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Thursday, September 18, 2003 What the hell?!?! President Bush said Wednesday there was no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — disputing an impression that critics say the administration tried to foster to justify the war against Iraq. "There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al-Qaida ties," the president said. But he also said, "We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th." While that's actually the first utterance of truth that's come out of the administration's mouth lately (although the Saddam/al-Qaida link remains completely baseless), it's still awfully strange. Where is this coming from all of a sudden? Cheney backlash? It's totally an about face from everything Bush and Co. have been saying for the past year. Or rather, alluding to. And maybe that's the key - Bush never actually said that Saddam was responsible for 9/11, but he sure as hell suggested it a lot. And I know it's a politician's job to play fast and loose with reality, but c'mon! You convinced the American people (or at least 70% of them) that Saddam was responsible for 9/11 as your justification to attack Iraq. You can't just erase all that with a simple admission of the truth. Update: Tom Tomorrow has the link to Bush's mistake - he did accuse Saddam of being involved in 9/11 . . . and to Congress no less. posted by chris at 12:56 AM   ------------------ Tuesday, September 16, 2003 Quote of the day The Justice Department, Mr. Ashcroft said, "has no interest in your reading habits. Tracking reading habits would betray our high regard for the First Amendment. And even if someone in government wanted to do so, it would represent an impossible workload and a waste of law enforcement resources." - Attorney General John Ashcroft (emphasis added) "A waste of law enforcement resoureces," John? Maybe you forgot about this little incident. posted by chris at 12:56 PM   Senate votes to repeal FCC decision The Senate approved a resolution Tuesday to repeal media ownership rules critics say could lead to a wave of mergers and ultimately stifle diversity and local viewpoints in news and entertainment. Defying a White House veto threat, the Senate voted 55-40 to undo changes to Federal Communications Commission regulations governing ownership of newspapers and television and radio stations. Those rules already have been placed on hold by a federal appeals court. Opponents have chosen an unusual legislative path to try to overturn the rules. To succeed, the resolution -- called a ``congressional veto'' -- needs majority approval in the Senate and House as well as President Bush's signature. If Bush vetoed the resolution, it would take a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate to override. More. posted by chris at 12:13 PM   Photography of life The Nature Conservancy has been conducting a project in rural China to preserve an area of land from future development. In order to better understand the relationship of the people to their land, they've distributed cameras to 275 people scattered throught a dozen villages. While the original intent was to create a sort of "visual database" of the villagers and their surroundings, the project has turned into something more. One of the more intriguing parts of the outcome is the stunning beauty of the photos they have collected. It's not surprising that rural people take good photos, but what is surprising, at least to Western eyes, are the simple natural depictions of rural Chinese life, unencumbered by the oppresive weight of foreign photographers. Many convey a feeling of intimacy rarely glimpsed in portraits of rural life in poor countries. They are shorn of the voyeuristic quality that sometimes infects such images. They look like what they are -- photos produced by people who are not outsiders, who did not impose the change on the subject that any traveler with a Nikon almost unavoidably does. As such, they amount to an antidote to the tendency of people in richer places to caricature rural villagers as simplistic and somehow deficient in their sight, as if they are too consumed with the labor of sustenance to properly appreciate the beauty around them. But the next passage, I think is the most interesting. It reminds me of many of the misconceptions I had when I lived in a small viliage in Ghana, West Africa, and illustrates that confusing intersection where tradition and modernity collide. Perhaps the most striking thing about the collection is how these images challenge the notion -- common in the West -- that upland villagers in remote places are not built to handle change and abhor it as an assault on their pure way of life. The glimpses of life in these photos reveal how even this corner of the world -- seemingly as far from the capital markets and advertising dens as one can get -- is nonetheless imbued with a palpable sense of upward mobility. Modernity is not the enemy so often portrayed by those intent on preserving village life and villagers themselves as if they were breathing display pieces. While the photographs revel in scenic beauty and tradition, they are not hung up on the conceptions of innocence that underlie every narrative about the next destroyed Shangri-La. In the village of Wenhai, a settlement of 800 beneath the often rain-obscured peak of Jade Dragon Mountain, the arrival of cameras last year produced an abundance of photos of the new drinking water system. One villager took a picture of a water buffalo pulling a cart set against yellow flowers. The viewer sees a pastoral scene; the villager is focused on the fact that the cart is full of bags of cement. "Now we know how to use cement and don't have to hire workers from the urban areas," he says. posted by chris at 10:33 AM   Lies and the Lying Liars that Lie about the Lies Vice-President Dick Cheney was on Meet the Press Sunday, spinning like a top and throwing out all manner of assorted half-truths and speculations and "I can't really say"s. For those of you who are looking for a little more truth and actual facts than the VP was spewing, The Nation and Democracy Now! both do an excellent job of breaking it all down. posted by chris at 10:22 AM   ------------------

    

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