"...the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other." - Benjamin Franklin, 1787

They say that if you drop a frog into a pot of boiling water it will immediately jump out, but that if you raise the pot's heat gradually, the frog won't react.

The US public has been on a slow boil since 2001. This administration's rollbacks have been so consistent and so egregious that it's no surprise many Americans feel apathetic.

And that begs the question: What exactly would it take to get the US public spurred into action?

"One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic."

Joseph Stalin's infamous words.

This certainly seems to reflect corporate media's attitude to the ongoing slaughter in Iraq.

It is the 4th anniversary of Operation Iraqi Liberation (O.I.L) - the invasion was later renamed for PR reasons - and despite the US military's reluctance to 'do body counts' a number of other organizations are aware of the level of carnage. Rather than being described as an 'insurgency' it should more accurately be described as a 'holocaust'.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20070307/cm_thenation/45172362

A Gay Porn Star is Honored at CPAC

Wed Mar 7, 5:28 AM ET

The Nation -- A former gay porn star and male escort was awarded the Jeanne
Kirkpatrick Freedom award at last weekend's CPAC. He is Cpl. Matt Sanchez, a
Marine, campus culture warrior and Fox News favorite who David Horowitz
introduced me to at CPAC.

When I came back from my two-week vacation on Friday -- the one where I promised my wife and son I would unplug from the news entirely -- and found out that right-wing media outlet Fox News will be hosting a Democratic presidential debate later this year, I felt a bit like Dr. Emmett Brown in Back To The Future when he heard who would be president in 1985 and exclaimed "Ronald Reagan! The actor?"

And, as much as I was sure I was hearing something that was fabricated on, well, Fox News, I have since found out that it's true that the Nevada Democratic Party will indeed allow the network that loves to hate on Democrats to broadcast the state's August Democratic presidential debate.

US / Iranian rhetoric is at fever pitch. Both sides are claiming to have “evidence” of military foul play. Both sides are holding military exercises in each others faces and the Gulf is so full of warships it must be highly dangerous to navigate. Both sides are threatening a massive military response to any use of force. Both presidents have backed themselves into political corners and neither shows the slightest sign of backing down.

A second US carrier strike group has just arrived in the Gulf bringing the total number of US (and allied) warships there to about 50 and a third group, headed by USS Reagan has just been ordered to rendezvous in the Western Pacific with destroyers from Pearl Harbour before sailing to the Gulf.

First I invite you to watch this excellent 10 minute speech by George Galloway to the British Parliament on January 27, 2007 in which he delivers a stark warning that Britain is sleepwalking into a catastrophic war with Iran along with the US and Israel. George Galloway was the man who you may remember lambasting the US Senate over false accusations of oil bribes with Saddam.

George Galloway's speech to the British Parliament, January 2007