The news the past two weeks was dominated by the racist sports analysis of Rush Limbaugh. and the California elections. It's Arnold, live with it!

However grimy these stories were, the problematics of the US in Iraq and the seemingly never-ending war in the Middle East left us with truly grim tales. The largest anti-American protest to date erupted in Baghdad as 10,000 people marched in protest of the US abusive presence. At the same time Shrub and Cheyney were touring the country talking about the "progress" being made. Nevertheless, the straight media gave particularly critical attention to the conflicts between the Department of State and the Department of Defense.

Is there an anthropologist in the house? The UN has continued to reject US proposals to assist in its colonial administration of Iraq. Whatever is happening it is likely that the American administrators are not entirely aware. Only 17 of the 800 staffers in the Colonial Office of Administrator Bremer speak Arabic and only one person is an Iraqi specialist.

Other than that, everything is fine Newsweek reporters featured a story describing US policy as based on "wrongheaded assumptions, ideological blunders, weak intelligence, missteps, poor coordination, and bad luck." Most of this they attributed to conflict between the State and Defense departments and the poor coordination by Condoleeza Rice, the National Security Advisor to the President.

Stalin lives? To distract the American public, Shrub launched a new attack on -- would you believe -- Cuba. Further restricting travel to Cuba while facilitating the entry of Cuban emigres. He formed a commission to be led by Colin Powell to prevent Cuba's "Stalinist rule." (www.washingtonpost.com)

TV News -- the more you watch, the less you know In a series of 7 polls involving interviews with over 9,600 people the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, College Park, found that political ignorance dominated the public perception of the war with Iraq. They found that 60 percent of Americans held at least one important misconception about the war (for example, the belief that the US has found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq). Eighty percent of the respondents who said they relied on Fox news for their information, held at least one significant misperception. (www.pipa.org)

Looking for the mysterious WMD's has been costing the US $100 million a month. The war in Iraq will cost Baltimore $194 million if Shrub=s new funding request is approved. (www.nationalpriorities.org) And speaking last week, the country’s chief fiscal officer, Comptroller General David Walker declared at the National Press Club that the administration’s claim that it will cut the deficit in half within five years is false. He emphasized that the deficit can not be erase under present policies. (www.misleader.com)

Take me to your leader Although the President's "job performance" rating has declined to a relative low, 60 percent told the NY Times/CBS News Poll that they regard Bush as a "strong leader." According the Washington Post, the Shrub is certainly a leader in fund-raising. In the past 6 months he raised $82 million for his reelection campaign. His goal is set at rwo million dollars.

On the domestic front: The Census Bureau announced that there were 43.6 million people without health insurance in 2000. (Census.gov) The government and conservative economists touted the job increase last month as a sign of a beginning economic recovery. In fact, NPR's Marketplace reported that the increase was only one-third of normal job growth.

On the war front: North Korea issued announcement that it had completed its production of plutonium and now had the capability of assembling nuclear bombsBor may already have done so. (Washington Post) In the Middle East, Israel announced that it planned to build 600 homes in three West Bank settlements. It was generally expected under most agreements that Israel was to have halted all new settlements. (NY Times)

Get out of jail free A new video game, Ghettopoly, parodies Monopoly. It features a blacl man holding a bottle of malt liquor in one hand and a gun in the other. Other player pieces include a prostitute, a pimp, and an Uzi. (WashingtonPost.com)

An important new drug: The New England Journal of Medicine released an article and two editorials claiming that a new drug (letrozole) can significantly reduce the chance of breast cancer in post-menopausal women.

Will it ever end? The Israeli army’s two day assault on the Rafah refugee camp, south of the Gaza Strip, left some 1500 people homeless destroying at least 120 housing units. (news.bbc.co.uk)

The silent killer Although the Pentagon has been firm in denying the dangers of depleted uranium used in weapons, documents just uncovered in a FOIA request indicate that the Navy has been aware of the dangers since May, 1984. The document is available at www.traprockpeace.org.

Bumpersticker of the week Bush/Cheyney '04: Four More Wars

These weeks in history

Native Americans discover Christopher Columbus, Genoa's finance capital, and Spain's imperialism (1492); Mohandas Gandhi, nonviolent, direct action activist born (1869); Joe Hill, legendary IWW folk poet, born in Gavle, Sweden (1879); 500,000 steelworkers strike in the United States (1949); Massacre of students at Tlateloco housing project in Mexico City with possibly 500 deaths (1968); The first manned space shot was launched (1968); General strike against cuts in public services in France begins eventually with the government forced to retreat (1995); General strike against the authoritarian regime of Slobadan Milosevic in Yugoslavia (2000).