Media Watch

There was an article in today's Courant about the trial of Saddam Hussein for a military operation that doubled as an ethnic cleansing of Kurds. The article discussed the operation in brief, talked about the courtroom, and such. What it did not mention in its history, or even hint at, was that the United States granted at least implicit approval of the operation, in which 80,000-150,000 Kurds were killed through bombardment, execution, and even chemical attacks. Iraq was a client of the United States in its war against Iran (from 1980-1988) until its invasion of Kuwait. The operation took place in late 1987, which puts it well within the borders of US support for Iraq. In fact, Donald Rumsfeld paid a visit to Saddam Hussein, representing the American government, after the operation. None of this is either mentioned or even alluded to in the article.

Secondly, the article uses a report from Human Rights Watch for the entire presentation on the event, and the information is treated as solid, undeniable evidence. This very well may be, and I do not question it. My point is, however, that when HRW puts out a report on, say, the Guantanamo prison camp or Iraqi civilian casualties in the Iraq War, or anything else involving the United States, the information is ignored by the press as being "unreliable." The media's double standard for information is what I take issue with.

One-Week(ish) Video Link

An interesting interview (8/14/06) with Noam Chomsky (in the off chance that one isn't familiar with him) on NECN that I missed yesterday (for the non-show) is luckily online. The discussion centers on the Middle East, and it's good to see another point of view than the blind American-Israel support that the media usually offers up.

Thanks to my parents for the tipoff ("Well, he certainly has an interesting point of view"). The link'll probably expire in a week or so. Scroll down to find it.

Jeremy Enigk [Not] In New Haven!

The concert was...cancelled. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

No explanation, just: "The Jeremy Enigk show tonight has been cancelled .\\We are sorry for any inconvienence this may have caused."

I've been waiting to see Enigk live since April-ish when I found out he was touring, and what I get instead is a two hour drive! I assume Enigk would have to be the one responsible, since there is no reason why Toad's would cancel a show. And I assume he has a good reason. Unfortunately, I will never hear this reason because he doesn't have a website.

Enigk Update

Two songs from Jeremy Enigk's new CD are on his website, and, I must say, wow. Both are great, but "Been Here Before" is absolutely tear-jerkingly beautiful. I'm not kidding, especially the second chorus. Add to this the two songs from the USAOL soundtrack, and this is going to be an amazing album. I'm off to Toad's tomorrow night -errr, tonight, that is- to see him live. Any luck, he'll play some more new stuff. And maybe "Asleep Under Last Week's News." I'd kill to hear that live.

Which is why I'm bringing my rifle to the show.

Ha ha ha just kidding don't call the cops/feds/illuminati.

Actually, the illuminati probably wouldn't care about that now, would they?