Archive for March, 2003
Friday, March 28th, 2003
stolen from mooooooooooooo.com.
Tuesday, March 25th, 2003
Early Release: Bush43 2003 Annual - Choose Your Own Adventure: Just Another Day Yep, I made a ‘choose your own adventure’!
Tuesday, March 25th, 2003
War sparks dueling rallies
Simultaneous rallies for war and peace occur just blocks from each other in Fredericksburg last night.
Citizens, blocks apart, air opinions on conflictShaun was sick over the weekend but suddenly cured in time for the rally. It’s a miracle! (Just bustin’ yer balls, Shaun.)The message from the throng gathered yesterday evening at a rally to support American troops and leaders was direct and simple.
“The time for debate is over,” Del. Mark Cole, a Spotsylvania Republican, told about five dozen rally-goers at the Religious Freedom Monument on Fredericksburg’s Washington Avenue. “The decision has been made. Once the first bullet has been fired, you can’t show support for the troops by trying to undermine leaders on the home front.”
At the same time, not far away in Hurkamp Park on William Street, people on the other side of the issue rallied to express their viewpoint.
Some 25 people gathered for a candlelight vigil touted as being pro-military but antiwar.
Both rallies came one day after the number of casualties in the allies’ campaign against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein reached double digits.
At the Washington Avenue monument, about five dozen people turned out. Carrying signs and U.S. flags, they wore yellow ribbons to indicate their support for American troops in the Middle East and to rally behind President Bush.
The crowd included GOP leaders such as Cole, Shaun Kenney, chairman of the the Fredericksburg Republican Committee; former Stafford County Supervisor Ken Mitchell; and John Morris, chair of the Mary Washington College Republicans. About two dozen other College Republicans came, too.
Susan Spears, vice chairman of the Fredericksburg Democratic Committee, brought her dog Eddie, clad in a Stars-and-Stripes bandanna, to rally alongside those who are normally her political opponents.
“I’m not going to change parties or anything like that,” Spears said. “I just don’t think this should be a partisan issue. I think we should be united in a time of war behind our president and our troops.”
Many of those who attended said they rallied in the hope that the troops would learn that many people in Fredericksburg are behind them, the rally a few blocks away with the opposite message not withstanding.
“Those folks in Hurkamp Park have a right to be there,” Kenney said. “I respect that. But they must understand there are worse things in this life than war.”
“The suffering under Saddam’s regime,” for one, Kenney said.
A few blocks to the northeast, antiwar protesters assembled for their vigil–an event organized after members of the Fredericksburg Area Coalition for Peace heard about the other rally.
“We’re basically just coming together to mourn the lives that have been lost so far,” organizer Katarina Fletcher, a 27-year-old Fredericksburg resident, said before the vigil.
Participants ranged from Fletcher’s baby son, Nesta, to local residents who remembered protests from their youth.
Judith Parker, an associate professor of English and linguistics at Mary Washington College, recalled peace gatherings of yesteryear attended by famous protesters like the late poet Allen Ginsberg.
A few minutes later, as if on cue, a car drove by, Grateful Dead music blaring from its stereo.
The vigil’s participants sat in a circle, candles in front of them, and sipped apple cider while voicing their thoughts about the campaign in Iraq for nearly an hour.
Tony Sanchez said loving one’s country doesn’t mean you have to support all of its policies. That’s a lesson he wanted to show his 7-year-old daughter Dominique, whom he brought to the event.
“I love you, United States, but what you’re doing is wrong,” said Sanchez, who lives in Fredericksburg.
Andrew Sentipal, a Stafford High School senior, embraced his girlfriend, Christine Haines, as others shared their views.
When it was his turn, he said, “Diplomacy wasn’t exhausted before we went to war.”
Others said they couldn’t understand how military action against a country is supposed to liberate it.
But a pink sign on display at the vigil may have summed up participants’ feelings best.
It said, in black block letters, “Stop the War.”
The anti-war rally was in response to the pro-war demonstration and seems to have been hastily arranged, which may account for the small numbers. A larger rally this Saturday may have more folks. But I wouldn’t be surprized if it didn’t.
Is anyone else noticing the following trend? In large cities you have thousands of anti-war demonstrators showing up and only a few hundred supporting the war while in smaller cities there would be a couple hundred folks for the war and only a small group against. Now, it’s probably not that urbanites are more against the war, but that people are more willing to not only travel to larger cities to get their message heard but that knowing these rallies will be larger, a larger variety of groups show up to shout their various messages. The small town anti-war demonstrators are the ones who actually are focusing on their opposition to the war as opposed to the ANSWER rallies with eighteen groups that are protesting capitalism, the drug war, ‘framed’ cop killers, the IMF and a few who are actually against war specifically.
People scream “Look at these crowds, the majority of America is against you, MIster Bush!” but, really, look at the crowds in the smaller towns. There are MORE smaller towns than large cities, more of those towns have larger groups SUPPORTING the President and the smaller town rallies are with the residents of that town as opposed to the large city pulling a crowd of 50,000 from six states.
Just an observation.
Monday, March 24th, 2003
100 Things About Big Papa Jason: (Jonathan did it and then Chewie did it so now I’ll do it.)
1) My name is Jason.
2) My middle name is Samuel.
3) I am 24 years old.
4) I have been in and out of college for a quarter of my life.
5) I work as a receptionist at a law firm in Washington DC.
6) The firm is located three blocks from the White House.
7) That is cool.
It is also frightening at times.
9) I am dating a hippie, feminist, liberal chick.
10) Her name is Jenn.
11) She is my first girlfriend.
12) We have been dating for over three years now.
13) No, we are not going to be getting married any time soon.
14) Yes, I’m tired of being asked that.
15) I am just over 6′ tall.
16) I am quite possibly the tallest Kenney ever.
17) My Dad is practically a midget.
18) Though he is taller than Jenn, so I guess I can’t say that for fear of my life.
19) I have trouble thinking of 20 things about myself let alone 100.
20) I am horrible with money.
21) I am currently chatting with three people on AIM.
22) Uh… I’m watching CNN.
23) It’s not as annyoing as Fox News.
24) I don’t care for MSNBC.
25) I’m getting tired of all war all the time.
26) Hey, don’t look at me like that, I can blog whatever I like, thank you very much.
27) My pal Sprout just got on AIM. His real name is Matthew.
28) Like everyone else, I get too much junkmail in my e-mail.
29) 9 out of 10 messages are junk.
30) Of the 10% not junk, 90% of that are letters from mailing lists I’m on but I just delete.
31) I sold a bunch of CDs today.
32) I burned the good ones before reselling.
33) Yeah, I know that’s kinda illegal.
34) Okay, not kinda.
35) My wallet is brown.
36) Jenn bought it for me.
37) It has a lifetime guarantee.
38) I have been working on this for over an hour.
39) I write a superhero series called Bush43.
40) I collect comics.
41) I am a dork.
42) I have three brothers.
43) I have a half sister and a step sister.
44) My mother lives in California.
45) My brother Chris lives out there with her.
46) Art lives here in Fredericksburg, VA.
47) Art is married to Jess.
48) Shaun is married to Missy.
49) They have two kids.
50) Jonathan and Matthew.
51) I want this.
52) I told you I was a dork.
53) I can fly an airplane.
54) I flew last weekend for the first time in 8 years.
55) I started flying when I was 12.
56) I am a bad ass.
57) I am going to go see Ben Folds in Richmond on April 5th.
58) I like Dan Bern
59) I keep breaking away and doing other things.
60) I drive a Lancer.
61) It is blue.
62) I used to drive a Ford Escort.
63) It was a piece of shit.
64) I poop.
65) I like sleep.
66) Sleep is rare.
67) One of these days I’ll be grown up.
68) Not today.
69) I am now talking with my mother.
70) She is asking about my nephews.
71) And talking about folks moving to Las Vegas.
72) I am reading some kid making an ass out of himself on the Congressional website.
73) Mom is leaving to go to dinner with some man.
74) I’m still having trouble thinking of 100 things.
75) I’m only doing this because I have nothing better to do.
76) Jonathan said this was easy.
77) He lied.
78) If I keep getting at him about lying I can finish this list of 100.
79) Or not.
80) May of my points aren’t really things about me.
81) I don’t care.
82) I have brown hair.
83) And brown eyes.
84) I keep getting spam about increasing the size of my penis.
85) I’m not interested.
86) Really, I’m not.
87) No, I’m not trying to convince myself.
88) I am a Republican.
89) Jenn is turning me into a Democrat.
90) I have a personal website other than J’s Notes called JSKOnline.
91) No one visits it.
92) Whatever It Takes is a crappy movie.
93) I’m too lazy to change the channel.
94) I’m too lazy to get the remote that’s a foot out of reach.
95) I’d ask Jenn to get it for me if she wasn’t asleep.
96) Whatever It Takes is a REALLY crappy movie.
97) I like playing the guitar.
98) I’m not very good at it.
99) I’m good enough.
100) Not really.
DONE! Good, God, I’ll never do that again.
Monday, March 24th, 2003
In an effort to get some money to be less broke, I am selling a few comic items on E-Bay. This is only the beginning as I hope to start selling more of my collection, but here’s what’s listed so far if anyone is interested:
AUTOGRAPHED X-Men 2900 #1 signed by artists Ron Lim and Adam Kubert.
AUTOGRAPHED Uncanny X-Men #281 signed by artist Whilce Portacio.
AUTOGRAPHED Batman #500 signed by cover artist Joe Quesada.
Any takers?
Monday, March 24th, 2003
Iraq war generates predictions of Apocalypse
Since Jesus said that only God knows the hour or day of the Second Coming, preachers and self-appointed doomsayers have been trying to predict when it will happen — and watching the sun rise on another generation.MTV Europe Censors War VideosNow the prophetic interpreters have been citing a new reason they believe the end is coming: the U.S.-led war with Iraq. Anxious discussions have arisen recently on prophecy Web sites, in Bible study groups and churches, and at such gatherings as last month’s 20th International Prophecy Conference in Tampa, Fla.
Many see evidence of Iraq’s significance in end-time scenarios in key passages of the apocalyptic New Testament Book of Revelation.
Dear allPlanning for martial law?In the light of the outbreak of war in Iraq in the last 12 hours, our recommendations for the scheduling and content of videos and programmes are as follows:
1. Video recommendations
Obviously, there will be heightened public sensitivity to representations of war, soldiers, bombing, destruction of buildings and public unrest at home. The ITC Programme Code requires us not to broadcast material which offends against good taste or is offensive to public feeling. We therefore recommend that videos featuring the following are not shown at the moment:
war
soldiers
war planes
bombs
missiles
riots and social unrest
executions
other obviously sensitive materialExamples include:
System of a Down “Boom!” - anti-war video containing facts and figures about, amongst other things, the projected casualties in the war in Iraq.
Aerosmith “Don’t want to miss a thing” - contains footage from the film “Armageddon”.
Manic Street Preachers “So Why So Sad” - contains footage of soldiers being killed and man throwing a hand grenade.
Passengers/U2 “Miss Sarajevo” - contains missiles, guns and buildings being blown up.
Bon Jovi “This ain’t a love song” - contains war scenes and victims in distress.
Iggy Pop “Corruption” - contains wars, riots, guns and captions “we love guns” and “we love rifles”.
Paul Hardcastle “19″ - contains war footage.
Radiohead “Lucky” - contains war footage including injured children.
Billy Idol “Hot in the City” - contains an atomic explosion.
Armand van Helden “Koochy” - contains an atomic explosion and ships being blown up.
Trick Daddy “Thug Holiday” - contains soldiers being killed at war.Furthermore, videos with words such as “bomb”, “missile”, “war” or other sensitive words in the artist or song title should not be shown at the moment.
Examples include:
Outkast “B.O.B (Bombs over Baghdad)” - song title may offend.
Radiohead “Invasion” - song title may offend.
Megadeth “Holy Wars” - song title may offend.
Gavin Friday “You, Me and World War Three” - song title may offend.
B-52s videos.
When the Washington Post revealed the existence of an American “shadow government,” operating secretly in Tora Bora-style mountain bunkers over the six months since Sept. 11, it shocked even some congressional leaders, who learned about it March 1 from the Post, not the Bush administration.Now civil libertarians on the left and right are raising new questions about the shadow government — about its secrecy, its leadership, and the way it involves the military in domestic roles. In particular, plans to have the military assume domestic police functions in case of national emergency alarm some scholars and advocates, who believe the shadow government could be an early step on the way to martial law.
Monday, March 24th, 2003
The Terror Of Mecha-bin-Laden!
Jubilation quickly turned to shock and revulsion yesterday when the news of Osama bin Laden’s death was followed with the monstrous revelation that his brain has been transplanted into an armour plated robotic body, effectively granting him mega strength and immortality.NNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The terrorists have won!The days news began with a Pentagon briefing to the press in which a delighted Donald Rumsfeld revealed the news to the world that Osama bin Laden, Saudi millionaire, terrorist mastermind and US public enemy number one, was dead.
“We have reliable sources from all over the region indicating to us that bin Laden is dead, apparently from kidney failure.” Explained Rumsfeld. “He had reportedly been sick for some time and has had treatment before for this illness. Truthfully, we were hoping we could have bagged him ourselves, but as long as he is dead, we’ll take it!”
Just then an aid whispered something into Rumsfeld’s ear and the press conference was abruptly ended. US officials quickly left the room looking ashen and shaken. They had just learned that Arab cable network Aljazeera was airing a live satellite transmission from the monstrous new face of al Qaeda.
In a grotesque attempt to cheat death, Osama had his doctors transplant his fiendish brain in to a cybernetic host, a specially crafted robotic husk to serve as the terrorist’s body so that he might live forever. In a violation of the laws of god and man, the enemies of freedom have created an 8 foot, heavilly armoured, super intelligent, sociopathic, weaponized, metal megalomaniac to lead their fight against America. And in an unsettling show of arrogance, the beast’s first action upon awakening was to place a live call to the world to announce its intentions.
“I AM MECHA-BIN-LADEN!” Shrieked the creature in a metallic voice. “All will tremble before me. I will burn your cities, ravage your land and enslave your children! Your leaders cannot protect you. They are weak, feeble fleashings. Where as I consist of metal polymer that can never be breached. NEVER!”
Monday, March 24th, 2003
The Pro-War Movement Grows! Yeah, all you anti-war folks with your Hollywood suporters, watch out. Corey Haim is on the side of Bush!
Cheers on the Tigris for one that got away
One of the first who said he saw Baghdad anti-aircraft gunners hit the British aircraft on Sunday was 50-something Mohammed Abdul Salkah. Pointing to the west, he said: “I saw the attack - the plane went that way and the pilot jumped into the river. I saw the soldiers find his parachute and helmet.”At first the searchers tried to smoke the pilot out - dousing the rushes in litres of petrol, which they ignited. When that did not work they called in the Iraqi equivalent of navy SEALs - three overweight men in a dinghy, who wore swimmers and were obliged to share the one half-length wetsuit.
When they failed, troops with sickles stomped through the rushes and whenever they suspected they had the pilot cornered, more than 100 men with Kalashnikovs and pistols opened fire, pouring thousands of rounds into the undergrowth.
Every now and again a shout would go up and the crowd would surge along the river bank, tumbling into the rushes before it was pushed back. “Jibo, jibo”, they yelled, or “Bring him, bring him.”
The exercise had a vital commercial element - Saddam Hussein pays any Iraqi gunner who downs an enemy aircraft the equivalent of $US50,000 ($85,000). Those who bring him a live pilot get $US50,000 and, if the pilot is dead, the reward slips to $US25,000.
At times the crowd broke into pro-Saddam chants, but one bearded Iraqi held back, saying: “This is bad. I’m a pilot and I hate to see another pilot treated this way.”
Soon after that exchange I was joined by an Iraqi mute who explained his view in sign language. At first he said that he wanted to go into the rushes, pull the pilot out, shake him by the shoulders and punch him in the nose.
But then the mute thought about it and, in elaborate gestures, showed that he was capable of a more personal, more humane reaction.
Pointing at his brain to suggest intelligence, he said that the pilot would be hiding underwater; that he might be able to swim to the middle of the river and drift downstream to safety. This would be good, he said with a thumbs-up gesture.
As sunset approached, he circled his watch with a finger to indicate the onset of darkness in an hour; he pinched his nose and used arm movements to demonstrate underwater swimming, away from the rushes; and he smiled a smile of great satisfaction.
Just before dark there was wild cheering as the crowd saw a reed, standing vertically as it floated downstream. Two soldiers stripped off and swam towards it; but as they neared it the Kalashnikovs opened up again.
They scarpered … and the reed got away.
Monday, March 24th, 2003
Michael Moore booed as he slams Iraq war at Oscars
Famed US documentary maker Michael Moore used his win of an Oscar to launch a violent attack on US President George W. Bush and war in Iraq amid loud boos from the audience.Actually, he was initially cheered with his protest and then the boos began, but it seemed half and half, really. Oh well, if you didn’t expect this you obviously don’t know who Michael Moore is.“We live in fictitious times,” he said when picking up the award for best documentary for his anti-gun film “Bowling for Columbine.”
“We live in a time with fictitious election results that elect fictitious presidents. We live in a time when we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons.
“We are against this war Mr Bush. Shame on you. Shame on you!,” he said to loud boos from an audience of 3,500 including most of Hollywood’s top stars.
1441 MORE: Michael Moore criticizes U.S. war in Iraq in Oscar speech
A standing ovation and a handful of jeers from Hollywood’s elite greeted filmmaker Michael Moore when he criticized President Bush and the U.S.-led war in Iraq during his acceptance speech Sunday after winning the documentary feature Oscar for “Bowling for Columbine.”Here’s his acceptance speech.“We live in fictitious times. We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man who’s sending us to war for fictitious reasons, whether it’s the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts,” Moore said.
Applause gave way to some boos, as the orchestra began to play the filmmaker off the stage.
“We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you,” Moore shouted, surrounded onstage by his fellow nominees in a show of solidarity.
“It was so sweet backstage, the teamsters are helping Michael Moore into the trunk of his limo,” host Steve Martin joked later.
Sunday, March 23rd, 2003
My, people are jumping to conclusions. A Muslum American soldier is being held and questioned in yesterday’s attack on officers of the 101st Airborne. Some folks are already saying this is part of a larger plot. Nevermind that CNN reported that the man was said to have been reprimanded for insubordination recently. Military criminal investigators said the suspect was recently reprimanded for insubordination and was told he would stay behind when his unit left camp for Iraq, Time reporter Jim Lacey said. That certainly didn’t play a role.
Look, war is hell, people, and sometimes soldiers snap. I would be surprized if this was anything more than just a soldier under a hell of a lot of stress and pressure snapping and taking it out on his officers. The same officers who told him he would not be going into battle. Can you imagine being sent to the Gulf for months, training, working, sweating, laboring only to be told that you will be left behind? Hell, imagine being in the 101st Airborne Division and told that! SNAP!
I’m not even going to address the bigotry behind some comments.
