What do an octogenarian polish guy and a brain-dead Floridia woman have in common? If your answer was "they're both dead", give yourself a cookie.

Sure, our Abu Ghraib torture center came under pretty heavy attack today but who cares? We've got a dead celeb and, by-gum, we're gonna run that story into the freakin' *ground* before we give it up!

Because death sells.

Death with a side of religion sells better.

And dead popes sell best of all.

Well, sure, it's not as good as a dead english princess, but it'll do!

Only the US press can literally beat a story to death. First, Terri Schiavo and now the Pope.

Poor Pat Buchanan! No doubt his #1 fan Randi Rhodes is speeding to his side even now.

Bwa!

Evening folks...I think this is one of the most literate and respectful (of each other) blogs associated with AAR.

Then again, the trolls seem to stay away.

That's a good thing.

Woody Allen (from Annie Hall): Don't knock masturbation. At least it's sex with someone I love.

Hey, where's Pete?

While the Press Coverage is Overwelming so are the Numbers Paying Respect and will be for the next several days!

John Paul II Passed On With 'Dignity' and in 'Peace'!

Terri Shiavo on the other hand had Her 'Dignity' and 'Peace' Stripped from her not only by the Radical Right but because the Federal Government, the People 'We' Hire to Represent got so throughly involved, We Are All Guilty! And Extremely Sadly this hasn't ended because the Extremes won't allow it too!!!!

On a lighter note, as a Pole and brought up Catholic [not practicing, still follow it's teachings], when John Paul took the reigns Polish Jokes Stopped and became Blond and Lawyer jokes. After 26 yrs. years they Will Now Make Their Return, Good Grief!!! :-S

Hi folks:
Ever wonder what kind of mail I get? I get some lovely mail for sure, but then there's mail like this:

<<<<< What a surprise!! Another stupid liberal bitch (Laura) blasting the Pope because he doesn't love abortion and condoms. Tell the fagots to stop ramming other guys up the ass and they won't get AIDS. Problem solved.>>>>

and they say we only talk to the converted....!

and they say we only talk to the converted....!
Posted by Lflanders on 04/03 at 07:24 PM

I'm surprised he spelled most of the words correctly.

Here's the link to the Akron Beacon Journal piece on the exit polls:

www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/11284237.htm?template=contentModules/printsto...

If that doesn't work,it was Friday's Beacon Journal. "Analysis Points to ELection Corruption."

Posted by bethG on 04/03 at 05:27 PM

TRUTH LEFT OUT: Data Indicates a Massive 2004 Exit Poll Whitewash

http://tinyurl.com/43rrz

This site give you logins for web sites like the ohio newspaper!!!!!!!
http://www.bugmenot.com/

You mean there's a war going on? How come I haven't heard about it? ;-)

On the Mainstream Media:

Last Week: All Shiavo all the time!

This Week: All (deceased) Pope all the time!

Would love to see it all Delay Scandals all the time!

Just another liberal dreamer...

Tell the Caller that he Should Have Been taken as a POW than and there and givin care by the Medic, wether he was going to Die or Not!!!!
This under Military Code and as you say Rules[?]of War

James Starowicz
USN'67-'71 GMG3 Vietnam '70-'71

How does a libertarian vote for Dubya?

Same way a liberal votes for Kerry.

With their heads up their ass.

What's Happening In Afganistan!!!
===============

Three Truckers Killed in Afghanistan

By NOOR KHAN
http://tinyurl.com/43e6k

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Suspected Taliban gunmen ambushed a convoy of civilian trucks carrying vehicles to the U.S. military in southern Afghanistan, killing three drivers, an official said Saturday.

Also Saturday, dozens of Taliban fighters attacked the office of a district chief in southern Afghanistan before dawn, killing three Afghan soldiers, an official said. He said they believe the soldiers also killed about nine rebels.

The attacks were part of a wave of violence that followed a lull during the harsh Afghan winter.

``This shows that some in the Taliban or other anti-government insurgents will continue to try to destabilize Afghanistan through violent acts,'' said Lt. Cindy Moore, a U.S. spokeswoman. ``There is still a threat out there.''

The gunmen attacked the trucks Friday after they crossed the Pakistani border at Spin Boldak, 55 miles south of Kandahar city, Spin Boldak District Chief Fazeluddin Agha told The Associated Press.

Three drivers - two Pakistanis and one Afghan - were killed in a hail of gunfire that severely damaged the trucks and two of the military vehicles, Agha said. He did not identify the types of vehicles being transported.

The fourth driver escaped and told authorities that four gunmen had appeared in the road in front of the convoy and opened fire, Agha said.

Agha blamed Taliban militants, but provided no evidence. Purported Taliban officials have in the past claimed responsibility for attacks on trucks supplying U.S. bases.

In southern Helmand province, dozens of Taliban attacked a government office in the district of Daisho, 175 miles southwest of Kandahar, triggering a shootout that left three soldiers dead and four wounded, Afghan official Haji Mohammed Rahim said.

``We think our men killed about nine Taliban, but Taliban took their bodies,'' Rahim said, adding the soldiers had not seen the body of any attackers.

U.S. commanders insist the insurgency is unraveling in the face of American operations and Afghan offers of reconciliation, while warning that a hard core of Taliban militants will fight on more than three years after the hardline militia was ousted for harboring al-Qaida.

Moore had no information on Friday's incident, but said the ``number and severity of attacks'' had increased and that the 17,000 U.S. forces in the country would ``aggressively pursue those seeking to destabilize the government.''

04/02/05 09:09

EvnÂ’n, Jimmy!!!

p

Posted by petemoon on 04/03 at 08:02 PM
******************
Evning!!!!!

i wish someone would have the courage to use "ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST" as bumper music for their pope coverage.

If Donald Rumsfeld is the Polonius of the Bush administration, does that mean Dubya is Claudius?

Our country's policies seemed to be based on "the ends justify the means" instead of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". And they still don't understand why so many people around the world hate us.

JP II jumped the shark when he let Romero twist in the wind. And they wonder why S. America is going protestant. Sheesh!

*

Crisis Management

and FUBAR are two terms

that seem to describe US goverment.

To get a feel for what things are like in Iraq from the perspective of a 25 year old Iraqui woman go to

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

Here is an excerpt from her post today...(she is talking about how the Iraqi TV is now primarily American movies, tv-shows, and news--a propaghanda machine to make the Iraqi's like the US)

The thing that strikes me most is the fact that the news is soÂ… clean. ItÂ’s like hospital food. ItÂ’s all organized and disinfected. Everything is partitioned and you can feel how it has been doled out carefully with extreme attention to the portions- 2 minutes on womenÂ’s rights in Afghanistan, 1 minute on training troops in Iraq and 20 minutes on Terri Schiavo! All the reportages are upbeat and somewhat cheerful, and the anchor person manages to look properly concerned and completely uncaring all at once.

Furthermore, I donÂ’t understand the worlds fascination with reality shows. Survivor, The Bachelor, Murder in Small Town X, Faking It, The ContenderÂ… itÂ’s endless. Is life so boring that people need to watch the conjured up lives of others?

I have a suggestion of my own for a reality show. Take 15 Bush supporters and throw them in a house in the suburbs of, say, Falloojeh for at least 14 days. We could watch them cope with the water problems, the lack of electricity, the check points, the raids, the Iraqi National Guard, the bombings, and- oh yeah- the ‘insurgents’. We could watch their house bombed to the ground and their few belongings crushed under the weight of cement and brick or simply burned or riddled with bullets. We could see them try to rebuild their life with their bare hands (and the equivalent of $150)…

IÂ’d not only watch *that* reality show, IÂ’d tape every episode.

Pretty interesting...She is the Ann Frank of Baghdad

Posted by bethG on 04/03 at 08:26 PM
=======================
Beth the ones who think your Crazy will always think so, they are already lost to Critical Thought and Common Sense, Sorry!!

I have a suggestion of my own for a reality show. Take 15 Bush supporters and throw them in a house in the suburbs of, say, Falloojeh for at least 14 days. We could watch them cope with the water problems, the lack of electricity, the check points, the raids, the Iraqi National Guard, the bombings, and- oh yeah- the ‘insurgents’. We could watch their house bombed to the ground and their few belongings crushed under the weight of cement and brick or simply burned or riddled with bullets. We could see them try to rebuild their life with their bare hands (and the equivalent of $150)…

IÂ’d not only watch *that* reality show, IÂ’d tape every episode.

Pretty interesting...She is the Ann Frank of Baghdad
Posted by ereid922 on 04/03 at 08:30 PM

I probably would actually watch that show. It would be so good to see some neo-cons squirm.

Mike Malloy and Randi Rhodes have been good about looking at the electoral fraud stuff.

My favorite Mike Malloy line is what he said on November 3rd; "GET RID OF THE MACHINES."

yes. laurie in hour 3...

Newsday had been one of the better papers. It still does some good pieces but does fall too much into pack journalism.

As much as you I dislike long posts, so I beg your indulgence on this one. Thank you in advance...
Subject: Draft of a Living Will

I, _________________________ (fill in the blank), being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means. Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of
Peckerwood-politicians who couldnÂ’t pass ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it.

If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to sit up and ask for a cold beer, it should be presumed that I won't ever get better. When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my spouse, children and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes and call it a day.

Under no circumstances shall the members of the Legislature enact a
special law to keep me on life-support machinery. It is my wish that these boneheads mind their own damn business, and pay attention instead to the health, education and future of the millions of Americans who aren't in a permanent coma.

Under no circumstances shall any politicians butt into this case I don't care how many fundamentalist votes they're trying to scrounge for their run for the presidency in 2008, it is my wish that they play politics with someone else's life and leave me alone to die in peace.

I couldnÂ’t care less if a hundred religious zealots send e-mails to legislators in which they pretend to care about me. I don't know these people, and I certainly havenÂ’t authorized them to preach and crusade on my behalf. They should mind their own damn business.

If any of my family goes against my wishes and turns my case into a political cause, I hereby promise to come back from the grave and make his or her existence a living hell.

Laurie Garrett is a great guest. She was on Democracy Now!.

Caller Chris the Libertarian I beleive seemed to think a soldier was justified in killing the wounded instead of taking them prisoner. If those soldiers who kill the wounded are such good diagnosticians about the status of the wounded, what are they doing just being grunts in the service carrying guns? They should be doctors and surgeons at least!

Soldiers have no right to judge something so out of their field of expertise. Just because someone looks like they’re at death’s door doesn’t mean it’s so! (I know someone who was a medic in Vietnam and he once removed a live soldier deemed dead and put in a body bag and loaded on a truck; he was lucky enough to hear the man crying for help! ONE NEVER KNOWS FOR SURE. So mere soldiers shouldn’t start playing Doctor, let alone God!)

Posted by nora on 04/03 at 08:06 PM
-------------

I called my friend and read the above post I made to him and he said he also thinks the soldiers making this "mercy killing" plea are rationalizing their actions or worse. Then he pointed out that he was just reading about how the Pope's retinue is supposed to determine when a Pope is actually dead: Someone is supposed to call the Pope's baptismal name three times in the Pope's ear; if he doesn't answer, then someone taps the Pope on the forhead three times with a silver hammer to see if he responds. Maybe soldiers under Junta Bush will soon be given some similar ritual surrounding these bizarre and increasing so-called mercy killings. Junta Bush loves rituals; it's part of being Illuminati.

Thank You petemoon. I will!

Would love to ask Laurie Garrett to comment about the "media wolves in sheep's clothing", such as the likes of Tim Russert, Cokie Roberts, Chris Mathews, et al...one writer (the name escapes me) says that these so-called journalists are the real threat...they appear to be respectable and analytical all the while shilling in subtle and not so subtle ways for the current power structure.

Laura...if time, could you ask for Laurie's thoughts on this...