All the movies that have as their

central theme rough'n'tough male bonding

This is where two guys [sometimes a pack]

come together [no pun intended]

to fight a common foe

Is that a "lethal weapon" in your pocket,

or are just pleased to see me?

All that closeted homosexuality

It's the American way

   more »

Keywords: bonding, prick, flicks, sexual, movies, male, films, homosexuality, repression

Bush's handling of the Libby case, and the way the nation as a whole has dealt with the Iraq war, reek of cognitive dissonance.

Republicans and Democrats have both been very busy reducing dissonance over the Iraq decision.

The Republicans who were most in support of the war continue to believe that weapons of mass destruction have been found and al-Qaeda was in Iraq and Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were in cahoots. They reduce their dissonance by rejecting evidence they were wrong.

Half of all Democrats supported the war. They have reduced dissonance by conveniently forgetting they once supported the war. That is the way memory works and the way the brain works.

We ignore, forget or dismiss information that suggests we might be wrong. We rewrite our memories to confirm what we believe.   more »

The Ziocons: Zionists & Neoconservatives Wanted

Absolute Control of the Middle East

Empires in decline are tempted to shore up their standing with military adventurism.

With their superb salesmanship, the Ziocons sold the Iraq war to the US administration and the American public as a cake walk, a historic tipping point, and America’s calling in the Middle East.

At least for now, Israel is happy to see Iraq disintegrate into chaos, a goal that it has long cherished for the entire Middle East. However, as US losses accumulate this could easily backfire.   more »

I'd bet more people in North America have become at least marginally more eco-aware because of marketing rhetoric than from Live Earth or even An Inconvenient Truth.

This is not nothing. It's not much, maybe. Not yet, anyway. But the paradox – one that true activists would abhor – is delicious:

We consumed our way into this mess, and we're trying to consume our way out. The other way – to stop consuming at all – is a beautiful notion, and a thinly conceived pipe dream.

We will always buy. If we buy better, maybe we do have a fighting chance.   more »

The White House is in "panic mode" over the recent defections of Republican senators on the president's stay-the-course policy in Iraq.

Senior Bush administration officials are deep in discussion about how to find a compromise that will "appease Democrats and keep wobbly Republicans on board."

The New York Times, in its editorial on Sunday, began without equivocation: "It is time for the United States to leave Iraq without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organise an orderly exit."

It said it had lost patience with Mr Bush's promised breakthroughs. "It is frighteningly clear Mr Bush's plan is to stay the course as long as he is president and dump the mess on his successor. Whatever his cause was, it is lost."   more »