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mtv (as viacom) is uncomfortable displaying the image of the united states president.

Band drops out of MTV show over Bush image dispute [reuters, 2005.05.27]

“We were set to perform ‘The Hand That Feeds’ with an unmolested, straightforward image of George W. Bush as the backdrop. Apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me,” Nine Inch Nails’ leader Trent Reznor said in a statement posted on the band’s Web site.

that statement is here.

if you’re wearing a mask in public, make sure it’s a theatrical street production or something.

City, County Attorneys Defend ‘Grinch’ Arrest [wheeling news-register, 2005.05.26]

Norman Eugene Gray, 42, of Proctor was arrested Tuesday morning by Wheeling police officers after he was seen walking in the 1200 block of Main Street wearing a Grinch mask.

…

The statute, he says, indicates anyone using masks, hoods or other devices to conceal even a portion of the face “could be potentially committing a crime.”

Areas in which they are not permitted include streets, alleys, areas of public trading or sites which are frequented by the general public.

Exceptions to the law include masks worn by those under 16 years of age, traditional Halloween masks, safety gear used in occupations, theatrical productions, civil defense or protection from the elements.

it’ll be interesting to see how far up the food chain this goes.

this also appears to put some muslim women in relatively expensive jeopardy.

this is not my america.

this is a phrase i’ve never heard before, and something just doesn’t seem right about it…

President Participates in Social Security Conversation in New York [white house web site, 2005.05.24]

See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.

for some values of “propoganda” and, of course, some version of reality.

Main Entry: 2catapult
Function: verb
transitive senses : to throw or launch by or as if by a catapult
intransitive senses : to become catapulted

Main Entry: pro·pa·gan·da
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Congregatio de propaganda fide Congregation for propagating the faith, organization established by Pope Gregory XV died 1623
1 capitalized : a congregation of the Roman curia having jurisdiction over missionary territories and related institutions
2 : the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person
3 : ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect.

several times i’ve had passing thoughts about this, but today i finally stumbled into something that pretty much clinches what i was just going to speculate on.

to make this brief… once upon a time, newsweek ran a story that included a bit about american interrogators doing unfriendly and disrespectful things to the koran. then a bunch of people got upset. and then some people died. and then the bush administration got out in front of the world and said to the world “no way! can’t be!” and newsweek quickly took two steps backwards and said “ok, maybe we got some details wrong” and then “no, we were wrong about that whole flushing the koran thing.” ultimately issuing a full retraction.

i was going to speculate that newsweek caved under pressure from the aministration – perhaps under some sort of threat to cut off access. i dunno. just speculating.

FBI memo reports Guantanamo guards flushing Koran [reuters, 2005.05.25]

An FBI agent wrote in a 2002 document made public on Wednesday that a detainee held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had accused American jailers there of flushing the Koran down a toilet.

so maybe there is something to this story after all. and maybe newsweek shouldn’t jump so quickly into the arms of the bush administration. i dunno. just speculating.

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