What do you want first? The good news or the bad news?

We'll go with the good news, in the form of this hilarious Washington Post headline (please God, let them have done this on purpose): Bush Complains About the Size of CEO Packages. Come on George, didn't Laura tell you that size doesn't matter???

Now the bad news:
The U.S. Government has wasted tens of millions in Iraq (i would argue a much, much higher figure, but maybe that's just me.) and guess what? They're asking for more!

And also this, which may or may not be true, but i just like severe Left-wing propaganda and feel like my diet is lacking it. (Be careful, there are some very honest and awful pictures of war violence on this site. Not for the faint of heart or those with easy gag reflexes.)

20,000 troops or 7 billion dollars?

This is what folks in the business world refer to as "throwing money at a problem."

All i know, is that it's a good thing Bush doesn't treat our school systems like that, just throwing money at it and hoping it gets magically better...we all know that "No Child Left Behind" is a much better plan. And besides, what do schools need money for anyway, it's not like they're buying bombs or killing people in schools.

Everything isn't Political

It occurs to me that it has been a while since i've posted anything not slamming president bush so i thought i'd mention the fact that American Apparel has been sold to an investment company.

And for as popular as the company is among the young, hip and socially aware, i really thought it would make bigger news. Do you really think they're going to maintain their non-sweatshop standards with someone else calling the shots? Especially when that someone else has dollar signs in their eyes? The article says that the investment firm only had $125 million in assets but is paying 300 million + to buy American Apparel, so that makes me think they'll be looking to cut corners any way they can to get that money back.

I've never been a huge fan of American Apparel to be honest. Dov the owner goes out of his way to say how against sweatshops and exploitation he is and then pretty much sexually exploits young girls and his female employees. If you haven't read the Jane Magazine article on him yet, you might have a tough time finding it. I looked for an hour for the archive of it and it's gone. It's not even in the press archives of the American Apparel web sites, kinda interesting. The dude is kind of a scumbag at worst and a sexual deviant at best. Exploitation is exploitation.

Just a warning to those people doing business with them to keep an eye out on their standards and ethics. I have a feeling some changes could be happening soon. And most likely very quietly.

Update: Here are a few more links on Dov Charney, American Apparel's very interesting owner.
Malcolm Gladwell's take
Inc. Magazine story
20/20 Interview

Killing at a 11 to 1 Ratio

The UN reports that 34,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war. Many organizations would say that this number is higher. If you remember way back when to the reasons we started this war, you would hear that Iraq harbored al-Qaeda hijackers (despite a specific lack of evidence to back this up) responsible for 9-11 in which 2,997 people died. And so we went over there to hunt terrorists. We've done the exact opposite over the last few years, actually making the problem worse by unifying the terrorists and creating new ones in the process.

So today we can celebrate that for every one person killed in the 9-11 attacks, we've killed 11 Iraqis. This doesn't count the original fighting in Afghanistan, the recent bombing in Somalia or any of the countless people we've tortured or executed in those "top secret" operations that we're so good at. (This number also doesn't take into account the 3,026 human sacrifices we've made in the form of troop deaths...which i feel now were pretty much entirely unnecessary. I think i would add them on the side with the 34,000 number to be honest.)

I've heard of an eye for an eye, but this is getting a little ridiculous.

America: Making the World Safe for Democracy

Or really unsafe for Muslims...

Didn't we bomb Somalia just the other day because the Islamic govt. set up 2 years ago was starting to take hold and become relatively peaceful?

And now this. So much for those freedoms we all know and (allegedly) respect. (Check this link too for more nausea inducing fun.)

The last time we were there we caused a Josh Hartnett movie. Do we really need that again, really?

(by the way, it may be propaganda but it least it's propaganda i can get behind. Check out infowars.com, because there's a war on for your mind. It has a lot of thought- (and blog) provoking topics.)

screwed by Bush

Yep, This is pretty much what Alaska feels like right now. And really that's the only response i'm going to muster. A lot of this shit makes me angry and i laugh it off, but this just upsets me entirely.

Vote Republican!

And this is what you'll get: Bush Lifts Oil-Drill Ban in Alaska's Bristol Bay

What a fucker.

Now i'm not a rabid environmentalist, but fuck with an area i've spent about the most wonderful 384 hours of my life in, and i'm going to be pissed off.

Is it January 2009 yet?

I'm really too mad to process the whole thing, hopefully i'll have some more commentary on the subject later.