Leader's war on the French, I got soused on cheap American gin, instead of expensive French wine. At dinner, somebody at the table next to me got French onion soup, and I dumped it in her lap. I slapped this hippy chick cuz she tried to French kiss me, then I kicked a yappy French poodle on the way home. I went over to McDonald's and yelled at all the commies eating French Fries. The nerve of these traitors. And finally, I took my almost-empty squeezable jar of French's mustard back to Safeway, and demanded they give me my money back.

*This* is what patriotism is about.

[10:41:52 AM]
We, the people of the United States of America....

We, the people of England, France, Germany, Switzerland....

We, the people of this lovely planet, Earth....

Three years ago, we had a party. A world-around celebration of a suspiciously meaningful milestone -- a new zero in our calendars. Back then, we were prosperous and optimistic. There was an outbreak of peace in the world, and the prospects were that it would continue.

Three years ago, the US presidential election was aborted -- the vote-counting stopped -- for no urgent reason other than to install Bush in the White House. Since then, Bush has put the world on the fast-track to ruin. His policies have destroyed our prosperity, and will clearly sink us to desperate poverty if continued. In his greed for energy profits, he left us open to terrorist attacks. He then used the attacks as justification for unilateral militarism, laying waste to the Bill of Rights, and to force his larger agenda on the world.

Clearly, the people of the planet have learned a thing or two since the US first entered the Vietnam war.

It is clear where the people stand on the issue of Iraq, and on the rest of the Bush agenda, as well. We call ourselves "democracies" and decry despots who give citizens no input into decisions. Well, here is our chance to prove it.

The reason *Congress* declares war, is specifically to ensure that the war has broad popular support. Our Constitution was specifically designed to *prevent* a rogue President from starting a war that we-the-people oppose. Politicians in Congress must look beyond their own thoughts and beliefs, to those of their constituents. Unless/until Bush can convince the people, there must be no war.

Similarly, we live in a global community with rules governing the use of force. According to the UN Charter, only a new Security Council resolution could approve the conquest of Iraq. The democracies of the world -- reflecting their citizens' will -- aren't going to authorize conquest. The people have spoken. The leaders have followed.

Far too much power in the world has had far too little accountability. It's long past time to correct that problem. The peace marches this weekend were a small step in the right direction.

[10:13:23 AM]
When you get down to it, Powell's use of the recent Bin Laden tape is really the death-blow to Bush/Blair credibility. Bin Laden's message on its face was not pro-Saddam, but rather anti-US. When you try to read between the lines, it didn't turn pro-Saddam, it turned distinctly *anti*-Saddam. And yet Powell rushed it to the media as the missing link.

Perhaps that was just a bad mistake on Powell's part, but that would mean he and the Bush administration have completely lost their ability to process information. If that's the case, their credibility is shot.

More likely, Powell's pitch was entirely propagandistic. Here was Bin Laden's message that carefully avoids moral support for Saddam. The only answer was to call it the opposite of what it is, and count on the Republican-owned media to carry Powell's message and ignore the actual words. Sure enough, the mainstream media was full of how beautiful the emperor's clothes are, and even showed photos of the naked emperor with captions describing the colors and ornamentation of the spectacular outfit. Poor Americans scratch their heads; brains going numb.

No, we all know Saddam's not a nice guy. He wasn't when he was *our* guy killing more than a million, and he still isn't -- though at least he doesn't kill so many people now that he's the enemy. But if there *is* a case for taking Saddam out, Bush hasn't made it, and the obvious lies and distortions have poisoned the situation beyond repair.

Stop the war now. Use inspections to keep Saddam off guard and find new evidence. Once the US has a new president with unstained credibility on Iraq, we can make the case for war -- if it's truly necessary. In the meantime, Saddam can know that any new aggression on his part would truly be the end of his regime.

[12:44:30 AM]
Washinton, DC (licentious) -- In a stunning revelation, Laura Bush has declared that she now opposes war on Iraq. "I misunderstood George. He kept talking about the 'Big O', and I had heard that was supposed to be a *good* thing. You know, George always has the TV on Nick at Night, so I don't get much news. Apparently the war is just another one of George's oil schemes. He never *once* made any money off of oil, and we had to entertain all those shady friend's of his dad's."

Mrs. Bush continued, "And I used my library card to look up this thing about the 'Big O'. It *does* sound really good. Make love not war, baby! Woohoo!"

[12:29:47 AM]
Robert Novak leaks: "Behind closed doors at last weekend's Republican retreat, Vice President Dick Cheney delivered an extraordinary attack on Bill Clinton's preparation for the terrorist threat. Cheney addressed Republican Senate and House members in White Sulfur Springs, W. Va. He contended the former president failed to address terrorism, deepening the current crisis."

Ha ha. Clinton's team worked hard at fighting terrorists. They prevented the attacks that would have been nightmares. Cheney "took charge" of terrorism and did nothing. He was too busy making energy policy. Rice's NSC wasn't working on terrorism because they were too busy trying to get the Afghan pipeline deal through -- to save *Enron* from total collapse. Bush issued an order to prevent the FBI from investigating leads on terrorists that involved Saudi Arabia and the Bin Laden family. Fifteen Saudia blew up the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, funded by Bin Ladens and other Bush business partners.

Bring us their heads, because if you don't, we're coming to get them ourselves.

[12:18:59 AM]
America needs a president who will get Bin Laden, dead or alive. We don't need no stinkin' punk sitting around waiting for Bin Laden to send more suicide bombers.

Bush failed us before the September 11 attacks, and he's failed us since.

Bush should go.

[12:13:05 AM]
"President George W. Bush's national security adviser said Sunday that war with Iraq would become unavoidable unless UN Security Council members united soon behind a tough, common approach to Baghdad."

I don't think they can get away with this nonsense any more. Everyone knows that war is unavoidable if the Security Council appeases Bush. The *best* chance of preventing war is with the support of the Security Council.

Turns out, the Security Council is united behind a tough, common approach to Bush.