It's Monday Night, and I Don't Watch Football. Also, Blackwater Gets a Pass.

Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo has agreed to a six-year, $67 million deal.

From the AP:

Being quarterback of "America's Team" has fit Romo quite nicely.

He's already dated country star Carrie Underwood and been linked in gossip magazines to Jessica Simpson and, as of this past weekend, Britney Spears. Romo spent his bye weekend in Los Angeles and wound up at the same place as Spears, landing him back in the tabloids.

"It comes with the territory, I guess," he said.

So do the big bucks.

I honestly cannot wait, cannot fucking wait, for this country to go down in flames. (i'm thinking fall of Rome meets Mad Max, but without Tina Turner. Although don't get me wrong, she's done some fine work, I just wouldn't wish that on her.) The thing I can't figure out, is will I watch from across the globe, or will I stay here to watch people burn their sports memorabilia in trash can fires to stay warm?

(while walking around in wal-mart the other day, I asked myself, "Soo, what don't I own in the Dale Earnhardt motif?")

There are moments when I feel like fleeing this country is giving up, and that to stay here and fight for positive change is valiant, and that maybe even some of this place is worth saving.

But no. When I read that, (and the next item) NO. We will get what we deserve. So take that foam #1 hand and wave it for three hours tonight before you go back to your deadend, wage job at 8 am tomorrow. Go ahead and root for someone that wouldn't take the time to piss on you if you were on fire, and feel free to spend that hard earned money supporting our faux-gladiators and all-too-real coliseums.


Monday Night's Reason #2 Why We Get What We Deserve, or, Why "They" Hate Us

From CNN.COM

State Department investigators promised Blackwater guards immunity from prosecution for last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Angry? You should be. I am. And I'm comfortably adjusted in an air-conditioned home, completely car-bomb and bullet-riddled-children- free!

If you were an average Iraqi citizen, one torn between conflicting ideologies, living in kaleidoscopic violence, and your country's "freedom-delivering" occupiers completely shielded their own armed, murderous vigilantes from prosecution, wouldn't those conflicting ideologies begin to become painfully, vengefully lucid? Wouldn't that hesitance, that patience, that personal and political moderation finally take its last offensive blow? Those weapons sold and traded like common goods on the streets - would you still decline to take them up in your own arms? Could you still justify pacifism and non-resistance toward the United States? Honestly. How would you not riot? Why would you not fight?



And if you think Iraq might have some say in prosecuting these mercenaries, well think again. I mean, even though we're saying we want the Iraqi government to start taking charge, we deny them complete sovereignty over their own country:

Security contractors have immunity from Iraqi law under a provision put into place in the early days of the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq.

You, and more importantly the Iraqi citizens, have Paul Bremer to thank for that decision. Bremer should be tried for war crimes. Or, at the very least, criminal dumb-fuckery.

Guess what his title was? Director of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for post-war Iraq.

Humanitarian assistance.

Unbelievable.

He also received a Presidential Medal of Freedom.


I'd say "unbelievable" again, but I think we all pretty much know that while Bush is in office, those Medal of Freedoms are about as valuable as a Grammy.

Tardy Transmissions from Beyond the Bible Belt - Episode 1

As widely circulating reports have suggested, I, Josh Justice have indeed escaped the tyrannically tight belt that is Lubbock, and have tossed it along with its shiny buckle to the wayside. I can't say it was a a Great escape, certainly nothing of which Steve McQueen could be proud. Perhaps it was more of a whimpering crawl, a sort of duck and roll out of Lubbock and into...into...?


Alpine, Texas - population 5, 786, hometown of yours truly and site of such fame and infamy as, um...hmm...an Alco store? A True Value? I think one of the guys from Bonanza went to Sul Ross University, the college here, which locals sarcastically call Harvard on the Hill. I think they actually offer a major in Ropin'. But yeah, Dan Blocker.

Got his masters in drama here. Oh, and Arlo Guthrie (son of Woodie, grey-headed longhair, devourer of marijuana and mushrooms) once played the Railroad Blues bar, but demanded that nobody smoke. I asked my mom if there was anything I was forgetting, and all she could think of was that we may have had a minor league baseball team here many years ago.


I'm living with my parents again, moving into a room that greeted me with far too many scented Yankee candles and paintings of flowers on the walls. My stepdad constantly watches Fox News - won't watch any other news - but I'm eating far better than I deserve. If we talk about Iraq, it's seriously like we're talking about two completely different things. There's not even enough common ground to debate.

All over town there are signs posted in front yards that say SUPPORT THE TROOPS. LET THEM WIN!!

Yeah, two exclamation points on that last bit. I like to pretend that the signmaker(s) actually had to spend some time debating the perfect number. "One? Hmm, not enough, but three might be overkill. Better just to settle on two. That seems reasonable."

I'm considering writing a letter to the editor asking them exactly what we will win. I'm hoping it's our national dignity back, but since we can't blow the shit out of something for that, I figure that won't be the answer.

Why can't we support a victory over ambiguity and sloganeering? And also, sure, everybody's loves winning and hates losing, but isn't it also how you play the game? Why not post signs that say something like "GENEVA CONVENTIONS. LET THEM BE FOLLOWED!!"


But yeah, I digress. This is supposed to be about me, not politics.


I, a graduate of Texas Tech University, graduated with honors with a degree in Electronic Media and Communications. This qualifies me (barely I think) for my current job as...

...a ditch-digger. More precisely, I install septic tanks. Yeah, where waste (could have gone with all sorts of juvenalia here, but I tastefully refrain...for now) goes. It's hard labor, usually with a hand constantly on a shovel, a tape measure or piece of pipe waiting to be glued.

I certainly am unable to use anything I learned in college. But at the same time, I feel like I am gaining an education perhaps more valuable, one that brings with it useful and simple concepts of hard work, humility, concise communication, and on a side note, a greater appreciation for the outdoors. I mean seriously, who would have known I could have been a fan of the outdoors? I always considered myself an indoor kid. Damn, maybe I should have checked it out sooner.

We've been working in places like Study Butte, Terlingua and Lajitas, deep south of Texas...There is certainly something to be said for the wordless awe of the sheer geologic majesty of rock jutting out of the earth 6000 feet high, with white patches of salt deposits still lingering from the fact that it was once all under the ocean. I like to pretend that the air above highway 118 split by our vehicles was once an ocean depth split by sharks...after all, shark teeth are abundant here, especially around the tops of anthills, where the little bastards have brought up the dental evidence while making their elaborate tunnels.


Getting in better shape, gaining an understanding of beerdrinking with co-workers after a long day...these are things I like. Sometimes, as in the other weekend in Marfa, I am confronted with the concept of...hmm, maybe I'd call it shame or something, I'm not sure...but when asked, "So, what do you do?" by a not-unattractive female, I hesitate before boldly announcing, "I install septic tanks." If they grimace, I like to follow it up with, "Oh yeah, and I live with my parents."

That always makes them even more fascinated in me. I can tell.


I awake every morning to the television in the living room blaring Fox and Friends, the only show hosted by people that, honestly, if I had nothing left to lose in this world (i.e. I wouldn't feel guilty for going to prison/dying and leaving friends/family behind), would actually murder.

But that's dark. I had hoped there would be some hope in this blog. Or at least some hopeful twist on my current status. All I know is that I'm not unhappy. I miss friends from Lubbock. I do. And I'm not one to really admit, even to myself, that I need people. After years of considering myself a lover of solitude, I am ready to admit that maybe I'm a little restless with solitude.

My life is work, sleep, work, sleep, read, sleep, work. That "read" is valued ever more for its dwindled opportunities.


Oh, and in conclusion, besides the septic tank installing job, I have a job on the side with my mom. Yes, my own Mommy Dearest. We mow lawns. No shit. And she has a serious, legit job with the government - ICE, to be exact, ICE being Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

I call our little venture Mama's Boy Mowin'. We do good work.


Damn! How could I forget this? For those that know me as a bespectacled cynic in love with music, air conditioning, and watching b-movies while under the influence, you might be surprised to know that I've been driving one of these:



It's true. One of my first days on the job involved me driving that up a mountain to a job site. I also was wearing a cowboy hat and boots. That being said, my boss is a bit of an extravagant spender, so we have XM radio in the tractor. So, while I was driving this damn thing, I was able to listen to Morrissey's "Every Day is Like Sunday," which left me, possibly quite egotistically, with the notion that such a scenario had never quite occurred before. I mean really, how many people listen to mopey British dudes while driving a backhoe on the way to dig a 6-foot deep hole in which to put a septic tank?


Of course, immediately following Morrissey, I found and listened to a Creedence song. I basked in the feeling of appropriateness.

Life regrets and my ever-growing depression

Have you ever had a time in your life when you start regretting all the things you have done in the past few years...maybe even most of your life.

Well, that’s how the last week and a half have been for me.

Things seemed to be somewhat looking good. I was really looking forward to getting on with life after Tech. Although I wasn’t sure where I was going, I knew I was going to be leaving in December/January. I was ready. Ready for something new. Ready for that next stage in my life. OK, well maybe I wasn’t totally ready, but I knew I had to leave or else I would be staying around much longer.

I was not sure what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew getting out of Lubbock would at least get me going in some direction. I have become somewhat comfortable and am no longer “challenging” myself to find something better.

So, things were going good. I had a plan. A very basic plan, but a plan nonetheless. To get out of Lubbock. My future would be uncertain, but Dallas was promising with several people I know living there and hope they can get me some type of employment.



My plans are somewhat slamming hard into a proverbial brick wall.

I do not know what to do anymore. I am starting to regret so much of what I have done with my life over the last few years. Especially since graduating from college.

I graduated in May 2004. I had signed a lease so I was stuck in Lubbock for at least a year. I got a bartending job and also fell into a job at Tech (mainly because I was available and someone else got sick and was going to be out for a long time.) At this point, I had no plans to stay after my lease was up. I would move, probably back to San Antonio and seek employment, trying to put my college degree to work.

Well, after that first year at Tech, they decided that I made enough of an impression that they needed to create a full-time position for what I was doing. So, although I was already doing the job, I had to apply for the position. I did. And I got the job (It would have been really bad had I not gotten the job since I was already doing it.) Again, I never planned on staying this long. But they kept giving me more money. So, I stayed.

Now, had I known I was going to stay at Tech this long, I should have gotten my Masters. I never planned on getting it, but if I knew I would be at a place for this long, I would have gotten it.

Well, it is now October 2007. A little over three years since I graduated from college. And I am still at Tech. Still working the same job. Still not knowing what exactly to do, but knowing I really should get out of Lubbock.

My plan, until about a few weeks ago, was to leave in December/January and move. More than likely to Dallas, at least for a few years. Then maybe to Portland.

But now, things have changed. I have been having major car problems. And In June, my parents finally decided I need something new. Well, I did not disagree. The plan was for my dad to help with the down payment and I would make monthly payments. Fine. I knew I would be getting a second job soon anyway to help save money, but now it would be to help with car payment too.

Well, about a week ago I got a new car. Finally. And its not that I don’t like it, I do, but the payments…the payments are really something I can’t afford. I mean I can, barely, but I would not be saving anything for when I do finally move. If I move.

Well, this is where the “fun” has begun. (Well, this is where my depression gets worse.)

So, my dad has been pushing me to go back to school to get a Masters. After the last few semesters, I have begun to think I might like to teach. I have been helping out the photography studio class the last few semesters (some may say I have been pretty much teaching the class).

AND...with a new car payment, my dad is really pushing me to stay at Tech and get my Masters from here and keep my full-time job.

Which, in reality, is probably the best option. I mean, I know everyone at Mass Comm. I know all the professors I would have. I would still have a full-time job. Plus, after 18 hours I could teach. (And given the status of the photo classes at Tech, I would probably teach.)

Plus, as a full-time employee, I would get one free class a semester.

But, with working full time, it would take me about three years to finish. That would make me 30 years old.

And still in Lubbock. With nothing more than I have now, except a Master’s Degree.

I really have no idea what to do. I have been talking to a few professors at Mass Comm. and they say I should go for it. “It“ being getting a Masters.

But I don’t know if I can stand being in Lubbock that much longer. But with all my new payments (car, insurance, etc) having a guaranteed paycheck every month sure would come in handy.

Basically, this is my cry for help. I don’t know who to talk to or what to do.

"Is Sex with Robots Possible?" - Headline from msn.com

(quotes pulled from here)

Thanks MSN, I myself have spent many a lonely night between exhausted sobs that leave me shaking in that oh-so-cliched fetal coil, wondering aloud and sometimes while shaking my fists toward God, "When can I fuck me some robots?"

Artificial intelligence researcher David Levy at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands (how cold and lonely must it be there?) ...conjectures that robots will become so human-like in appearance, function and personality that many people will fall in love with them, have sex with them and even marry them.

Sex? Okay, understandable I suppose. Love? Hmm, questionable. But marriage? Why marry them when you can just have such uncomplicated, no-strings-attached sex? Does sanctifying the relationship in the eyes of government and God become important with a robot? Would you want to be legally entitled to leave your possessions to your robot widow/widower? Or does marriage indicate that the relationship would go beyond sex? Would this robot do my laundry? Clip my toenails while I lean back luxuriously in my recliner and watch Nascar? Provide moral support while I attempt advancements at my place of employment?

Here's the quote where I realized Mr. Levy might not be well:

It may sound a little weird, but it isn't. Love and sex with robots are inevitable.

It isn't weird? And it's inevitable? Love? With a robot?


In 2006, Henrik Christensen, founder of the European Robotics Research Network, predicted that people will be having sex with robots within five years, and Levy thinks that's quite likely.

Hmm, I was feeling pretty lonely lately, wondering how long it's gonna be til' these burly ol' arms of mine could spoon with someone again, and uuhhh, looks like it's gonna be five years.


Serious and not so serious questions are raised by this whole robot sex business. I'll make no effort to separate the two. And honestly, seeing as how I can't wrap my mind around this, this entire blog entry is pretty shoddily organized. It's just that this idea seems to be ripe with so many questions, and it makes one reconsider ideas of humanity and love.

What about divorce? Will we have a bevy of used, unwanted robot partners rebuked after "the thrill is gone," frequenting singles bars, making drunken, dancing-on-top-of-the-bar robot asses of themselves and going home with the last person there? Will people even want to be with divorced robots, or will they simply need to be disposed of?


Will we drunk-dial our robot exes?


I did find this next part funny and more revealing of Levy himself than the question of robot sex/love/marriage:

At first, sex with robots might be considered geeky, "but once you have a story like 'I had sex with a robot, and it was great!' appear someplace like Cosmo magazine, I'd expect many people to jump on the bandwagon," Levy said.


Wow, sadly, I can see magazines of the future with headlines like that. Although I don't think geeky is necessarily the correct word choice there. I'd lean more toward, oh I don't know, indicative of a serious personal and social disorder.


Here's something President Eisenhower never coulda thunk:
We must beware the robot-industrial-congressional complex.

That's right. Congress legislating favors for corporate robot interests because they themselves will be entangled in this whole robot romance tomfoolery. If Republican sex scandals involved robots, would they still be as scandalous? Hell, if anything seems "inevitable," it's that in the future a Republican that vehemently castigates robot sex and marriage will be found in a bathroom stall with this thing:




Jesus, maybe this is what O'Reilly and anti-gay marriage folks mean when they say legalizing such marriages is a slippery slope to people marrying animals, marrying toaster ovens, boxes of delicious maple brown sugar mini-wheats, k-y warming gel, etc., all leading to marrying a damn robot.


In regard to the title of the link on msn.com - is sex with robots possible? - isn't the answer obviously yes? I mean, it seems like desperate and/or disturbed people could find a way to fuck just about anything - man, woman, child, animal, mineral or vegetable.


Some robots:

Jesus Christ, this robot saves wounded soldiers from battle! That's hot! What Republican wouldn't reconsider some legislation that would make it legal to honor this troop-honoring piece of hunkmetal?



Hmmm....

Obviously, one couldn't go much beyond second base with this robot. Or is it third? I never really understood the baseball analogy.


This robot's nice and all, but I think we're better off just staying friends.



And of course, what lady or alternative-leaning gentleman could deny a robotic James Spader head? (I'll avoid an obvious joke here)




Other thoughts:

Would you have to do your own maintenance?

That seems difficult. I just want to have sex with the robot, not perform routine maintenance. Then again, this would just provide a great capitalistic opportunity for robot repairmen! Neat! But also, and perhaps I'm veering into cringe-land, but would the robot take the time to, ahem cough cough, clean herself up afterward? That would seem like a sanitary necessity.


Would your robot be true to you? Hell, I'm so lacking in an ability to trust that I'd think my robot was fucking the fridge while I was at work. And in more complex issues, if fidelity is a matter of programming, could a pervert hacker reprogram your robot to cheat on you? If so, would you blame the robot? Would you know?


But back to the issue of love -
Levy argues that psychologists have identified roughly a dozen basic reasons why people fall in love, "and almost all of them could apply to human-robot relationships. For instance, one thing that prompts people to fall in love are similarities in personality and knowledge, and all of this is programmable. Another reason people are more likely to fall in love is if they know the other person likes them, and that's programmable too."

The personality and knowledge thing, I hesitatingly admit, may have some merit. But that last thing - knowing they like you. Wouldn't knowing that they like you because you programmed them that way sort of kill that inexplicable butterfly nonsense and perhaps necessary human drama of not knowing? Programming it to like you just seems, I don't know, to eliminate something important that I can't quite explain. Maybe calling it cold is the simplest way of putting it.

Shit, but maybe the "similarities in personality and knowledge" being programmable is not a reasonable argument either. From what I understand, most people don't really know what they want, and most relationships and love are surprises. So I don't think one could begin to accurately program what they wanted because they don't know what they actually click (for lack of a better term) with anyway. When it comes to personality, I don't know if we do in fact seek similarities. Maybe knowledge and interests, but most relationships consist of two people with quite different personalities. I know I couldn't get along with somebody just like me. It's more of a strange symbiotic and yin and yang thing most of the time, not similarities that create a relationship scenario.

But all this talk of the future is really ridiculous, because tons of realistic love dolls already exist. Is this what you want to wake up to for the rest of your life?


From siliconeworksdolls.com:

Throat on this doll is 8” deep.

Jesus, would someone that gifted in the pants really need to resort to that?

We carry several types of realistic silicone sex dolls as well as doll torsos, breasts only, feet and heads. (silicone doll heads do not come with wig) from different manufacturers.

I can't help but think this is the extreme result of objectifying women (hmm, people in general I suppose, women just more commonly and farther back in our history) and breaking them down into their single body parts, be it from pornography, or even in mainstream advertising and entertainment.

I'll spare you the photo on this next caption:
Click photo to BUY or learn more about the torsos Natalie Petite Personal Companion love doll- Torso with attached head only, no bulky arms or legs. 36 C breasts Realistic and jiggly!

Ha! No bulky arms or legs.

Or bulky little brain with silly little words and thoughts.




But more love...

I'm familiar with the idea that we may not actually fall in love with a person, but rather the idea or image we have inside our brains of that person. We fall in love with a particular feeling or set of feelings that a person gives us, almost like an addiction to a certain behavioral pattern. Thus, when one person attempts or begins to change, or acts in ways outside of our fixed notion (humans are, after all, inclined at most turns to form concrete patterns out of the abstractions of life, usually just to get by) of said person, there are relationship problems.

So, perhaps a robot, forever unchanging and actually programmed to never change, is what some people really need? Still, there is the issue of not knowing what we want or need, and that thus any attempts to create an unchanging version of a romantic, idealized guess would ultimately disappoint us.


What are your thoughts on this?

Heartbreaking Photojournalism and Brilliant Insight

"The press is certainly a business, and in order to survive it must be a successful business. But the right balance must be found between marketing considerations and journalistic responsibility. Society's problems can't be solved until they're identified. On a higher plane, the press is a service industry, and the service it provides is awareness. Every story does not have to sell something. There's also a time to give."

What a wonderful man - James Nachtwey.

This gave me that weird tightening in my throat when I try not to start crying. Perhaps that sentence was cheesy, but watch this and try not to feel something. I assure you, you will fail.

(and yeah yeah, I know there's a BMW ad at the beginning. whatever. it's short. and the photos start around 4 minutes in.)

Michael Bay continues to destroy my childhood with Transformers

DUDES! Let me tell you how fucking excited I am that Transformers is coming out on DVD on October 16!!!! Spring Break! WOO!

OK, enough sarcasm.

Many of you, probably most of you, know of my disgust for Michael Bay's remake of the Transformers Movie. I would give you a brief explanation of why I am still boycotting this movie, but it will just piss me off. Badly.

I was watching TV last night when a commercial advertising the release of the Transformers DVD on October 16 came on. While I pretty much blew it off, I still somewhat listened. Well, I am sure most of you know this, when there is an ad for a movie/DVD there are several pull-quotes praising the film.

One quote that stuck out to me while watching the DVD commercial: "The most original film of the year."



My mind just got fucked.

REALLY?!?!?!? FUCKING REALLY?!?!?!?

"Transformers is the most original film of the year"?!? I really want what this guy was smoking.

To say Transformers (the 2007 remake) is an original film is like... saying we won the war in Iraq (And proudly displaying a large banner reading "Mission Accomplished"). We haven't (and probably won't); and the 2007 remake of the Transformers Movie is NOT a remake.

Seriously. There was a cartoon series and then a animated movie back in 1986 (around 1986, I think it was made it '85 but released in '86). There have been comics. Action figures. Clothes (yeah, I have Transformers underwear when I was little). Hell, I think there was a cereal too. All of this occurred before this "live-action" remake.


But it is true, the DVD comes out on October 16. Join me as I venture to Best Buy (or anywhere else DVDs are sold) to NOT get a copy of this movie.

Ix-Nay on the Ucking-Fay

Yesterday my mom came in my room with an unusually serious expression and said, "Josh, we need to talk about something." Naturally, I became a little concerned, not really a matter of a guilty conscience, but just nervous about something potentially dreadful of which I was not previously aware. I asked, "About what?" to which she classically replied, "I want you to wait 'til you're married to have sex."

After a brief moment of silence where one of my eyebrows probably shot above my hairline, we both had a good laugh. She then told me she had seen this commercial:





Dude, when I was the age of most of these kids, I was still giggling at sexually-posed action figures.

Then again, that's not really different from now.

But on a more serious point, the most recent federal report on abstinence-only programs reveals they've had “no impacts on rates of sexual abstinence.”

I'm so glad our tax dollars are funding programs that don't actually work, but that make conservatives (who are probably too prudish to ever actually follow the advice of this commercial) feel better.

new car...new insurance...I feel the dirty sensations of adulthood

So, I got a new car today. A Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo Rocky Mountain Edition. Don't really care about the Rocky Mountain Edition, but it had everything else I wanted. So, thats what I got.

I am pretty stoked. It is finally setting in that I got a new car. It was pretty sad cleaning out my old car. As much as I hated all the problems I was having with my old car, I am going to miss it. I can't drive the Jeep like I did my BMW. I mean I took some curves at close to 60 mph and it was awesome. I didn't have to really slow down going into turns and the acceleration was amazing...even with all the problems its had.

On the flip side, with the Jeep I will be able to go places I could not before. I can finally drive down rough dirt roads to get to take a picture I want. I don't know how much more stuff I can fit in the Jeep vs the BMW. Honestly, the cargo space looks about the same, just the Jeep is higher up.

But yeah, I am pretty happy with it. I am sure I will take some pictures within the next day or two and post them...just because taking pictures is what I do and I have something to take pictures of.

I need to get used to driving an SUV. Riding up higher is something I am not used to. Also, I need to get used to parking it. I know it wont be too hard, just driving sedans since I was 16, a Jeep is definitely a change. Granted, my dad tought me how to drive in his Jeep...so its kind of fitting that my first vehicle I buy is a Jeep. (I bought my first car, but it was from my dad, so I don't count that.) I even drove out to where my dad took me to learn driving.

BUT...now that I have a new car, I also have new car payments. And insurance payments.

I need to start looking for a second means of income. Actually, I need to get one, not just look. I also don't know how this will affect my plans on leaving Lubbock anytime soon. As much as I am ready to leave, with having a car payment and loan payment plus credit card payments...knowing I will be getting a paycheck every month is pretty comforting.

So yeah, if anyone knows of somewhere that is hiring. PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

OR...better yet...if you know a way I can make extra money without having to get a real job, let me know.

I'm Rapidly Approaching Outrage Fatigue - Blackwater Balderdash

An FBI group is headed to Baghdad to investigate the alleged murder of Iraqi civilians by employees of private security firm Blackwater. While there, they will be protected and escorted by... (get another pair of pants handy, as you may shit your current ones) Blackwater security firm.

From NYDailyNews:

Half a dozen FBI criminal investigators based in Washington are scheduled to travel to Iraq to gather evidence and interview witnesses about a Sept. 16 shooting spree that left at least 11 Iraqi civilians dead.

The agents plan to interview witnesses within the relative safety of the fortified Green Zone, but they will be transported outside the compound by Blackwater armored convoys, a source briefed on the FBI mission said.

"What happens when the FBI team decides to go visit the crime scene? Blackwater is going to have to take them there," the senior U.S. official told The News.

As beholden as the United States has become to private security contractors, I wouldn't be surprised if they were guarded by agents of such an organization. But the same one? Really? What were the dudes at Dyncorp doing?


To add to the already boggled mind, CNN reports:

The Bush administration said Wednesday it opposes a bill that would bring private military contractors overseas under U.S. law, warning it would have "unintended and intolerable consequences" for national security.

Keep playing the shit out of that fear card fuckwits.

The bill would state that contractors working for the U.S. government overseas are subject to the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows American courts to prosecute crimes committed in a war zone overseas.

Blackwater, the best-known security contracting firm working in Iraq, said its guards responded properly to an attack on a U.S. Embassy convoy September 16. But Iraqi authorities said Blackwater contractors fired indiscriminately at civilians, killing as many as 20 at two scenes in western Baghdad.


But what say can Iraqi authorities possibly have in their own country?


Under an order laid down by the U.S. occupation government in Iraq, U.S. contractors can't be prosecuted under Iraqi law.

I continue to see flagrant hypocrisy in the administration's desire for the Iraqi government and its citizens to become an empowered, self-governing nation, while simultaneously refusing to allow them any say in the operations of our profit-driven, private security firms.

It's an obvious contradiction, where rhetoric clashes with true motives - private contracts for corporate interests, and money, money, money.

As usual, the only person making any sense is California Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman, who said:

...the U.S. reliance on private security firms in Iraq "is backfiring" by creating resentment of the contractors among Iraqis.

The only thing he forgot to explain is how this resentment is then generalized to all American forces in Iraq. That's been the obvious danger this entire time with the use of mercenaries. Private security firms can behave without consequence for themselves, but our own military bears the brunt of the accrued resentment.

Just Something that CNN Failed to Mention

From cnn.com:

The company that syndicates Rush Limbaugh's radio program defended the talk-show host Wednesday over his controversial "phony soldiers" remark, saying it's "unfair" to assume the comment was directed at combat troops opposing the Iraq war.

Mark Mays, CEO of Clear Channel Communications Inc., wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, saying, "Over the years Mr. Limbaugh has repeatedly praised the dedication and valor of our brave men and women in uniform.

"Given Mr. Limbaugh's history of support for our soldiers, it would be unfair for me to assume his statements were intended to personally indict combat soldiers simply because they didn't share his own beliefs regarding the war in Iraq."

What they failed to mention, something I have yet to forget from a 2004 Rolling Stone article on Clear Channel's near omnipresence, was the relationship Mark's father Lowry had with our current president:

Critics say the company also has a political agenda, given Clear Channel executives' close ties to George W. Bush...

Clear Channel communications resides in a green-glassed sprawling office complex in San Antonio. Company founder Lowry Mays is an ex-Air Force officer and a Texas Republican whom George W. Bush appointed to a state technology council when he was governor.


And the son continues to suckle from the right-wing teat...or wait, is my metaphor mixed up? Is he the corporate teat nursing the right-wing idealogues?

Either way, Mark Mays, CEO of one of the worst corporations in America, is hardly an objective man.

And on another note, why would a man interested only in making money for his shareholders have any interest in slamming one of his biggest moneymakers, no matter how despicably and sensationally he gains those ratings?