Some belated thoughts on the 3rd anniversary of the Iraq war
Yesterday marked the third anniversary of the Iraq war. I will post more on this topic, but for now, I will go with a few quick (for me, anyway) thoughts.
Yesterday was the first day of spring, yet much of the country was experiencing winter weather. The Midwest got hit with record snow storms, and here in Wichita Falls, the temperature never got above the low 40's, and the wind was out of the north all day at about 30 miles per hour (historical data show that the average temp here for March 20 is 55, the average high is 68, and the average low is 42). How ironic that the Iraq anniversary fell on the start of the season which signifies renewal and new life and yet there was a cold wind blowing over most of the nation.
As I read and heard the comments of Clueless George and Big Dick on Sunday and Monday, two things came to mind. First, I had an image of Kevin Bacon from the scene of "Animal House" when the homecoming parade turns into chaos. As the situation gets increasingly--and obviously--worse, Bacon's character keeps yelling "Remain calm. All is well." Second, I imagined scientists and lobbyists and executives representing the tobacco industry in years past were listening to Bush and Cheney and thinking, "Man, these guys are good."
One portion of Bush's speech on Monday highlights just how full of it these guys are. Bush focused on one of the administration's favorite bullshit claims, namely that the media never reports any good news but rather reports only the bad. His example for this assertion was the story of the town of Tal Afar, which had been taken over by Al Qaeda, but the U.S. military, working with Iraqis, drove out Al Qaeda and reclaimed the town. This is indeed a very good story. It is a story that should be told. And Bush spent approximately half of the speech telling the story. The problem for George is that one of the biggest news shows in the MSM (mainstream media) had already told it eight days earlier. "60 Minutes" devoted a full segment to the story of Tal Afar, and it was nothing but positive. Indeed, Bush's version of the story was practically identical to what "60 Minutes" aired. And by the way, "60 Minutes" was the top rated news magazine show for the 2004-2005 season.
Yesterday was the first day of spring, yet much of the country was experiencing winter weather. The Midwest got hit with record snow storms, and here in Wichita Falls, the temperature never got above the low 40's, and the wind was out of the north all day at about 30 miles per hour (historical data show that the average temp here for March 20 is 55, the average high is 68, and the average low is 42). How ironic that the Iraq anniversary fell on the start of the season which signifies renewal and new life and yet there was a cold wind blowing over most of the nation.
As I read and heard the comments of Clueless George and Big Dick on Sunday and Monday, two things came to mind. First, I had an image of Kevin Bacon from the scene of "Animal House" when the homecoming parade turns into chaos. As the situation gets increasingly--and obviously--worse, Bacon's character keeps yelling "Remain calm. All is well." Second, I imagined scientists and lobbyists and executives representing the tobacco industry in years past were listening to Bush and Cheney and thinking, "Man, these guys are good."
One portion of Bush's speech on Monday highlights just how full of it these guys are. Bush focused on one of the administration's favorite bullshit claims, namely that the media never reports any good news but rather reports only the bad. His example for this assertion was the story of the town of Tal Afar, which had been taken over by Al Qaeda, but the U.S. military, working with Iraqis, drove out Al Qaeda and reclaimed the town. This is indeed a very good story. It is a story that should be told. And Bush spent approximately half of the speech telling the story. The problem for George is that one of the biggest news shows in the MSM (mainstream media) had already told it eight days earlier. "60 Minutes" devoted a full segment to the story of Tal Afar, and it was nothing but positive. Indeed, Bush's version of the story was practically identical to what "60 Minutes" aired. And by the way, "60 Minutes" was the top rated news magazine show for the 2004-2005 season.
posted by WCharles @ 3/21/2006 05:42:00 PM
1 Comments:
"I suspect we are much further from any conclusion than we were at this point in time in WWII."
I think you are right.
As for the weather, I'm not griping about the temperature here--just pointing out that it was colder than usual. And here, it ain't so much the temperature as the wind. And the rapid changes in weather, especially this time of year (tornado season). Here are some examples. On February 16, we had a low of 32 and a high of 82. Two days later, the high was 28 and the low was 16. On February 26, the low was 28, and two days later we had a record high of 87, which was topped by the next day's record of 98 on March 1. Those kinds of fluctuations, although not always so extreme, happen all spring, and that always makes for fun times here in Tornado Alley.
Sorry about the rambling. People around really do talk about the weather on a regular basis. :-)
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