Monday, October 09, 2006

A great leap forward for North Korea and a great day for Iraq


Happy Indigenous People’s Day (Berkeley only)!

North Korea is the first country which has fought a war with the US since the start of the nuclear age to acquire its own nukes. According to the official statement, this is “a great leap forward in the building of a great, prosperous, powerful socialist nation... a historic event that brought happiness to our military and people... The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent.”

Bush has handled this issue ineptly, alternating neglect and bluster, but I don’t know that ept handling would have made much of a difference. North Korea is not only paranoid, but everyone really is out to get them. Bush had to issue a response before thorough confirmation of the NK claim could be made, so he said that whether or not they have a nuke, “such a claim itself constitutes a threat to international peace and security.” Now, George, are these possibly fake nukes as much of a threat as the completely fake Iraqi nukes were? “Threats will not lead to a brighter future for the North Korean people,” he threatened.

Bush also issued a statement saying that the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovoskaya is a bad thing. He says that Politkovoskaya’s work “challenged her fellow Russians - and, indeed, all of us - to summon the courage and will, as individuals and societies, to struggle against evil and rectify injustices.” So how does Bush summon that courage and will? “We urge the Russian Government to conduct a vigorous and thorough investigation to bring to justice those responsible for her murder.” Yup, that should do it.

The Iraqi police are replacing their old uniforms with spiffy new ones – with camouflage! – which they claim cannot possibly be counterfeited by death squads. Sez Gen. Joseph Peterson (not an Iraqi) of what the BBC calls a rebranding, “This is a great day for Iraq.” They thought about dressing like London bobbies, but went another direction:


Speaking of camouflage, the LAT has an article about South Dakota’s referendum on abortion. Anti-abortionists have adopted a softer, pseudo-feminist approach with the slogan “Abortion Hurts Women.” So women are to be protected from themselves.


The campaign features women who have had abortions and now regret it. According to the one of those women, speaking in a radio ad, “we weren’t designed to abort our babies.” And here’s a slogan that warms the heart: “I love my baby who was conceived by rape.” The LAT focuses on Leslee Unruh, head of the campaign, without bothering to do any background research, such as this, on her.

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