Well, yes. Actually, the staff here at realitique™ headquarters beneath Sav-A-Center in our concrete, electromagnetically shielded bunker is busily working on the script and hitting up friends and connections for roles and general aid. When we get a short clip produced, don't worry, we'll be begging for change, so save up those nickels and dimes boys and girls. And if you can act, have piles of disposable cash or loose morals and a willingness to deceive or steal, know anything about film, have access to equipment or famous filmmakers, journalists, politicians or actors, or just like traveling with me and doing grunt work or making coffee and sandwiches, let me know. My bet is, after Nov. 7, you'll be so used to giving away your money that you'll come begging to me to take yours, which I will gladly do. This is a nearly zero-budget Indie flick, with the first round of financing provided by yours truly. Fortunately, it's a mockumentary, so aside from hotels, food and plane fare, it's close to free (well, once I finish buying the equipment). Working Title: Tim Osman Wants to Kill Your Children. In case you're concerned, it's a political satire based on the government's propensity to invent enemies as excuses for war. I know, sounds hilarious, but the god is in the details, o my brothers....

posted by Rob at 5:29 PM |   

I don't know about you, but when the snows fall in October, I get all misty eyed about military adventure. Maybe it's the football. But it feels like it's time to get our asses back in the slaughterhouse and get to killing some Islamonazishariafascists, and what better target this season than Iran? Seems the Administration is thinking the same thing. Please join me in a prayer to Mars, beseeching Him to provide a Holy Pretext in the Persian Gulf, where we've amassed much naval hardware and are embarking on war games off the Iranian coast. Brothers and sisters of the Church of Bloodletting, there is salvation in killing. Shave your heads and harden your hearts, for the apocalypse draweth nigh!

posted by Rob at 4:20 AM |   

Ooo. Mmm. Ahhh. Great sounds in the proper context. Unfortunately, the context is consternation, not copulation. Watch the striking similarities between the "arguments" of the Nixon White House (or Bush's precursor) and those of Joe "Bush" Lieberman on the Vietraq War.

I understand that it's "hard" to "pull out" and "end" the war. But as Bill Maher said last week, we wanted to "penetrate Iraq and bring it to a glorious, euphoric climax," but three years later, we "keep pounding away until the whole area has become inflamed. Under the circumstances, the kindest thing you can do is just...pull out."*

*If you find the quote and I got some of the words wrong, let me know. And if you want to know how to make fine print like this, just ask. I use the font-size property of the span tag.

posted by Rob at 3:15 PM |   

JibJab got John Landis to direct six short comedy sketches. Vote for your favorites. While they're all good, "So You Want to Be a Cop" and "Small World" are the best. The latter is hilarious.

posted by Rob at 11:31 PM |   

Since returning home a year ago, I've photographed all the devastated areas of the city. While I was doing so--and it took its toll on me emotionally--I kept wishing I had a good video camera, because it was impossible to capture the extent of the devastation with still photographs. It's one thing to see a ruined house sitting atop a car, the detritus of its owners' private lives spilling onto the pavement, but you cannot understand the palpable presence of destruction unless you've been in a war-torn city, witnessed a tornado destroy a town or simply drive through the post-apocalyptic metropolis and see it. Thank god somebody did exactly that: The Drive is literally a tour (what we call the "devastation tour") of the city as it was the first few months after the storm. I've written before that Lakeview and the Lower Ninth Ward look like post-atomic Hiroshima but without the burn victims. That description is absolutely correct, as any viewing of Japanese film reels will show. Watch The Drive here.

posted by Rob at 9:01 PM |   

Not the Gee Oh Pee.

posted by Rob at 7:48 PM |   

First four minutes of the movie here. (Via Raw Story via Huffington.) Got your tickets yet?

posted by Rob at 11:14 AM |   

Recently, George Michael openly smoked a joint during a TV interview and confessed, "Christ, if I drank as much as I smoke, I'd look like Keith Richards."

posted by Rob at 10:23 AM |   

Um, uh...this is.... Know what? Just watch.

posted by Rob at 4:14 PM |   

Sometimes things are simpler than they might appear - and they involve envelopes of cash.

–Daniel Ellsberg

For those who know a good bit about the blockbuster dirty secrets of Bush, Reagan and Iran-Contra, connections between drug-smuggling, arms dealing/smuggling and various Western intelligence services will come as no surprise. But then there's Sibel Edmonds, who can (apparently) link widespread congressional bribery by foreign interests like Turkey to: Dennis Hastert, the Perlowitz Neocon Allstars, Afghan heroin, the European heroin market, Al Qaeda, Brewster Jennings (Valerie Plame's cover), Israel, AQ Kahn's bomb and other arms trading. This is The Big One that the FBI had gone quite a ways investigating (including documents and wiretaps) and was handing over to DoJ when Johnny "Spank Me, I Love Authori-tie" Ashcroft quashed it. These interviews with Larisa Alexandrovna and Daniel Ellsberg make it pretty clear that this story is one of the biggest out there in an era where you can throw a rock and hit a ginormous story--so, you know, don't expect to read it in the New York Times.

NOTE: If you haven't heard of "The Octopus," google it and read the Spy magazine article from several years ago. Whenever I hear about international organized crime (which Sibel Edmonds explicitly mentions) connected with the Military Industrial Complex and Western intelligence services, I think of it. The most disturbing thing is perhaps the extent to which such criminal enterprise drives foreign policy and influences government. For a taste, read Robert Parry's many articles on Bush, drug smuggling, the October Surprise and other tasty treats. (Scroll down and follow the links on the left-hand sidebar.)

posted by Rob at 1:04 PM |   

The Boy King claims his Administration was never "stay the course." Next: Bush reveals that he never claimed Iraq had WMD or that Osama was connected to 9/11. (Via Atrios.)

posted by Rob at 9:34 PM |   

There's been lots of buzz recently about both an impending "October Surprise" and war with Iran. There's good reason to conclude the two are one and the same. But with the recent outbreak of what radio goddess Stephanie Miller calls "mastergate" or "La Cage aux Foley," the predictable pre-election fear-mongering has been thrown out of whack. I don't know if war with Iran was the planned October Surprise, but despite mounting evidence that such a war is in the offing, it's looking increasingly unlikely that it will begin before the elections of November 7. Why? Lack of pretext. While the neocon message machine was churning out regular calls for such a war, post-Foley we've heard barely a peep. And now there's the most recent episode in Those Wacky North Koreans (sweeps week edition). Given that there's all of 2 and a half weeks till the election, it's hard to believe the Administration can generate sufficient interest in Iran to mount an attack. Former Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter, who's pretty much always right about everything long before anyone else suspects anything is going on, claims that we'll start bombing the bejesus out of Iran by March. I wouldn't doubt him--ever. In any case, barring a small-scale false-flag terrorist attack in the U.S.--not bloody likely considering the lack of warning (fear mongering) and the outstanding claim that Bush™ has "kept us safe" since 9/11--it's hard to believe we'll be bombing anybody for at least a month.

But if you want an excellent overview of what we're up to in the Middle East and Central Asia, including all the military exercises Iran, Russia, China and their neighbors have conducted recently, and the massive naval military buildup by us, NATO and other allies, read this. For a detailed list of all the hardware we're positioning in and around the Persian Gulf, follow the Chossudovsky link near the beginning of the article. Considering that the Enterprise Strike Group (I may have the name wrong) is 1) getting near in the Persian Gulf, 2) is one of our most valuable naval assets but is especially susceptible to Iranian missle attack for which we have no adequate defense, and 3) was ordered out of dry dock prematurely, it's hard to believe that its hurried positioning off the coast of Iran is just a bluff. Ergo....

posted by Rob at 5:53 PM |   

Well, volk, it's legal now (don't say we didn't warn you). Kiss your Bill of Rights goodbye.

UPDATE (Not Exactly): From CBS and ABC morning news to NPR, I have heard nothing but whitewash from every Mainstream News Media outlet today. If you've heard something substantive, please, let me know. E&P sums up what most of the "news" sounded like. As pathetic as NPR's coverage was, at least they let Don Gonyea put criticism of the new tyrranical legislution in stark terms.

UPDATE: More Olbermann on today's tragedy.

UPDATE (Sort of): Meant to post this earlier Olbermann Habeas Corpus dirge, which is quite funny, but couldn't find it at the time.

posted by Rob at 10:35 PM |   

In an interview with former Attorney General John "Cromwell" Ashcroft to be published tomorrow, the golden-throated crooner had this to say:

Defending the president's policy on torture, he says, "I think there is a very sound argument for saying that those who violate the Geneva Conventions should not benefit from its provisions." When Solomon reminds him that that the U.S. stands for rights for all, he answers, "Well, we have guaranteed many rights to the prisoners."

Speaking of which: Ashcroft reveals that his artistic leanings go beyond music. He also makes "barbed-wire sculpture," he says (you can't make this stuff up).

[...]

Elsewhere, Ashcroft, a leading evangelical, admits he is a sinner, explaining, "I'm unkind on occasion, and I am selfish." He's an active Christian "because I am not good, because I need help."

(Emphasis mine.)

Nuff said. (Via Raw Story.)

posted by Rob at 11:36 AM |   

Cut finger; can barely type.

posted by Rob at 3:40 PM |   

I know, I know, the following list was written by some dumbass academic and scholar (obviously an Osama-loving pinko librul) but I was just rereading the fourteen points of fascism, and I have to say that, yes, we're there. Not in the jack-booted-thugs-in-the-street sense, but very much in the social, legal and political sense. I'm not sure that any American government these days would risk pissing citizens off with jack-booted thugs, but I'm not so sure it matters anymore.

As so many have already done (including myself), it's time to recognize that America is dead.

posted by Rob at 5:28 PM |   

I'm behind on a lot of things, so maybe some of you won't be surprised, but just now I found a pamphlet in the road for...(come on, guess)...William "Frozen Cash" Jefferson for Congress. His website is pretty sparse, like his ethics, but Jeeeeeeezus. Why is he bothering? Next: Mark Foley runs for governor of Florida. Stay tuned.

posted by Rob at 5:00 PM |   

John Dickerson of Slate often rubs me the wrong way--kinda like Mark Foley did to more than a few pages. But in his latest piece, he shows uncommon wisdom and insight. I hope he (ahem) keeps it up. After criticizing Bush™ for using the "dumb" phrase "cut and run," Dickerson (okay, yes, his name is a bonus for the story) speculates that

...perhaps Bush was just trying to be heard this week. Mark Foley's heavy breathing by BlackBerry consumed a lot of news cycles. Maybe Bush should have talked about Iraq by IM to get heard.

(Emphasis mine.)

Heh. Indeed.

posted by Rob at 4:18 PM |   

New Orlean's annual Art for Art's Sake is tomorrow night, in which many New Orleanians stroll around Magazine and Julia streets, looking at art and drinking wine and snacking on not nearly enough food. Well, this year, John Waters (of Pink Flamingoes fame) has an art exhibit at the Arthur Roger gallery, starting at six PM. Needless to say, I'll be there.

posted by Rob at 4:57 PM |   

Think pagegate has already broken wide open? Apparently, far from it. According to former NSA official Wayne Madsen (today's Madsen day, I guess):

A well-placed source has told WMR that the Pagegate scandal will soon involve underage male and female teens who have not served as congressional pages, but who have reported abuse by well-known GOP players in the nation's capital. The source says the Psychiatric Institute of Washington's "Center Unit" has dealt with a number of child abuse cases involving senior Republican office holders in the Washington, DC area. Now that GOP abuse of minors is finally receiving media attention as a result of Pagegate, it is a matter of time before the abused males and females report the details of their own abuse cases.

Even if that proves false, Brian Ross reports that three more teens are accusing Foley:

Three more former congressional pages have come forward to reveal what they call "sexual approaches" over the Internet from former Congressman Mark Foley.

The pages served in the classes of 1998, 2000 and 2002. They independently approached ABC News after the Foley resignation through the Brian Ross & the Investigative Team's tip line on ABCNews.com. None wanted their names used because of the sensitive nature of the communications.

If both reports prove true, the GOP isn't just toast, it's burnt toast.

Kinda reminds you of Bush Sr.'s Boys Town, Credit Union sex scandal starring sicko Larry Franklin, don't it? Haven't heard of it? Not surprising. It got killed by most "respectable" news outlets. (Raw Story's Larisa Alexandrovna told me about it in a really, really long phone call in 2005.)

UPDATE: Now Congresscritter Ferguson gets caught at a Washington college bar.

UPDATE: Kevin Drum's heard rumors that two more politicos are about to get swept up in this unholy mess. (Via Democratic Underground.)

posted by Rob at 8:48 PM |   

While I'm on a Wayne Madsen kick, I thought I should finally mention his stunning revelation of what may be the reason for the obviously calculated and widespread theft of laptops and data from government agencies, telecom companies, universities and other entities. The operation is so widespread that even organized crime couldn't tackle it (unless, like me, you think the entire GOP is the very definition of organized crime). That pretty much leaves government intelligence and security services. Why steal laptops? Information, esp. private information very valuable to the NSA domestic spying operation, much of which likely has more to do with controlling the vote than anything related to terrorism. Read Madsen's chart here.

NOTE: One thing that's never made sense to me about all the previous data theft stories is how it's even possible. How do you steal 19,000 laptops? Don't people take them home? What gives? And why am I (seemingly) the only person to wonder why the MSM seemed uninterested in investigating such a huge number of thefts occurring in just a few months?

posted by Rob at 4:11 PM |   

I can't say whether the increasingly likely war on Iran, the next phase of the long war, is going to happen or whether it's Rove's promised October Surprise, but right now I'm betting they're one and the same. Here are the two best articles written on the situation--articles unavailable in the MSM, which with the exception of Sy Hersh and a few others, can't find its ass with both hands.

The first article is Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya's thoroughly researched "The March to War: Naval build-up in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean." The second is Wayne Madsen's special report of September 17-18 (scroll all the way down), which is stunning in its detail and connects the CIA, Bob Ney, Iran, Valerie Plame, Armitage and a bunch of arms smuggling and dirty dealing. I hate to say it, but these two articles make Hersh and Woodward look neophytes.

UPDATE: More reason to think war with Iran is a few short blocks away. But here's the clincher: The plan was requested in the event of another 9/11 attack. Put that together with the indications that the war will occur in October (or possibly a month later, post-election) and you'll understand why I'm a bit anxious. Add to it the Halliburton-constructed detention centers and the abrogation of Habeas Corpus, and you'll understand why leaving the country is an option everyone should consider. Moreover, in light of the outright, nationwide theft of the last two elections and you'll understand why the next five weeks are critical to the country.

posted by Rob at 3:45 PM |   

This guy is the central figure in 9/11. He makes Atta look peripheral.

posted by Rob at 7:51 PM |