Free choice--"Democratic hopefuls rally behind Bush--Presidential contenders declare support for the war effort, some despite pointed criticism earlier"--Los Angeles Times headline.

Sure, take U.S. Imperialism 101--At Irvine Valley College in Southern California, a directive was issued to the faculty telling them that it would be unprofessional for them to permit discussion of the war against Iraq "if it cannot be demonstrated that such discussions are directly related to the approved course material." According to the Los Angeles Times, the memo sparked anger among students, teachers, and parents.

Right to be stupid--Congressman Robert Ney, chair of the House Administration Committee, instructed House cafeterias to yank the "French" out of fries and toast, redubbing them "freedom" items. (In a conflict of imperialist interest, the French government voted no on U.S. aggression against Iraq.)

We were born during the first world war and it was a decade later that we learned that with the war against Germany, sauerkraut became "liberty cabbage." Mom explained there were many stupidities in the war, and assured we still had our frankfurters and knockwurst with kraut.

‘Our Father who is on Wall Street’--Wiping their rumps with the legal doctrine of separation of church and state, the House of Representatives voted 348 to 40 to call on the president to set aside a national day of prayer and fasting--assertedly for the GIs in Iraq and protection against domestic "terrorism."

Don’t they know there’s a war on?--Apparently wrestling with public ire, the UK’s national health service has said it’s unlikely that it will meet its promise of a 2004 goal to keep emergency and accident victims waiting no more than four hours for care.

Couldn’t happen today, right?--For a number of months in the depression of the 1930s, the Los Angeles cops enforced a "bum’s blockade," patrolling state borders to bar those deemed to have "no visible means of support." The Los Angeles Times saluted the move as a way "to keep out imported criminals...radicals and trouble makers." The program was ruled illegal after folks with visible means of support were excluded. For instance, a celebrity Hollywood director.

Which one’s the dog?--USA Today has it that the border patrol cops will have two specially trained dogs "to aid immigrants in distress." They’re trained to search for trapped or injured paperless people. The brief report doesn’t indicate if it’s two dogs per cop or two for the corps. We do have inside info that immigrants hunted down by the dogs will be given free rides to a hotel down the block from a union-organized job center.

Capitalism--justwonderful--According to the New York Times, a third of India’s population goes to bed hungry, half the children are malnourished, and starvation is again spreading. Meanwhile, it’s reported that the government is sitting on a "surplus" of 50 million tons of grain.  
 
 
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