(Cross posted at The Right Lies)

There's a lot of talk right now about the left pulling publicity stunts to draw attention to their criticisms of the Iraq War. Cindy Sheehan has become the poster-child for this. But what annoys me is when the Ann Coulters and Rush Limbaughs mock Cindy Sheehan, and then pretend they've countered the entire left's argument against the Iraq war: as if some of us weren't calmly addressing these issues well before the war. Below is something I posted to the internet before the Invasion of Iraq even began, typos and all:

Updated: There's some interesting discussion below about how McCain's amendment is actually all but useless, I don't know enough about it to comment on.

I just love reading Andrew Sullilvan swoon over Republicans like John McCain:

THE EVIL EMPIRE: Now, Cheney and Rumsfeld have to dismiss Vladimir Bukovsky on the central matter of what torture does to a country. Thank God for McCain.

According to today's Sun-Times article Senator Ted Stevens (AK) had this to say on the Senate floor:

Tossing a glance across the aisle at Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who had denounced the drilling measure, Stevens grumbled, ''I asked for his apology once; I wouldn't accept it now.''

Well you're not going to get one.  No one cares about your ANWR drilling except your 600,000 constituents and your corporate-oil-overlords.  To attach this to a defense and Katrina-relief bill is an abuse of power than even Senators in your own party denounced and have today defeated.  Instead of repeating the same old bullshit energy proposals why don't you get a clue and start fighting for real energy independence so that your state doesn't melt away.

In the real world, these just people with ideas
They just like me and you when the smoke and camera disappear
Again the real world (world), it's bigger than all these fake ass records
When poor folks got the millions and my woman's disrespected
If you check 1,2, my word of advice to you is just relax.-Dead Prez


    We all know the frustration of going unnoticed.  Whether it's the time you cleaned your room without your mom even asking, the time you cooked their favorite meal before being dumped for "not trying," or that Daily Kos diary that perfectly explains why Judith Miller deserves jail or worse.  It sucks, but you know what, we've all been there.  And at the end of the day no matter how horrible Judith Millers reporting has been and whether or not it's responsible for the starting a war of choice: she has been to the war-zone, most of us have not; she has been to jail, most of us have not; and she has a special prosecutor breathing down her neck, most of us are relatively spoiled Americans.  So what have most of us done?

"There's no denying that more African Americans are joining the GOP -- a greater number voted for President Bush last year than in 2000, and it seems we're seeing more conservative African American political commentators on television and running for elected office as Republicans than in recent years."-RNC.org

"Possession of human language is associated with a specific type of mental organization, not simply a higher degree of intelligence."--Noam Chomsky

Exploring language is a way to explore human cognition, but it is not the only way to explore human cognition: enter the image.

We tend to ignore how humans react to images.  We don't have required classes in grade school that force us to interpret movies etc.  Although the study of images is not new, it is growing in importance with advances in technology.

"The soul never thinks without images"--Aristotle

And the growing interest in images is exemplified in the Matrix where "reality and images have become thoroughly mixed."

This is what I keep in mind when tagging:

1. Search Engines: I think everyone who's reading this knows how effective search engines work and the importance of correct key wording both by users and web-authors.

George W. Bush is not a fascist and there is no Bohemian Grove, and I am thankful he is my President and not Saddam Hussien: he is not really a bloodthirsty sociopath who craves personal power at the expense of the Iraqi people.  That being said, I would hope that the United States of America could do a little better than not electing a dictator.

Leadership is about setting priorities.  It is hoped that the President (and any elected representative) of the United States' priorities would reflect the priorities of the majority of the country.  Bill Clinton's priorities seem to be making sure everyone "likes" him, so much so he's willing to change his opinion on anything, anytime.  Gov. Rob Blagojevich cares more about banning video games he deems too violent than helping University of Illinois students pay for sky-rocketing tuition.  So what are Bush's priorities?

So you're the guy who gave money to Howard Dean even though you live off of student loans, can't help but scream profanity when a friend turns the TV to Fox "News," and could talk for hours about how invading Iraq was simply stupid. Every one who knows you avoids even mentioning the word 'Republican' because you'll start frothing at the mouth, and really who wants to hear you drone on about hypocrisy of preemptive wars again? So you learn to shut up, write DailyKos diaries no one reads, and bide your time to try again in 2008: but then she comes along.