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APRIL 2003
Wednesday 30 April 2003 - torture a woman time again
It's quite extraordinary, I've been through this movie before. Yet another woman is being dragged through the court, and mentally totured because the legal 'brains' in the Crown Prosecution Service can't get their heads round some things, like infant cot deaths, not having a definable cause. It's only a few months since another woman was put through it and finally released. This one has lost three babies which you would think was bad enough without having to be charged with murder. It's known that if you lose a child from cot death you are more likely to lose another. Yet the suspicious prosecutor minds jump to the conclusion that three is more than coincidence. Without a shred of evidence of any cause of death, the poor woman is prosecuted and made to live through all three again. Both are professional women, intelligent, and with no evidence of abusive behaviour. Lets hope the jury are intelligent enough to see the ludicrous nature of the charge. Until the day when science comes up with an explanation for cot death syndrome, we must assume some babies are just not viable and fade away. It is this woman's tragedy that this has happened to her three times. To accuse her of murder is downright primitive. But then, so is shooting unarmed demonstrators and that's going on every day in Iraq where it is a now, it seems, a capital offence to shout at Americans, unless they got the orders wrong [not unknown] and it was actually u>shoot/u> at Americans. I see a lot more shouting and shooting happening before this 'war on terror' is finally over. The movie will probably be up and shooting soon, wonder if they'll find a suitable chimp to play Bush, must be able to do that puzzled, uncomprehending look Dubya does so well, the sly four-year-old's 'I got away with it' look, the smugness mixed with intense stupidity. Whew, a tough one for a chimp.
Tuesday 29 April 2003 - outposts of empire
More
shooting of unarmed civilians by US grunts, this time people demanding the
return of their children's school. They're trigger happy, simplisticly minded,
and scared shitless, they are making people very angry and are going to
be chased out of Iraq as they were from Vietnam. Meanwhile the IRA make
even more concessions and the unionists complain it's not enough. It's never
enough, they just say no. As much in bad faith as the Israelis are with
their neighbours, and as much in the wrong. And speaking of occupations,
how long before we get the US bases removed from the UK, they're leaving
Saudi Arabia because there's no longer a threat from Iraq, so what threat
is there in Europe that we've still got them?
They swagger round the planet, ostentatiously flashing the wealth they've
stolen from the rest of us and we're all supposed to fall over backwards
with admiration. I make no excuse for being anti-America, in the same way
people were anti-Rome once. This imperial army has less discipline than
that ancient one. Apparently the UK troops or 'our boys' are so unused to
physical and mental exertion that after just three weeks of war and a few
more travelling they need eighteen months to recover. Considering amateur,
conscripted soldiers in the 1939-45 war were away at the front for years,
this says a lot for the modern fighting man. So we, the taxpayers, are expected
to keep them while they play soldiers on Salisbury Plain or travel round
the world to exotic locations and train as long as it doesn't entail too
much actual fighting or hardship. The only ligitimate army is one made up
of all citizens defending their country. Anything else is a repressive arm
of the state, and furthers the grandiose fantasies of politicians.
Monday 28 April 2003 - the fight against truth decay continues
Slowly
it comes out. Returning US troops are being arrested in droves with stolen
artifacts in their luggage, many from the Baghdad Museum of Antiquities
... and one source informs me that the first tank commanders into the city
clearly suggested to people they loot buildings and encouraged them by blasting
open the doors. As they weren't getting any cheering crowds, it was thought
the next best thing would be citizens, freely liberated from oppression,
expressing their feelings in another way, thus justifying the war. Other
Iraqi citizens were disgusted and angry with the Americans for encouraging
it and tried to stop it, but gave up and left. This comes from a foreign,
objective observer. That, along with the staging of the statue being pulled
down clearly shows the US were stage managing things right from the start.
But slowly the truth will come out and even the media might catch on eventually.
Meanwhile Fony Blair sweats profusely every time he has to attempt to justify
what he did, whether to politicians or journos, and displays all the signs
of someone extremely ill at ease with what he is saying; defensive, evasive,
sly, shifty eyed. Apart from having the receipts, he can't be i>sure/i>
the WMDs are still there, and all evidence points to them being abandoned
years ago, so any remnants will be rubbish that got forgotten. Scattered
about the UK there are ex-army dumps of such stuff, more or less toxic,
more or less corroded. The military is never very careful at cleaning up,
witness the munitions they left scattered about in Kenya which have maimed
many children and for which the UK government has only recently accepted
responsibility after years of lobbying on their behalf. I have to say that
Julie Birchill has finally lost it. The rot happened during the Kosovo war,
when she clearly got the hots for the Serb psychos with their 1930s uniforms
and draped bullet belts. It didn't matter that they were fascist thugs,
they obviously fuelled her fantasies which she now seems to have switched
to the UK troops as a basis for rubbishing the anti-war movement - 'our
lads are risking their lives for us' no Julie, not for me they ain't. Of
course she was against them when they were fighting the 'brave' serb butchers.
Obviously kafiah-wearing arabs aren't her scene or she'd have been defending
the Taliban - rakish, bearded brigands with dangerous style.
Her weekly column of middle-aged, reactionary rubbish gets Observer readers
livid and writing to the editor and I think her only value to the paper
where every other page contradicts the Karma Kameleon with the squeeky voice
- is to get people writing letters. She obviously has no future in radio
or TV, so this is her only way of keeping her name going. She'll be getting
the hots for Iain Duncan Smith, the virtual leader of the Tories next. Doesn't
matter what your name becomes known for, there's value in it anyway which
is why the lottery cheats will doubtless prosper and are already receiving
offers despite being so clearly guilty it's painful to hear them denying
it.
Sunday 27 April 2003 - migrants we could do without
Every
current issue I read about seems to be connected. SARS is intimately linked
to concentration of people in small spaces and their proximity to animals,
in this case pigs and chicken. There is mixing going on between human and
animal diseases just as with AIDS and CJD. Bees are being wiped out by an
emerging variant of the varoa mite which has been spreading round the world
for a decade. The connection is movemnt of species round the planet, species
that evolved in one eco-system within a balanced food chain ending up in
another eco-system with no natural predators, causing imbalance and in many
cases a devastation of one or more native species and sometimes the whole
environment.
It's been happening for a long time. The grey squirrel has almost supplanted
the native red in the UK, Rhodedendrons now cover huge area of Snowdonia,
wiping out all native plants since they were introduced by the Victorians.
Varoa came from Asia where presumably the bees had some immunity toit and
had evolved to cope. Still it goes on. Garden centres stock many varieties
of exotic foreign species, some of which subsequently escape to the wild.
The giant hogweed, an extremely nasty plant which if handled causes blistering
sores to erupt for years is an incomer too and still not eradicated from
the wild. The victorian plant collectors doubtless found it a handsome,
fast growing decorative plant. TV gardening gurus constantly encourage viewers
to introduce foreigners. As far as human health is concerned, air travel
is the real villain. The constant movement of people and plants round the
planet exposes the whole human species to every disease organism, and those
still evolving. To board a plane runs the risk of breathing in organisms
breathed out by any of the other passengers, and recycled by the plane's
'air conditioning' system for the whole of the flight.
While native UK plants and animal species are becoming rarer, foreign invaders
adapt with alacrity and prosper. The introduced mink, escaped or liberated
from fur farms, have all but wiped out water voles, but the good news is
that something is being attempted to remedy this with a campaign to eradicate
the mink. How successful this will be is unknown. Success with eradicating
the coypu [originally from S. America] was one of the few instances of damage
reversal, but still the transport of animals and plants continues. It's
understandable that the Victorians didn't understand the significance of
their actions, that's no longer true today.
Saturday 26 April 2003 - lies, damned lies and US government statements
So there
they are, the Americans, having a whale of a time blowing up ammunition
dumps all over Baghdad and doing it from early in the morning to remind
the residents who's in charge, and one stash they've gathered together is
so big it really goes, and they say it was a controlled explosion just like
the others by way of reassurance to people concerned at the huge plume of
flames. That is before the news starts coming in of dozens of bodies and
hundreds of injured, then they change their story and claim somebody must
have fired a flare into the compund, and within a few hours this has become
a 'band of attackers stormed the compound firing flares'. It takes an adult
to admit when they're in the wrong. What people really dislike about the
US is that not only is it the most powerful nation, but it has yet to grow
up and that's scary. Like would anyone welcome the biggest bullying teenager
on the block having a flame thrower? None of the fires would ever be his
fault. It's really, really naff to keep denying something when everyone
knows you're lying. Why do politicians indulge in behaviour we all have
to suffer in our five year olds but hopefully train them out of before they
get too big and dangerous?
Found an amazing piece of software today called UNFREEZe [http://www.whitsoftdev.com/]
which makes animated gifs from any number of gif files with a simple drag
and drop process. It's a tiny file to download, installs in seconds and
is FREE! If only all software was like this. The trend with commercial software
is to add extra complexity all the time because that's the value added product
they can get more money out of us for. Each new version comes up with more
to learn and more to cause a system crash. None of my 'with bells on' graphics
software can do a simple thing like create an animated gif in seconds, well
at all actually. It's good that freeware, the real spirit of the net, is
still alive and well. http://www.cnet.com is a good source for both commercial
software and for shareware and freeware, all ready for download.
Friday 25 April - things I like about dogs
I admire
dogs tremendously, they have many characteristics rarely found in their
primate friends. One of the qualities I most like is their inability to
hold a grudge. Humans can shout at them, smack them, starve them even and
they will still give devotion and love. No judgement, no recrimination.
Of course, those who don't particularly like dogs or who have never had
a relationship with one will always say they behave as they do because you
feed them, so it's all about food and they are incapable of emotions like
us. There speaks ignorance is all I can say. Food provision doesn't explain
why my dog should come and lick me when someone else has fed her, nor why,
when fed, she should wish to sit close to me for contact while she sleeps.
Another thing I like about dogs is the welcome you get even if you've only
been away for half an hour, as if they haven't seen you for days. That is
unless you're away for days then the welcome is like you've been away months,
until you've been away months when you need protective clothing and a toleration
of saliva. The welcome never varies, is never off-hand as with humans sometimes,
is always genuine and full of gladness.
Dogs are experts at reading humans.Over the millenia of our close association
they have sharpened and honed this skill until they can unerringly know
what you are thinking before you consciously make a decision. They can read
body language, small signs, the native language of their human and a lot
else besides. They lack the palate to make our sounds but understand so
much, even complex sentences, and can communicate with a range of body movements
and sounds, that it hardly matters they can't have a chat about the weather.
I still wonder how the dogs of Iraq are managing. Many will have lost everything;
home and family. Not much hope of a fund for Iraqi dogs being successful,
no donations of dogfood, no emergency mobile kennels or visiting vet teams.
As usual, when humans mess it up other species are left to make it alone.
I wonder if any birds managed to nest and raise young this year.
Thursday 24 April 2003 - here comes the rain again
At last
the rain, rejuvenating the earth, washing away the detritus from the streets
which had lately become dusty and full of litter too small for picking up.
The swallows which arrived early from Africa will be able to find mud to
build their homes now. Walking the dogs will be a muddier affair, but fun
still, and the river which they love to splash in should start to look a
bit fuller if it keeps up for a useful time. A river with some movement
and danger is always much more interesting.
This part of the UK, the west, Welsh marches border country, seems still
rich in wildlife compared to most of Norfolk, perhaps because it hasn't
been turned into prairies because of the nature of the landscape, hilly
to mountainous, making that impossible. So enclosures are marked with stone
walls or living hedgerows, both rich habitats, and there are many areas
just too inaccessible which are still wooded, with ancient trees often growing
out of the rocks. Old settlements are often still visible as marks in the
landscape, mono-culture agro-farming isn't suited and there are many raptors
to be seen hovering like spy satellites with the watchful camera eye scanning
for movement then the folding of wings and breathtaking plunge towards the
earth, maybe one day a miniature video link will record it for us all.
Wednesday 23 April 2003 - famous faces and other designer labels
I can
see SARS becoming an issue. If I had money to invest I would be investing
in companies making surgical masks which are going to see a huge rise in
sales worldwide. It's already part of the culture in Asia to wear one if
one has a cold or similar, maybe the panic will make them acceptable here
too which might lead to all manner of variations and customisation, which
the individualistic West is so addicted to. There could be the inevitable
cats faces, but how about faces for those not keen on walking around with
a blank bottom half to the face? Famous lips and nose could become popular
and one would have the somewhat disconcerting image of crowds of people
approaching all looking like slightly wrong collagen implanted famous people.
Kate Moss would be popular and Liz Hurley would make her own range of Lizmasks.
Famous people of course would wear their own, not wishing to be mistaken
for somebody else. This would give a form of anonymity, who should the paparazzi
shoot in a crowd of famous faces? Muslims might choose the black and white
or red and white kafiah design and all look like terrorists. When the crisis
has passed and the invader run its course, the masks will have to be abandoned
... oh the nakedness!
I shall have to search surgical masks and see if there are any bulk supplies
at bargain rates out there. I have yet to receive the first mask spam, but
it shouldn't be too long. Spam still mostly dominated by 25 million dollar
opportunities from Nigeria [and S.Africa, Sierra Leone, Mali, Cote d'Ivoire],
grow your penis offers, and mortgage offers. Is there a league table somewhere
on the net for current spam I wonder. Perhaps one should be compiled along
with the real addresses of the spammers so visitors could send them thanks
for their offer, several thousand times. Wonder how many hours that could
be spent doing something useful are instead spent deleting spam [after first
cursory glance to check, or out of nosiness]. People are having to get new
email addresses to dump the spam which of course makes for even more confusion
for those with non-spam intent wishing to contact. So it's not so simple
as just unwanted pixels which can be wiped easily enough. But then the Post
Office these days often delivers nothing but junk mail, so I guess it's
just the price we have to pay. Or do we? If cold calling on the doorstep
is to be made illegal, why not unsolicited advertising whether on paper
or screen.
Tuesday 22 April 2003 - the war returns
I'm
a lousy general. Instead of pressing home my apparent easy victory, I relaxed,
thinking it all over bar the mopping up and left it to what I had on the
battlefield. I stopped taking the i>echinacea/i>. The viruses hung
out in quiet places and multiplied, regrouped, plotted even. By this morning
I became aware of a tingly nasal space, but dismissed it as an after shock,
part of the process. By mid-afternoon it had become obvious even to the
slowest general that something was up. The battle has raged ever since,
until I took more echinacea and the defence forces rallied and again surged
into ascendancy. I shall continue with them this time until all signs of
resistance are gone and all is quiet in the micro-eco-system.
Easy to ignore the body when the brain is being called on to concentrate
on several things at once as well as a lot of parallel processing to absorb
what you read yesterday and another little area trying to figure out why
the program crashed ... A side effect of the echinacea seems to be a sore
mouth and tongue. Perhaps a result of a stimulated immune system directing
friendly fire on ally bacteria in the mouth and gut. I am therefore balancing
this with some armour for them in the shape of acidophilus, a live culture
of friendlies in handy capsule form, to renew the balance of defences in
the body and aid the deconstruction of nutrient intake.
SARS seems to be spreading as expected, air transport being it's chosen
route. Wonder how long the airline companies will hang on when the air-travel
panic sets in. Stock could get a bit shaky, what with all the people who've
already given it up because of the risk of diving into buildings or being
disseminated over the countryside already diminishing demand. Visuses are
the ecosystem's way of balancing the human load on the planet. In China
where SARS 'originated' or evolved, there are 100 million vagrants traveling
the country in search of rubbish to scavenge from tips or menial tasks to
perform. That's 100 million homeless and destitute, and very dirty. Then
there's the way they keep animals. Is anyone else concerned about the massive
rise in human population to which China contributes a substantial portion?
There has to come a point where it's unsustainable and the only way out
is mass starvation. Seems distant from this western perspective with food
on the table and in the fridge and the supermarket, and few alive in the
UK today have any memory of hunger even, except for the homeless who might
cope better than the fat bellies of the city when the shit hits the fan.
Tomorrow, with strict control on the war, I should have regained some equilibrium
and be seeing things in a rosier light, which won't make it any less true,
but you gotta laugh.
Monday 21 April 2003 - dirty tricks or conspiracy
Breaking news this evening that The Telegraph has found evidence that George Galloway has been taking money from Iraq from the oil for food program, now ain't that convenient for those who would silence all critics. Not that I would suggest that the Telegraph would stoop to such tactics even though they are of the right, but they could be easily, if not willingly, used by the 'dark forces' that try to control what is heard. As for Blair, bit of 'will no-one rid me of this troublesome MP?' Galloway has been a none too discreet friend of Iraq, never tried to hide it, but on the make to the tune of hundreds of thousands? I remain to be convinced especially as the Telegraph is a Tory comic. They're trying to silence Michael Moore as well, with as little success. Mind you, they tend to do things differently in the States, so I hope he's into tevlar. I feel a bit detached as a result of the virus wars, the echinacea has worked and this war is almost over, the battlefield echoing and nothing seeming to work, even my email software is crashing, maybe I'm more static charged than usual. Must be something chasing the pixels about. Or maybe I've put off the thought that my system is getting old at three years for too long. Everything races away and before you know it, you have a Commodore 64 on your hands.
Sunday 20 April 2003 - viral wars
The
viral wars continue, but, as ever, it's ultimately an unequal battle and
mine has to be the winning side. To this end I've aided my immuno-armies
with regular doses of echinacea along with mentally directing them like
a 5-star general. They won't be taking prisoners.
I think there's a large group of people in the developed world - twenty
somethings who have grown up in big cities and have been damaged to a more
or less extent by lead in petrol. Some of us began warning about it in the
early 70s and it took till the 80s before lead-free was available at a few
garages and then with a warning that it might be unsuitable for your engine!.
Eventually, by the end of the 90s, it became the norm and everyone discovered
that it didn't make a jot of difference to their engine. Now you have to
search for leaded petrol. But it took so long, and all that time the traffic
grew and grew and kids absorbed it. A well-known effect of lead is brain
damage in humans, been known for years long before a bright scientist had
the idea of adding it to petrol. The warnings that were given about its
effect were eventually heeded, but the damage was conveniently ignored.
Could this be why exam pass marks have had to be manipulated for years to
keep the figures up? Could this be the explanation that all 'yoof' TV seems
to consist of 20-somethings behaving like 10-year-olds? There's a generation
of city-bred kids who just want to jump up and down and party, who haven't
a clue and care less what's happening to the world, are even worse polluters
than their parents and seem determined not to grow up and face environmental
Armageddon. That's not all of them of course, many grew up away from traffic
fumes - the hippies' kids in particular, and once lead started disappearing
the damage gradually lessened, so there's nothing black and white about
it, just a feeling that this is a likely explanation for a phenomenon that's
readily visible.
Saturday 19 April 2003 - I've become an ecosystem at war
I have a virus attack going on in my body at the moment. War is being waged on several fronts with much loss of life and the dead are piling up in mucus. My antibodies, fearless fighters for the defence of their world, sacrifice themselves for the good of the system. No over the top homecomings with flags and yellow ribbons. Already people are taking to the streets of Iraqi cities to protest the American presence, didn't take long. The troops can't figure it out of course, they were told they'd be welcomed; is there no gratitude in these people, they wonder. And surprise, surprise, the mullahs are demanding an Islamic state with Shia law, so the US has really done the cause of tolerance, understanding and a secular, liberal democracy a blow. But Israel's happy and more bullish in the knowledge America will never move against its interests.
Friday 18 April 2003 - Easter bunnies and pagan rites of spring
Soon
these old ritual times will be so out of pace with the seasons they'll have
less relevance than they still do with the bank holiday masses massing for
the holiday tailback; picnic beside the motorway, let the radiator cool
down. Some might even switch off the engine if stopped for more than half
an hour. They won't be going to the Peak District this year as it's alight
as are several other 'beauty spots' the car people like to congregate at
and eat their snacks, discard the wrappers on the way home and arrive back
having contributed yet another parcel of pollution over and above their
norm. Perhaps the SARS virus is the environment's way of fighting back against
the seemingly unstoppable increase in homo erectus. It has many other surprises
up its sleeve, it's a system and everything in the system is balancing towards
an equilibrium, We have so far upset that equilibrium that balancing will
consist of major events.
Still, some think we can move to another planet when we've ruined this one,
not that much progress has been made however considering man first 'apparently'
walked on the moon in the sixties, [more of that at a later date] still
all we can manage is small robotic probes to the nearer planets, and humans
seem only to have managed a spell in orbit. They don't want to tell us the
reason because all their funding would dry up, it's because humans can't
survive outside of Earth's atmosphere, it's all we've got and all these
people bred on Star Wars who think they'll be holidaying in space one day
are in for a disappointment [as are those mugs who've bought real estate].
The simple reason is the radiation out there, especially from the Van Allen
belt, would fry anyone who ventured out without several feet of lead shielding.
As spacecraft seem to be made of very thin material, they have definitely
not walked on the moon. Apart from inconsistencies in the faked video like
the flag flapping in a windless moon atmosphere, and the conflicting shadows
indicating more than one light source, there's the matter of the shot of
the first 'steps for mankind' being taken by a camera several metres from
the craft and carefully positioned to record the view. Now I've never heard
about a robot camera that detached and set itself up and everyone could
be forgiven for being mislead at the time as they weren't camera-literate,
the scenes they saw gave information and weren't to be analysed. The gritty
nature of the pictures helped conceal a lot of joins.
Thursday 17 April 2003 - this wheels's on fire ...
Fires
are spreading in the UK, more than a hundred grassland fires in all the
Welsh border counties and in many other areas, and several bad ones including
forests and woods. No rain, wonder if the promised Easter showers will make
a difference. Haven't heard if all the US ones are out yet, probably not.
We only hear of the big ones these days, and every year there seem to be
a few. Less trees to absorb the carbon and make the oxygen we need. We should
all be planting trees as if there's no tomorrow ...
If only time would stand still for a while so I could catch up. Quod nihil
scituris something all world leaders should meditate on for a long time.I
can't think of one world leader or US president who has been so universally
ridiculed as George W. Bush. How many computer games have him as the butt
of the joke, how many email jokes about him get passed around the world
each day, how many Bushisms cause gales of laughter on an hourly basis.
Yet to some he is a mini-god, the good ole boy of good ole boys, his fake
bonhomie and down-home, country-boy rhetoric jewels of sincerity and rugged
determinism; that's the bottom feeders, so who else supports him?
Wednesday 16 April 2003 - propaganda, all is holy
Saw
the Chimpmaking a speech to an assembly of grunts, totally unreal 'America
is dealing with a humanitarian crisis in Iraq' [which they caused], 'helping
to establish democracy' [like the good ol' usa where money don't buy you
love, but it sure buys you the presidency], 'helping to build hospitals'
[which they bombed] in fact, black is the new white, and a pig just flew
past my window. It's like someone kicking another half to death and then
claiming they were doing them a favour by helping them out of the gutter
they'd been kicked into. It takes hypocrisy to new depths, a defining moment
as the media frequently like to say , the death of truth. And still no WMDs
so they're grubbing around for anything as justification, graves, stashes
of ammunition [as if Iraq as a state couldn't have this legally just like
the US and UK]. And the news media go along with everything, no questioning,
no stopping to think, all for the moment.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, other news starts to trickle through and life
starts to return to normal. The trial starts of the man accused of the murder
of Holly and Jessica in Soham last year. For weeks we watched the police
live up to their name 'the Plod' as they scratched around doing everything
too late, plainly not mentally up to the task. Then suddenly out of the
blue they arrest the school caretaker and his girlfriend who'd figured increasingly
prominently with the media and might have been the last to see them alive.
Presumably working on the assumption that the last person to see a murder
victim alive is often the murderer, lacking any clues and increasingly desperate
to solve the crime in the full glare of the media. I was sceptical at the
time and wondered if this was going to be another miscarriage of justice
where the police fit someone up rather than be accused of not being up to
the job. There have been so many cases where many years later the victims
of this police 'tidyness' have been released, their lives wasted, and this
just seemed too convenient for words. Later, we hear that two of the police
officers intimately involved in the case have been arrested for downloading
paedophile images ... as expected the accused has pleaded guilty to perverting
the course of justice; in other words he lied to the police/media about
something. Maybe he was seduced by the attention and made the mistake of
embroidering the truth to put himself centre stage ... he made it. The police
can't understand such subtleties, as far as their limited intelligence stretches,
he lied therefore he must have done it, they just need to find the evidence.
Of course, we know how they 'find' evidence if it's not forthcoming. I hope
he has a good lawyer.
The sun is so hot it's more like July. Trees all racing to get their sticky
leaves unfurled to take advantage of it, and my Beech seedlings are coming
on nicely. But so far we've had no rain for a month which, for this time
of year, is kind of unusual. What if we get no rain for the rest of the
year and drought settles its dry hand over the green British countryside
and drains it of colour. But still everyone must drive their cars and burn
their rubbish as they always have.
Tuesday 15 April 2003 - welcome to the circus
I don't
know which is worse, the careless act which wiped out Ali's family and blew
away both his arms, burning his body in the process, or that which is now
under way to turn him into a media circus act. The reporters on the spot
are queuing up to be pictured alongside his bed with a sympathetic face
on, soon he'll be moved to Kuwait where, if he survives, the media will
continue to hound him and 'caring' celebs will make the pilgrimage to be
seen with him. The money will flow in and he will be showered with gifts;
new arms, endless, painful operations, more photo opportunities. His childhood,
his life has gone, to be replaced with a celebrity one based on pain, the
innocent victim. All the rest know their parts and he will soon learn his,
he looks like a bright kid. And his function will be to make all those involved
[who supported the war] feel good about themselves, and try to erase the
guilt they feel.
Years ago during the Geldoff saving of the world [god bless you saint Bob]
starving Africans became objects for this very end, I heard a donation hotline
operator in the US say 'thank you sir, we're here to help you feel good
about yourself. One rarely witnesses such breathtaking honesty.
I wonder when the next big one on the States will hit, must be brewing,
but they'll bide their time until the beast relaxes for the moment sated.
Must be worrying the US hawks that they've not found any WMDs, where have
they gone??? Saying it so many times, they must have convinced themselves
that Iraq had them, even if the rest of the world didn't buy it. Apart from
needing to justify going against the UN and illegally invading another state,
there must be the sneaking fear that something far, far worse than September
11 could happen any time.
Monday 14 April 2003 - planet of the apes
I'm
trying not to think about this war, I'm losing the desire to analyse and
understand and wish it would all go away, and I guess a lot of people in
Iraq feel the same way. But it won't for a long time, although the media
will soon lose interest and eventually we will be as unaware of Iraq again
as we are of Afghanistan. Maybe we'll have to follow Syria being trashed,
although I feel the US will have a tougher job on its hands. Iraq had 12
years of sanctions and inspections, and bombing during the whole of that
time. Syria feels like a different case, but I'm sure the Chimp will feel
he's able to take them on, he's out to beat up on the world and no inteelektules
are gonna stop 'im. The swagger as he walks is now so ludicrous, so simian.
It's all to do with holding the shoulders at an unnaturally high position
with the arms slightly further from the body than is comfortable. You expect
a banana to appear at any moment. The problem for many UK citizens who want
to boycott US goods is that US companies own so much of our country and
we're all slavishly addicted to shopping in their supermarkets. Tescos is
already out for being Jewish/Israeli, Safeway is American as is Asda [Walmart]
and Sainsbury is owned by a Blair crony who supports Israel. That just leaves
Somerfield [northern based and not many in the south and not too hot on
vegetarian diet], or there's Spar [!]. I guess I should support town centre
little shops and walk around for hours slowly collecting bags but inevitably
missing several items that can't be found outside of a supermarket. If you
then go to the supermarket to get the last things, you end up wondering
why you didn't get everything there.
Of course we have a special relationship, they own half the country and
that's not including air bases. So no boycott is ever going to be very effective
just because it's so difficult to avoid American goods. When you think you're
buying an old British brand, it turns out to have an American parent company.
And so the world becomes ever more homogenised, individual cultures slowly
drip away to be supplanted by a McDonalds/Disney/Microsoft monoculture where
all Americans can feel at home. That's until they choke on their poisoned
burger/hot dog/pizza. I think all good Americans should avoid travel for
a while. And now Fony Blair has said Ali can't be flown to the UK to save
his life as the situation is unstable in Baghdad. What a totally conscienceless
third-rater he is.
Sunday 13 April 2003 to loot or not to loot, aye there's the question
Well,
some obscenely rich American collectors must be rubbing their hands, the
CIA have cleaned out the choice pieces which are even now headed for their
private vaults, they'll soon be 'owning' something of history in more ways
than one. Help to pay for the war. Golden opportunity for the spooks really,
widespread looting of stuff, chaos in the streets, but for all the pictures
the media showed, there were none of the looting of the Baghdad Museum of
Antiquities, just a verbal snippet tagged onto the end of the exciting crowd
scenes. The loot will already be out of the country, these are professionals
after all, no turning up at Mosque doors overnight. I mean, why would Iraqis
loot the museum? Can they install an ancient artifact in their home, show
the neighbours, have barbecues round it? Can they sell it on the streets?
No, they were taking mostly stuff that could be used for mending bombed
homes, enhancing undamaged ones or exchanging with a black market contact
probably for food. This is so obviously the dirty tricks brigade that the
US uses all over the world. It's the hidden army who really do the dirty,
and are never shown on camera. The fresh faced young man commanding his
very own tank is there for the photo opportunities, calling everyone 'sir'
like a well-brought-up American boy. Of course, hours previously he had
been firing shells into cars and buildings, but shucks, don't he look cute
momma!
And already the throwback has his beady little eyes on Syria. Bush quote
of the week: 'It takes time to reestablish chaos and order' naah George,
about three weeks. Bet the Zionist script writers wished they had a Bush
double
to work with, who could at least learn his lines and speak them without
mishap. George would be best doing a Typhoo Tea ad. I can see it now ...
better get my animation software out and see what it can do. How do you
tell a seven and a half year old how a little boy about her age hasn't any
arms, just bandages? Fucked if I know. I expect American browsers will change
that to F*****, but I don't give a fuck. Faced with the obscenity of war
I can never see what there is to get upset by with language, Anglo-Saxon
or Serbo-Croat.
Who was it said 'War is the way Americans learn geography' ? Probably Michael
Moore. My favourite current joke was a letter in the Observer today. 'Why
do the media keep on about Sunni and Shia, they haven't had a hit in years'.
Well you gotta laugh or the tears wouldn't stop once they started.
Saturday 12 April 2003 - the media falls for it every time
The
pulling down of the statues seemed to me like a media event. The faces of
the participants, not a large crowd, just seemed too camera aware, too much
waiting for the camera to catch them, too much glancing sideways to judge
the effect. But then, I thought, in a media age, who isn't media savvy?
But the truth is much more sinister as you'll see if you click on this link:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2842.htm Another good source
of real information is: http://www.parallel-youniversity.com where you can
subscribe to Fraser's newsletter and get it delivered to your mailbox every
week, a recommended read.
Now the hard men get involved on a personal level. Iraq will have the highest
number of CIA operatives of all countries for the next few years. They not
only have all the Ba'ath party people to hunt down and eliminate [as much
for what they could tell as for their crimes] but they will also have to
'liberate' those Iraqis who object to the carve up once they realise what
is happening, the honest ones who can't be bribed. There will be many unexplained
deaths over the coming months and years.
Meanwhile the poor will continue to suffer, probably more than they did
under Saddam for his quarrel was ever with political rivals and the Kurds
and Shias. They will certainly not get the health care they had for a long
time, and many more babies will die. I'm still waiting for a journalist
to ask how many more tonnes of depleted uranium have been added to the environment
of Iraq and whether they have an estimate of how many deaths that will cause.
I'll certainly be asking the question of anyone I can think of .
I think that every person in the US and UK who has supported this should
make a donation of at least £200 [and dollar equivalent] for the
rebuilding and compensation of Iraq. After all, it wasn't against the people
but Saddam, there is therefore a moral imperative for them to cough up as
much as they can afford. Perhaps the government could organise a fund to
which they could all contribute and chase the images of dismembered babies
from their minds.
Friday 11 April 2003 - forward planning? What forward planning?
Amazing
how the best minds of the US and UK can plan something like this but not
give a thought to what happens after the happy citizens have strewn rose
petals at the feet of the conquering liberators. Expect they thought they'd
all go back to their little lives; mowing the lawn, buying ice cream for
the kids, chatting over the garden fence, perhaps have a holiday or paint
the fence. Ah, but the garden fence got bombed to shit along with the house
and most of the family and now there's mayhem on the streets 'cos they emptied
the jail and there's no authority 'cos they bombed that too. And Strangelove
Rumsfeld laughs in glee at the press conference, claiming the media have
created a scene of devastation whereas it's really just people experiencing
freedom and tomorrow they'll go back home. Complacency is too weak a word
for this Zionist, he's high on killing Arabs just like Sharron, his best
buddy, and they're putting in a gang of Israel-leaning, hard right CIA spooks.
The oilfields have already been heavily fenced and guarded by - you guessed
it - US troops, the same troops who can't be expected to guard hospitals
and museums or act as a police force. Got the oil, don't give a shit, to
sum it up. With the censorship of the US media, the American public don't
get to see half of what we see, and we don't get to see half of what the
rest of the world sees [media bias in our case, self censorship], so they
are probably ignorant of the true situation [unless they get their information
from the Internet]. I hear the victory parades have started for the 'heroes'
homecoming. Meanwhile, in Iraq, the whole place is flattened, hospitals
have been looted and attacked, water and electricity are off over most of
the country and children are still dying.
There is no order or authority, no infrastructure, no money worth anything,
a lot of bomb sites and damaged buildings, and a lot of anger which boils
over all the time. The US troops still there stand around looking bemused
and incapable of doing anything. It's not their job, they just do killing.
And the population is beginning to turn nasty towards the yanks, very soon
the sniper fire will increase and open hatred will start to come out in
mobs. There'll be 'situations' where, again, they will fire on civilians
and kill more. The crowds will get increasingly hostile. They are already
shooting up cars that get too close to them; what kind of men are these
who will fire on a car with children in because they're too petrified with
fear to think? Heroes? The Nazis were brutal, but they at least had courage.
These are overarmed pansies, OK with playing at soldiers or shooting a few
students in a demo, OK for running about and shouting, not so hot when fired
on though, then they have to call in air strikes. The Brits at least have
conducted themselves so much better than the Americans that they stand out
as a lesson on how to behave, and they're no angels.
Ultimately it's all about the twin towers, America under the hard-right
junta wanted to get revenge, it had thought it was invulnerable and could
behave any way suited its interests without any comeback. Afghanistan wasn't
enough, they'd got the kick from killing [at least two separate wedding
parties were wiped out as I recall, amongst many such incidents] and wanted
to have some more. This felt good, it felt right, the red blood was an aphrodisiac
as long as it was a foreigner's. There's a sickness in America, and we haven't
seen the last of it. The celebration parties and flag waving are to come
yet, the overstated, over emotional, jingoistic rhetoric, the marching bands
and the yellow ribbons - our country, right or wrong, love it or leave it,
support the president or butt out. Somehow, the Clinton years seem like
a faded dream of the good times when common sense prevailed and the nuts
were just in the gun lobby or surviving in the desert in log cabins with
deep, bombproof cellars waiting for the government agents to come. Now they
are the government and the world is deeply worried. Maybe Syria next, who
knows which is first on the Israeli hit list.
Thursday 10 April 2003 - where did the war go?
It's
all got a bit silly, men beating up statues, rushing about and behaving
badly for the assembled cameras. They all know how extras have to behave
in this situation so they're playing up for our benefit. The troops seem
confused, not quite what they expected, not sure what to do about people
running past with three piece suites on their shoulders. A systematic cleaning
out of everything owned by the state [wouldn't we all like the opportunity!]
even the plumbing and fitments are going along with office chairs, beds,
filing cabinets and even windows. The press are, of course, horrified and,
being middle class and privileged, are shocked at widescale pilfering by
people with nothing, one of their worst fears, and a bad example. The officers
are more sanguine about it, seeming to think it's OK because they've been
repressed and the regime has wallowed in opulence while they went without.
The British army is more sympathetic and tolerant than the British media.
But that's not the full story. All of that happened in a small part of Baghdad,
in the Shia area so expected, and it was all young males aged between ten
and thirty. Elsewhere, bombed streets were deserted or running with the
footsteps of urban warriors with guns, and those suffering in the hospitals
continued not to smile for the cameras. The triumphalism of the war party
is a tad disingenuous, the end result a foregone conclusion given the overwhelming
military superiority, and the determination to use it despite civilian deaths.
Meanwhile the cry of 'get Saddam' has gone up and everyone is rushing around
looking for him in the most unlikely places - a mosque? There's a network
of tunnels and bunkers under Baghdad and if he gets in there will they ever
find him? He could end up as a mythical figure, forever being spotted but
never captured like the 'black beasts' that have proliferated across the
British countryside. Saddam could end up a wizened, white moustached figure
seen scurrying away when approached. Expeditions would be mounted like the
ones to find the Loch Ness monster.
Or is it all a bluff and they really atomised him in the restaurant so no
one would ever be able to ask him the details of what the US and UK supplied
him with. I think he would be an embarrassment to both states if he was
captured alive, it would make marvelous theatre. I'd like to say a big Hi
to my American readers and reassure you that I love Americans and hate what
the bozo, redneck, hard right, gene-challenged militarists do in your name,
and with your taxes. There are amazing people in America and much new thinking
goes on there, but the dinosaurs still rage. Keep on thinking free, the
future of all of us depends on you winning.
Wednesday 9 April 2003 - craven images and icons
Statues
are being tumbled and smashed as if destroying lumps of concrete can change
anything. Almost a pre-civilisation, tribal ritual feel to it except for
the tanks doing the smashing, symbols and high drama. The market in souvenirs
is buoyant. Groups of men who don't look exactly poverty stricken seem to
be embarked on organised looting on a grand scale, businesses being formed
for the future, stock being got in. A wholesale relocation of furniture
is taking place, someone had all the baths and fridges and now they're going
to new owners.
The dogs, and I'm relieved to find there are still dogs, all howl together
across Baghdad fifteen minutes before the planes arrive to drop their bombs.
And we think we're superior. In a year's time will the men in charge be
any better? Will the American still be there? Will the military governor
still be toting a gun in a holster on his hip? 'I believe I'm John Wayne,
get on your horse.' He's even called Chuck! In childhood games I was always
an Indian and hated the cavalry as only an Indian could. And I didn't know
then about the smallpox infected blankets given to them in a precursor to
biological warfare, or of the herds of buffalo they wiped out to starve
them. Oh, these people have a long history of this and it's not pretty.
Tuesday 8 April 2003- don't shoot the messenger, shoot the press
Now
the journalists get it. Several have been targeted, especially Al Jazeera
and now several killed. Claims that someone was firing from the Palestinian
Hotel have been shown to be false and therefore no justification even in
the hard eyes of the military. This was a blatant attack on the press by
a tank firing into the middle of a hotel known to be occupied by the press,
who have been remarkably uncritical in the most part, but who have clearly
upset the megalos by not trotting along quietly and lamely to be 'embedded'
with military minders. The Pentagon spokescreature made it quite clear font
'war is a dangerous place, they shouldn't be there'. The UK's pathetic politicians
refuse to allow any criticism of their big friend as they wait for it to
go away. But murder is murder and people won't let it drift into fog and
forgetting quite that easily.
I can't get the face of Ali, the little lad who lost all his family and
both his hands courtesy of the land of the free, out f my mind, the pain
from his appalling injuries joining with the emotional pain. Anyone who
supports this butchery should watch that film a few times and, if they aren't
overwhelmed with pity and sadness should be taken out and shot for being
a waste of protein.
Monday 7 April 2003 - bad vibes
I think
it's down to bad vibes bouncing off people and proliferating in a built-up
area. If they could all just take a deep breath and think about what they're
doing. All those involved from the generals to the medics feel part of a
whole, and the whole determines their action and reaction, so they go along
with it and add to the whole, which is bad vibes. And bad vibes beget bad
vibes and killing begets killing. Just as in Israel. If only they could
all tune into the same radio station and it was playing nonstop Bach, we
might be in with a chance. Everyone needs to chill out and regain their
humanity and sense of beauty. And stop eating red meat.
It is, however, hotting up, so no Bach available then. Seems journalists
are being targeted now - no right to be there giving the reception-end view
to the world, should have pulled out with all the American news teams and
returned with the conquerors with sanitised newscasts. Neat and tidy.
I'm surprised it takes four bunker busting super bombs to hit a restaurant
which may have had Saddam in. Do Baghdad restaurants have bunkers? Otherwise
how would they know it was him, there can't be very much left of anything
after that. Like, atomize all the evidence then do a search. Is there a
secret reason why the US administration don't want to find any evidence?
Curiouser and curiouser.
Reading about antiwar sites being attacked by hackers and defaced or worse.
Can't these people take criticism? Michael Moore comes in for some of course,
but it's mostly incoherent redneck stuff. I guess the Pentagon's and related
pro-war sites are so heavily defended that a hackers system would implode
as soon as [s]he got on. They're coming up with all kinds of crazy weapons,
some electronic, some just nasty. Starship Troopers wasn't prescient though,
Heinlein was a right wing nut so probably a must read for the think tanks.
Sunday 6 April 2003 - running around like headless chicken
The
media seem to have lost it. It's perhaps understandable for those 'embedded'
journalists to have absorbed military through their skins, living, eating
and breathing with the soldiers, but there's no excuse for those in the
studio who should be bringing a calm, analytical view. Instead, they seem
worse, ignoring any expressed views and going off on their own fantasy.
The latest is the '200 body remains in a warehouse' case. Despite the military
officer in charge stating that they were old, could not be associated with
any recent conflict and he could not speculate where they were from, the
TV news studios, starting with Sky and followed closely by the BBC, had
no such inhibitions and decided that it was a horror discovery ... signs
of executions, chilling remains blah blah blah. Then the Sunday papers,
ever the rabid sensation mongers, chimed in with claims that this justified
the war, which of course is the reason all were so keen to leap to the worst
conclusion seeing that no justification has yet been found.
It was obvious to anyone with a brain that the remains were carefully catalogued
and kept, new coffins had been lined up to receive them, and, being very
old were likely to be from a previous conflict and either newly discovered
and disinterred, or returned by a third party. As Iraq had a war with Iran,
it was likely this was the origin of the remains. Iraqis at the site said
they had been recently returned by Iran, duh? The remains were wrapped in
bits of military uniform, and books catalogued the identities along with
pictures - albeit gruesome ones but death is rarely pleasant.
Considering the lengths the UK and US go to return the remains of citizens
killed abroad, I would have thought it more natural to assume that Iraqis
feel the same way. But an insidious effect of this war is the racism and
demonising of the Iraqi people, so that the assumption of normal human emotions
and habits is no longer extended to them. Claims that 'blood' at the scene
links with the remains is of course nonsense, there's no way blood would
still be in evidence given the obvious age of the bones. Talk about headless
chicken, and we rely on these half-wits for our news.
Saturday 5 April 2003 - they seek him here ...
I saw
a field gun burning and I wondered what there was to burn on a field gun.
It didn't look like something on the outside burning off like fuel, it seemed
as if the mass of the thing was burning fiercely as if made of wood. How
much of the Iraqi equipment is made of wood? It would help the clear up
of course, but I think the scrap metal business is going to be healthy for
some time, but possibly dangerous considering the depleted uranium which
has been spread everywhere. Maybe the Americans won't want to hang around
too long. The welcome that some citizens in the streets are giving could
turn sour once the leukemia rates rise.
The journalists have had a good war and will have tales to tell for many
years. It won't have done their careers any harm either. And another generation
gets blooded into the killing game. We've had a graphic illustration of
the inequality of a battle between tanks and cars. As with every other aspect
of this war it's been a David and Goliath scenario, a weak country pulverised
by a duo of might. And no WMDs found, the justification for the whole thing.
They're cutting up Kalashnikovs with a mobile circular saw, which seems
a long winded way of going about it.
Surely a mobile smelter could have been arranged with fresh steel for the
rebuilding job that lies ahead, something creative. The walkabout Saddam
was a double I've decided. Too chubby cheeked, too much of a smile. Compared
to the bunker Saddam we saw two weeks ago who looked drawn and shaken, this
one was on an outing he hoped he survived and glad there were so many civilians
clustered around him. Would anyone in their right mind take that risk if
he had a double he could order to do it, he may be mad but he's clearly
not stupid. The real Saddam may already be out of the country, or deep in
a bunker, or somewhere in the countryside. I can't see a Saddam criminal
trial at the Hague.
Friday 4 April 2003 - Geronimo!
An entertaining
press conference from the Iraqi information minister, in clean, pressed
uniform [so they must have their laundry sorted] and exuding confidence
and a cloaked menace. He was so confident and expansive that one was led
to believe either that they had a surprise up their sleeve for the US troops
at the airport, or he was on drugs, probably cocaine. I imagined thousands
of Iraqis hidden in the sand [just like Geronimo in that old movie with
Jeff Chandler in the lead, a white man] and in the dead of night they emerge
to take their revenge. Or maybe it's an Iraqi version of psy-ops; bad smells
will drift over the troops as they sit, bug-eyed, strung out and jumpy waiting
for the 'unconventional attack', donning gas suits at the slightest whiff
'can't breathe man!'.
Last night we were entertained by the vanishing American airport task-force
which, it was announced, had taken the airport. Reporters rushed t the airport
and found nothing. No sign of a tank, no explosions anywhere near, no sounds
of fighting, peaceful and quiet, the road to the airport almost deserted.
Even a few travelers in the terminal with their hand luggage looking for
a taxi, but too quiet. One reporter was visibly confused, having had the
news that the airport had been taken and rushing to report on the action.
It then turned out that they were 'close to the outskirts' of the airport.
With the limited water they can carry, the first thing they did on getting
control of the airport was to have a wash.
There have been a few times when it seemed the two sides were fighting a
different war from the varying accounts. Interview with the doctor who treated
private Lynch, he seemed to have become quite fond of her and referred to
her as Jessica, and to the fact that she had wanted the war to end and for
her to go home to her parents.
Then the seals had to 'rescue' her from the hospital in a 'daring nighttime
raid' and all of a sudden she's a hero who fought bravely against being
captured until all her ammunition was spent. Reporters started asking if
she had been tortured or had witnessed executions but, careful not to be
put in a situation of confirming something that was later revealed as spin,
the general refused to discuss it. It all seemed miles away from the mild
mannered doctor, and the obvious medical attention she had received. All
that fuss just to transfer a patient to a different hospital. But if you've
got seals you just have to use 'em.
And now Saddam appears in the streets surrounded by a growing crowd of adoring
fans. But is it the real Saddam or a fake Saddam. Is the real Saddam really
a fake Saddam? Will they ever know if they've caught him, or will he join
Binny in the mountains of Pakistan? All the US media networks withdrew the
day before it started, so what kind of picture is being fed the great American
public? Of course, this is the first 24-hour media war ever and there's
bound to be some conflicting stories, but this is pretty basic stuff no
one can get wrong. The fog of disinformation makes it an interesting event
on several levels. If you ignore the severed limbs, crushed bodies, hands
blown off and body parts scattered. If you can shut all that out and not
feel for the Iraqi people having to suffer their country being chosen for
the mega world war games, then I guess ...
Thursday 3 April - 2003 - 'don't take a weather man to tell which way the wind blows'
"This
will be no war-there will be a fairly brief and ruthless military intervention.
The president will give an order. It will be rapid, accurate and dazzling
... It will be greeted by the majority of the Iraqi people as an emancipation.
And I say, bring it on." Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair, JAN 28,
On January 28 I knew it was going to be long drawn out, messy and would
reverberate for decades and the political repercussions for the UK and US
would be enormous. I just wish Vanity Fair would employ me instead.
The killing of the seven women and children in a van was clearly an American
tit-for-tat episode. Historically Americans have always indulged in this,
from way back when there was an Indian attack where the cavalry suffered
losses, they would destroy a handy Indian village and murder all its inhabitants,
mostly old people, women and children. Four Americans had been killed by
a suicide bomber and they were gonna kill 'em some in exchange. Bad luck
there was a reporter within hearing distance and revealed all. Will we hear
of the US dealing with this???
The boycotts are gathering apace and appear to be part of a worldwide movement.
One Web site, [http://www.consumers-against-war.de"> calls for boycotts
of 27 top American firms from Microsoft to Kodak while another, [http://www.adbusters.org"]
urges the "millions of people against the war" to "Boycott
Brand America."
Wednesday 2 April - closing in or closing down
It continues,
the barbaric onslaught right in the cities, trashing even the road surface
as the tanks roll around. I wonder when the molotov cocktails will appear.
It's not over yet. Talk radio is a wonderfully incontinent medium. People
shoot their mouths off, claiming the most outrageous things and displaying
such aberated attitudes. People all over the country must be shouting at
their radios and [TVs] as those 'in charge' fail to contradict. Two UK soldiers
who had returned home because they questioned the legality of killing civilians
have apparently disappeared without a trace. Their existence denied by their
commanding officer. I smell a cover-up, no way do they want that subject
to surface even in a court marshall.
If only commentators could understand that it's about oil, they wouldn't
waste their time talking about things like 'profits from oil for Iraqis'
and Iraqis should run the country' after liberation. This war is seriously
blocking web traffic. At certain times of day - around 4pm onwards - it's
almost impossible to get online. Engaged tones on ISPs means only one thing.
By continually dialing you're bound to slip through at some point, but it
can take up to 30 minutes. Oh for broadband. This is about as bad as it
was for Belgrade-based websites at the height of their bombing. And I still
can't get any Arabic language sites, or is that just me?
Tuesday 1 April 2003 - fool's day
Major
computer system melt down [the April 1st bug?], that's the last time I ever
get involved with Windows cleanup utilities. Had to reinstall everything
and it's taken all day. The war marches on and nothing surprises really,
perhaps every generation has to have a war, maybe it's an integral part
of our DNA.
I wonder who's doing the laundry in this war. All those smart new uniforms
must be pretty stained and smelly by now, we don't hear about the laundry
run though. Of course they have to look disheveled or people would suspect
they'd been skiving, but what about all the underwear changes? I worry about
these things.
Saw a dog trying to do his job and defend his home, but he was only small
and the thugs were big and didn't give him a thought as they smashed through
his door. Hope they didn't shoot him out of hand after the camera moved
on just for being a nuisance, or for need of something to kill. Iraq is
looking distinctly trashed, buildings turned to rubble, streets strewn with
bricks, dust and grime, air of desolation, the colour draining from life
itself along with the monochrome armies of aliens to whom you are only allowed
to be subservient or they put a bag over your head.