Boo Hoo

I don't mean to sound overly callous, but the MSM is a buzz with Anna Nichol Smith keeling over. For fuck sake, like she did anything important? In direct contrast, how much attention is paid to the latest GI fatalities?

Four U.S. Marines were killed in combat in two separate attacks in western Anbar province, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

Wednesday's deaths took to at least 11 the number of U.S. servicemen killed in
Iraq in the last two days.

All seven crew members and passengers aboard a U.S. Marine transport helicopter were killed on Wednesday after their aircraft crashed in Anbar province. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

The vast desert province of Anbar west of Baghdad is a stronghold of the Sunni Arab insurgency, and the deadliest place for U.S. troops in Iraq.

Is this media blitzkrieg-style attention paid to celebrity over people that have been placed needlessly in harms way by the W, Rove and Co. symptomatic of all that is wrong with America? Methinks, yes.

Lest We Get Sidetracked By Sports

I found three interesting bits in the MSM today to remind us not to succumb to the antiseptic theatre that is the Super Bowl. Have a gander:

A dump truck hauling a ton of explosives hidden beneath boxes of food exploded in the center of a crowded Baghdad market Saturday, killing at least 130 people and injuring more than 300 in one of the deadliest blasts since the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The attack, carried out by a suicide bomber, was designed to inflict a massive physical as well as psychological toll on a population haunted by a string of devastating strikes on other markets, including one Thursday that killed 73 people in the southern city of Hillah, and another in Baghdad last month that killed more than 80.

What do our deferred tax dollars borrowed from China get us in Iraq? More corrupt contractors:

Without a public debate or formal policy decision, contractors have become a virtual fourth branch of government. On the rise for decades, spending on federal contracts has soared during the Bush administration, to about $400 billion last year from $207 billion in 2000, fueled by the war in Iraq, domestic security and Hurricane Katrina, but also by a philosophy that encourages outsourcing almost everything government does.

:Lastly, there's a snazzy Vietnam style graphic to remind us that things aren't going swimmingly in Iraq.

Super Bowl Sunday: Anesthesia For The Masses or Antidote For What Ails America?

I'm felling a little bit like Charlie Brown in the Halloween episode. You remember the one. Every one gets fantastic treats and when it comes down to answering the question, "What'd you get Charlie Brown," he answers, "I got a rock."

When given the Super Bowl Sunday slot for a BIO Feature post, I felt like I had another rock dropped in my bag. Really, aside from the sports blogaholics, how many people will be turning on their computers Sunday to surf political blogs as they tune in to the Annual event that draws more viewers than people who vote in presidential primaries?

Meanwhile, as the president trumpets all the "good" news he can spin, he proves once again, that he is not open to real and true negotiation:

Another important tool for eliminating wasteful spending is the line-item veto.

Sure, right. For a man who only issued one veto in his entire career as president and still couldn't get anything positive done, and manages our government like he managed his baseball team, he's asking for this like there is going to only be republican presidents for the foreseeable future?

Of course, the President is full of the usual W, Rove and Co suggestions. Watch out middle class, you're an endangered species:

Controlling spending also requires us to address the unsustainable growth of entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Excuse me, but didn't W sign the legislation to substantially increase costs of Medicare and Medicaid by means of a drug benefit? In hind sight, might we not have spent the money on Iraq instead of cutting programs that the American people already pay into?

Seriously, can you trust the man who perpetrated the largest bait and switch (WMD in Iraq) in political history on the American people? Let's have one last look:

I look forward to working with Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to address these challenges. Together, we can pass a budget that keeps our economy strong, keeps America safe, and makes deficit spending a thing of the past.

Really, I don't buy it. When you ask for the line item veto, it doesn't suggest that you are willing to work with people on either side of the aisle to fix what ails America. It says exactly what W has said over and over again in the face of great questioning regarding his "surge." "I'm still the decider:" fuck you, America.

But I got off on a rant. I'm really here to pose a question for today's feature. That is, as we face global warming, things worsening in Iraq that lead to more GIs KIA who won't be watching the Super Bowl with us, we have to ask ourselves a very serious question. Let's call this...drum roll please...

Windspike's Super Bowl Super Query

• Is the Super Bowl anesthesia for the masses or an antidote for what ails America?

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