army of five

if this doesn't constitute fascist propaganda, i don't know what does.



too bad for bush that photoshopped soldiers can't actually fight. then the draft would be an non-(shadow)-issue in this campaign.

with all this talk about supporting the troops, such military-industrial-light&magic is pretty hypocritical--and pretty insulting to all of those non-holograms, family members of mine included, who are risking their lives and dying in iraq. try sending holograms on a suicide mission. bet they don't revolt with the support of their wives and families. bet they don't do shit.

this smoke&mirrors routine through which the bush administration continues to deny reality will one day be exposed for what it is. at the least, history will be the judge. still, because i can't stand to see this country and the world plunged deeper into war and crisis (and the supreme court fall in the hands of religious crazies), i am hoping that kerry wins tomorrow. but it certainly would be satisfying to see the whole thing crumble on bush's head. (and let's face it, the whole thing--by which i mean, the US economy, US global dominance, and the "war on terror" [especially on the iraq front]--will probably crumble in the next presidential term.)

a new study estimates that upwards of 100,000 iraqi civilians have died since the war began. that is an atrocity. yet it is an atrocity that america seems not to care about at all. neither bush nor kerry mentions civilian deaths because voters simply value american lives more, which is bullshit. this selfishness will not sustain itself.

this is the security problem to which bin laden refers in his latest straight-to-TV video. it's not the security of al qaeda that he's talking about, safire; it's the security of the suffering, silent majority in the muslim/arab world (who, by the way, are not on bin laden's side--though their sympathies are undoubtedly tempted by continuing american agression and exploitation). their security has been routinely trounced by the US military, by corrupt dictators, by unilateral Israeli action, and by asshole jihadists like bin laden and zarqawi. it's funny that people seem to think osama's saying something new here, something conciliatory. really, he's holding the same line and attacking the same policies that he has for years. i'm not sure i believe that bin laden would seriously stop short of destroying US economic and military dominance if we changed our tune vis-a-vis the middle east, but i'm pretty sure that killing 100,000 iraqis does little to fight his aims. it is a mystery to me why kerry has not pointed out that bush's strategies play right into bin laden's hands. perhaps it is because, in this current political climate, such an assertion would be taken and twisted around to the point where it seems like kerry thinks osama is good.

finally, fuck curt schilling. the man is a hero for pitching with his tendon stapled to his ankle, but he's an asshole for endorsing the worst commander-in-chief ever.