from the "can't make this shit up" department

[waider]

Apparently, and I say apparently because I got this from Sky News (think Fox News) who tend to have a "report first, ask questions later" attitude, the Americans (yes, all 250 million of them, lest there be any doubt about what I mean when I say "Americans") are complaining to Russia about the Iraqis' use of Russian-made jamming equipment. I presume they mean radio or radar jamming, as opposed to amps, guitars, and microphones. If this is true then I shall be immensely impressed with the ability of the relevant people to make such complaints with a straight face.

On-the-ground interviews with troops seem to indicate that the suspected chemical weapons factory was just an arms dump, but another location is under investigation. This is why I'm preferring the BBC coverage over most of the others; they're reporting non-favourable news with about as much weight as favourable news, which on the whole gives me the impression that it might actually be based on the truth.

Comments

[loosestrife.livejournal.com]

The one news site I haven't been able to train myself out of compulsively checking and re-checking is the BBC's "War Diaries" log. They're doing a magnificent job, I think.

Time to reload, come to think of it.

[littleamerica.livejournal.com]

Link! Link!

[waider.livejournal.com]

Click Me

URL might change, so go to news.bbc.co.uk and click on the link there.

[littleamerica.livejournal.com]

Thanks much.

I just like saying "The Royal Marines are now doing a moping up operation." Smiths records not pictured, etc.

[soul4rent.livejournal.com]

What they're complaining about is that Russia sold the Iraqis material that was not covered in the UN oil-for-food program. If you're going to call the US hypocritical, you better make sure that which you're defending has their principles straightened out. I'm surprised more people aren't complaining about France and Russia's "no blood, for oil" contracts with the Hussein government.

And I don't know how unbiased the BBC is when their reports on the first bunker strike last Wednesday used the word "failure" as if that one strike was the lynchpin of the whole effort. As if Hussein was only there, and because the strikes apparently FAILED to kill him, this will be such a damaging FAILURE for the war effort, etc.

I don't think there really is unbiased news coverage here, so it's just a choice of whose stories one finds most palatable.

[waider.livejournal.com]

Well, no. I'm not calling the US hypocritical, because they've never claimed they didn't sell this stuff to the Iraqis. At least, not that I can recall, anyway. I'm just saying it's amusing as hell that they're now complaining about someone else doing it, because it's biting them. Shoe, foot, other.

Regarding the BBC, I'm treating their coverage as being as close to unbiased as I can reasonably expect on the grounds that I mentioned. As loosestrife mentioned, their raw reporter feeds from the ground are pretty good - and as someone else mentioned, these reports are by necessity biased because they're coming from an unedited and possibly emotionally stressed human being in the middle of a battlefield.

Besides, what the hell are you doing still reading lame-ass retardo crap about the war?

[littleamerica.livejournal.com]

Two hundred eighty-eight million plus, as of July 1, 2002, says the Census Bureau.

[waider.livejournal.com]

Man. I keep having to revise that number upwards every time I need to use it. Would you people ever stop breeding for a few months? Jeez, it's getting so a guy can't keep count.

[littleamerica.livejournal.com]

If you look closely at those numbers you'll see that the population in some states did not increase from the 2000 figures to the April 1, 2000 baseline. New York, for example, stood pat, while Florida grew by 22 people.

There's your glimmer of hope; what you do with it is up to you.

[waider.livejournal.com]

I hadn't actually looked at the census bureau site, instead taking your word that the number was what you said. I'm not sure whether to be hopeful or not; I need to make sure that our population is increasing so we can successfully become the next major world power.

Dammit.

[vspope.livejournal.com]

(think Fox News)

Do I _have_ to?

(Then again, I might've misread this. Could be a plea for Fox News to START thinking.)