A Really Bad Movie January 24, 2003 This is like a re-run of a bad movie, and I'm not interested in watching. -- George W. Bush Interesting, while Prince George was saying this about the inspections in Iraq, the rest of the world has been saying it about his administration. This bad movie could soon turn from bad to deadly for a lot of people, but unfortunately the people responsible for the carnage that might begin within weeks will be safely protected from even seeing it. There are, however, encouraging developements on several fronts. First and foremost is the turnout for the rallies held last weekend. Between Washington and San Francisco alone, half-a-million people turned out to say that the planned war in Iraq is bullshit. And it wasn't just the peaceniks, hippies and other usual suspects. Old ladies, middle-class white families, Republicans, and veterans of previous wars* all showed up to say that this war is bullshit. * It's been widely pointed out that the most hawkish people in the government are those that weasled their way out of military service when their number was up. They are the "chickenhawks." Those that have actually served in combat are the most hesitant to have our country go back there. It should also be emphasized that these rallies were held in the dead of winter, on a day in Washington that was well below freezing. In spite of the cold, there was a far greater turnout than at the last rally, in the much warmer weather of late October. Another encouraging development are the latest poll numbers, which show Georgie's approval ratings dropping like the value of Enron stock. He's trashed the economy and thrown the federal budget hundreds of billions of dollars into the red. At a time when the government could really use more money, he's lowering his rich buddies' taxes and throwing a few hundred billion more into a war that nobody wants. Every move he makes makes things worse, and the poll numbers show that the public is getting fed up. Looking across the pond, we hear reports from Britain of 70-80% opposition to the war. If these numbers are true, Tony Blair's insistence on being a lapdog for the American warmongers would be political suicide. It makes one wonder what his motives really are. The bright spot in the week's news comes from France and Germany, who are not being shy about telling Bush and his cronies that this war is bullshit. They say the inspections are progressing along just fine and insist on letting them continue. The Russians and the Chinese have chimed in to agree with that sentiment. This got little Georgie all riled up, like a bad little boy who's had his BB gun taken away from him, and he went on a whiney rant while the cameras and microphones were running. Meanwhile, back at the Pentagon, Chickenhawk Rumsfeld started lobbing insults across the Atlantic, referring to Germany and France as "old Europe." This got our German and French friends really pissed off, and they started lobbing insults back. If Rum-dum was trying to convince them to agree to his demented point of view, it had the opposite effect. They were only convinced of the arrogance and idiocy that's running our country. Our friends in Old Europe may be our best hope at the moment, so let us make one thing clear to our allies in France and Germany: In spite of the dangerous stupidity of our leaders, you still have allies in America. The problem is, we're not in charge right now, but we're resisting the best we can. Some day we will be liberated from the facists that sit in Washington right now. We have forgiven you for Napolean and Hitler, and we hope you can someday forgive us for the Bush regime. And our plea for liberation still stands.

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