Basefree

I'm unsure how the general populace is actually leaning. Since I'm in the Bay area, it seems like absolutely every hated the war. But perhaps that's just us crazy lefties here on the West coast?

Part of my wants to think that all of the polls which so better-than-ever support numbers for Bush are media propaganda. I believe that the "liberal media" is a myth, now that conservative (and wealthy) media conglomerate board members feel comfortable pushing their own agendas on the broadcast space they control. So perhaps they're just inflating Bush's support numbers to try for a bandwagon effect. I've seen some published statistics which state that Bush is the worst president on economic and unemployment issues in 70 years. But his administration has definitely figured out how to sell an image. And for some reason, instead of questioning it, media corporations are rebroadcasting it with no questions asked.

that is a gorgeous picture. is it by any chance you and lisa?

It certainly does seem that the media has become quite conservative. Perhaps it is the pessimist in me, but I tend to think they are just trying to cater to the prevailing attitude of the American public at the moment. After all, if people are hearing what they want to hear on TV, they are more likely to tune in more often and purchase more goods that are advertised in between the propaganda.

Pretty much everyone in Eugene was (and is) opposed to the war as well, but we have to keep in mind that Eugene and the Bay area are easily some of the most liberal places in the country. This is amplified by the fact that we spend most of our time on university campuses, talking to extremely educated people. The average, blue collar, Fox News-watching American is far more conservative than anyone we interact with on a daily basis. Whenever I go in to Springfield I am struck by this. I am really hoping the democrats can get their act together and present a candidate who can appeal to enough of the populace to beat Bush. Even if it comes down to choosing between the lesser of two evils, I think being sure that Bush will be out of the White House is worth not voting for a candidate that I support 100%. I guess what it comes down to is I have lost all faith in the American public for some reason. I think I have been watching too much TV.

I think the picture is actually Boards of Canada...Though Doug should correct me if my analysis is incorrect.

The picture is actually of Boards of Canada. You have probably heard of them from me or Jacob. In my opinion, they make some of the most beautiful music being created these days. They live in a commune in Scotland called Hexagon Sun, and are very secretive. No pictures of the place are available on the web. Some people think it is a cult. They very rarely do interviews or live performances. Apparently they have made tons of albums, but most of them were limited to fewer than 100 copies and are impossible to find. This guy runs the best BoC page I have come across as far as information goes. The official website is fun to play with, but doesn't have any information about the band. If you haven’t heard their music before, I highly recommend checking it out. It is often very soothing although sometimes it is creepy (like all the references they make to the Branch Davidians, or some of the samples on Geogaddi like “a god with horns”). For me at least, their music evokes all kinds of emotions. I highly enjoy it.

as far as the political stuff goes, i concur. i concur in general i guess, though i don't know jack about boards of canada except for one random song i downloaded ILLEGALLY many months ago. mmmmm i love my yummy stolen goods.

but yeah, i moved this weekend, and being too busy to read the paper and not having internet access to check BBC online helped my hope for the future of mankind creep back out of hiding. maybe i won't by the ny times today and keep this trend going.

oh well. reality will attack any day now. have a good one, yourself.

- susan

*buy* the ny times. duh. english majors, UNTIE!

I live in South Orange County, which is about as Republican as you can get, and it always shocks me how so many seemingly educated and informed people truly believe Bush is the best thing since sliced bread. They're busy being happy he's brought morality back into the office (though I still haven't figured out how a former coke addict who stole an election is somehow the epitome of morality) and they think he's wonderful for the tax cut (which has further compounded our poor economy, which has gone in 2-3 short years from a several billion dollar surplus over the last 5-6 years of Clinton's administration to an even bigger deficit than we had during the Reagan/Bush administrations).
The media has a definate conservative slant, though you can still find plenty of articles (at least in papers like the NY Times) showing what a complete nincompoop Bush has been and how he has failed at absolutely everything he's set out to accomplish. All his patriotic post 9-11 speeches have gotten us nowhere except involved in volatile situations with Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, India/Pakistan, North Korea, and Liberia. In the meantime, we still haven't found Osama, Saddam or managed to establish peace anywhere.
His appointment to the EPA, Michael Leavitt, is already on a roll to detroying our environment further. Our economy is in ruins, yet they keep telling us it's fine. Our schools can't afford their teachers or their programs, and our students can't affort their schools, thanks to said "fine" economy. And he looks good for supporting the Medicare bill that he knows wont pass Congrees. Oh but he wont support Congress' veto on the FCC deregulations...thus consolidating the filters and reducing the number of voices we hear. (What pisses me off most about that is they're trying to tell us that with a hundreds of stations available, media will still be localized. They neglect to mention it's still the same owner. So if one of GE's products is recalled again for endangering consumers, you can be sure CBS and any other channels owned by GE or its partners won't be airing the recall.)
I'm just praying Howard Dean defeats Bush...he does seem to have the best chance. But I do keep saying that if Schwarzenegger or Bush get elected, I'm declaring myself an expatriate and fleeing to France or Germany. They at least seem to have a clue what common sense means, at least from what I've heard from their speeches to the UN.

canada. CANADA. you'll still have to be next to the u.s., but whatever happens you'll have healthcare and neighbors who talk funny in endearing ways. what more could you want?

It's March 2004 and now I know about peak oil, the 911 stand-down conspiracy, have seen the BBC decapitated for daring to suggest the government exagerated, WMD proved to be a lie, lawyers saing the war was illegal, Dr David Kelly murdered because he said too much, Bush and Blair clearly sleeping together, the rise of nukes in Middle East (especially Israel), the coming gas production crisis, the dissapointing oil finds in the Caspian sea, read Olduvai theory and found that 5 billion people must die, and that the Pentagon predicts massive global warming effects by 2020.

I'll stop there but yep - WE'R'DOOMED.

Seriously people make fun come soon because there's less than 10 good years left.

we just got a letter from the president (George Bush)saying that we and my troops will not be coming home any time soon because of the non-vocal military captain