Vindication never tasted so sour...

I should be doing homework, but it's been far, far too long since I wrote one of these and much awful shit has gone on in the world that I need to bitch about. Let's begin:

Fighting Bigotry, One Golden Statue at a Time: "Crash" shouldn't have won the Best Picture Oscar. It handles the complex issues of modern race relations with all the grace and prowess of an adolescent boy groping his first tit. "Brokeback Mountain" was the clear masterpiece this year, but "Capote," "Hustle and Flow" and "A History of Violence" (the latter two of which weren't even nominated) were also worthy of Best Picture honors. I would love to go on, but it's all been said already in some brilliantly-hilarious-yet-poignant articles here and here.

One If By Air, Kiss Your Ass Good-bye If By Sea: I'm sure you've heard that our administration has announced the sale of our major terminal port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia to Dubai Ports, a company controlled by United Arab Emirates. The United States raised concerns with the UAE seven years ago about possible ties between officials in that country and Osama bin Laden. Check it out here, then the next time King George tries to assure you that there is no threat or that he cares at all about national security (instead of power and American imperialism), tell him to shut the fuck up.

Straight Out Of a M*A*S*H Episode: Anyone who still believes the White House supports our troops should talk to U.S. Army 1st Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook. The Army told him that before he could receive his honorable discharge, he had to pay $632 to replace his body armor vest, which medics destroyed when he was wounded because it was soaked with his blood. Rebrook's friends helped raise the money, but now after a senator asked questions and the story's gotten national coverage on NPR and AOL News, the Army promises a refund. In other Iraqi news, while everyone was celebrating the Olympics and scrutinizing our redneck vice president's hunting accident, the situation in Iraq has been deteriorating into sectarian civil war. We also reached another important milestone: the majority of U.S. troops now support immediate withdrawal. Also, the numbers are actually beginning to come in (since the government won't keep them other independent groups had to step up) and they show that Iraqi civilian deaths are double the number of Iraqi law enforcement and military deaths. And despite disbursing $16 billion of U.S. taxpayer money in the Iraq reconstruction program, of the six Measures of infrastructure performance presented to a Senate committee hearing, only one -- hours of power available outside Baghdad -- has surpassed pre-invasion levels.

Roe v. Wade v. South Dakota: Now that Roberts and Alito are sitting snugly in their robes and high chairs on the high court, the evangelical neo-cons have fired the first shot across the bow of the 33-year-old court decision that legalized abortion. In always-forward-thinking South Dakota, a near-total ban on abortions has been signed into law by the governor, who himself admitted it was a deliberate, "direct frontal assault" on Roe v. Wade. It would make an exception to save the woman's life, but not for cases of rape or incest. Of course, Planned Parenthood plans to challenge it, but the conservatives in South Dakota don't care with Bush's buddies now on the court, they believe it is now more likely to overturn Roe than it ever has been before. This is the big one folks, the one people like me warned everybody about back in 2003 when we began campaigning against Bush's second term. Hate to say I told you so, America.

That's all I can think of to bitch about for now, I've put off my homework long enough. Eventually I plan to write about the sickening expansion of executive powers which I believe may be this administration's legacy (that, and, you know, that whole 9/11-war-on-terror-invasion-of-Iraq thing) and the press' total lack of responsibility or loyalty to anything except brainless jingoism in this post-9/11 world. So, look forward to that I guess.