To end the year on a note that may give readers a pause to count their own blessings, according to an AP story, residents in Front Royal, Virginia are finding rats in their toilets.
Lyndon Flood described her dilemma: "Could you imagine having a rat in your toilet while you're getting ready to go to the bathroom?"
Be glad, very glad, you’re not in Front Royal as 2003 turns to 2004.
Since 1985, in various formats, SLANT -- an independent voice based in Richmond's Fan District -- has offered its readers original commentary on politics and popular culture, including cartoons and selected sundries. Warning: Sometimes that means satirical content. All rights are reserved.
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Sex and Scandal Replace Serious Reporting
Joel Connerly decries the media’s penchant for reporting scandal instead of pursuing stories of any real substance.
“CNN used to pride itself on international coverage: On Friday morning, however, I waited in vain to see reporting on the latest American military deaths in Iraq: Instead, viewers were treated to rebroadcasts of ABC's halftime interview with basketball star and rape defendant Kobe Bryant.”
Read the piece in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
“CNN used to pride itself on international coverage: On Friday morning, however, I waited in vain to see reporting on the latest American military deaths in Iraq: Instead, viewers were treated to rebroadcasts of ABC's halftime interview with basketball star and rape defendant Kobe Bryant.”
Read the piece in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Ironic Times
“From defying President Bush in the face of a massive military invasion, to living on the run with 200,000 American soldiers pursuing him, to interfering with a foul ball during a crucial Chicago Cubs-Florida Marlins playoff game, to finally being captured hiding in a hole not far from his birthplace in Iraq, it was quite a year for our Man of the Year, Saddam Hussein.”
Laugh at the news with Ironic Times.
Laugh at the news with Ironic Times.
Saturday, December 27, 2003
What Is Al Qaeda?
Peter Bergen is the author of "Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden" and a fellow at the New America Foundation. In a piece penned for the Washington Post, Bergen asserts that the best known terrorist outfit in the world has, "successfully turned itself from an organization into a mass movement -- one that has been energized by the war in Iraq."
Bergen's insight into the "dense web" that is known as Al Qaeda seems much more in touch with reality than the various pictures painted by the so-called "experts" employed by the Bush administration. Hopefully some of them read the Post, too.
Bergen's insight into the "dense web" that is known as Al Qaeda seems much more in touch with reality than the various pictures painted by the so-called "experts" employed by the Bush administration. Hopefully some of them read the Post, too.
Friday, December 26, 2003
The Character Myth
Writing for The Nation, Renana Brooks, a clinical psychologist who heads the Sommet Institute for the Study of Power and Persuasion in DeeCee, skillfully examines the use of language and image-making by the Bush administration. And she gives the Democrats some good advice: To counter Bush, they must present a different version of what a safe world should look like.
“Some Americans find a certain comfort in Bush's thoughts, because they feel that dominance implies moral order and establishes God's moral authority in the world. They believe there is a natural hierarchy in which those who enjoy dominance have the right to do so. Just as God has dominion over man and man has dominion over animals, the imagery of the moral order assumes a world in which people dominate those who are below them.”
Read Brooks’ excellent analysis.
“Some Americans find a certain comfort in Bush's thoughts, because they feel that dominance implies moral order and establishes God's moral authority in the world. They believe there is a natural hierarchy in which those who enjoy dominance have the right to do so. Just as God has dominion over man and man has dominion over animals, the imagery of the moral order assumes a world in which people dominate those who are below them.”
Read Brooks’ excellent analysis.
Sunday, December 14, 2003
Clark Wants Openness in Trial of Saddam
On his way The Hague to testify in the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark called for a transparent trial of Saddam Hussein, who on Saturday was captured by U.S. forces in Iraq while literally hiding in a hole.
"[Retired-Gen. Clark] was to appear in closed session before the U.N. tribunal Monday and Tuesday, but at the insistence of the U.S. government publication of his testimony was being delayed until Friday to allow it to be reviewed and edited of comments deemed compromising to U.S. national security. As the former supreme commander of NATO, Clark led a 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 aimed at expelling Milosevic's Yugoslav forces involved in a bloody crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.”
That Clark bothered to say anything seems interesting. But perhaps he knows more about Saddam than most of us. Clark may have more than an inkling of knowledge about what secrets Iraq's fallen dictator has in his head that would be embarrassing to the USA, were he to reveal them. After all, at one time he was an ally who received all sorts of weapons, and such, from Republican presidents in the past.
Clark may also be remembering another dictator, who was in a similar position in 1989, during the first Bush administration. Not much has been heard from Panama’s former strongman Manuel Noriega since his capture and extremely low profile trial. Isn’t he in jail, somewhere in Florida? Who knows?
Read the AP article.
"[Retired-Gen. Clark] was to appear in closed session before the U.N. tribunal Monday and Tuesday, but at the insistence of the U.S. government publication of his testimony was being delayed until Friday to allow it to be reviewed and edited of comments deemed compromising to U.S. national security. As the former supreme commander of NATO, Clark led a 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 aimed at expelling Milosevic's Yugoslav forces involved in a bloody crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.”
That Clark bothered to say anything seems interesting. But perhaps he knows more about Saddam than most of us. Clark may have more than an inkling of knowledge about what secrets Iraq's fallen dictator has in his head that would be embarrassing to the USA, were he to reveal them. After all, at one time he was an ally who received all sorts of weapons, and such, from Republican presidents in the past.
Clark may also be remembering another dictator, who was in a similar position in 1989, during the first Bush administration. Not much has been heard from Panama’s former strongman Manuel Noriega since his capture and extremely low profile trial. Isn’t he in jail, somewhere in Florida? Who knows?
Read the AP article.
Saturday, December 13, 2003
The Character Myth
Writing for The Nation, Renana Brooks, a clinical psychologist who heads the Sommet Institute for the Study of Power and Persuasion in DeeCee, skillfully examines the use of language and image-making by the Bush administration. And she gives the Democrats some good advice: To counter Bush, they must present a different version of what a safe world should look like.
“Some Americans find a certain comfort in Bush's thoughts, because they feel that dominance implies moral order and establishes God's moral authority in the world. They believe there is a natural hierarchy in which those who enjoy dominance have the right to do so. Just as God has dominion over man and man has dominion over animals, the imagery of the moral order assumes a world in which people dominate those who are below them.”
Read Brooks’ excellent analysis.
“Some Americans find a certain comfort in Bush's thoughts, because they feel that dominance implies moral order and establishes God's moral authority in the world. They believe there is a natural hierarchy in which those who enjoy dominance have the right to do so. Just as God has dominion over man and man has dominion over animals, the imagery of the moral order assumes a world in which people dominate those who are below them.”
Read Brooks’ excellent analysis.
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