ryan2772

they'll rebuild, man.

dude you better become right with the lord.

cont'd.... Or consider the capture of Saddam Hussein? Did the media rejoice? Just the opposite. They were completely frustrated. This did not fit into their plans of prolonging the war. Nor did eliminating Saddam's two sons, whom everyone we have met in Iraq hated. The media has done nothing to encourage the Iraqi people. Nothing to try to help them to take ownership and responsibility for their country, but have done everything they could to extend the war. As a result, thousands of Iraqi and American troops and civilians have died who did not have to die. Obviously, the United States has been doing everything it could to bring the violence in Iraq to an end, but sadly, the media -- it seems -- has done everything it could to keep it going. Here lies a tragedy of which the world should know. A year ago a British scientist who was at the center of the controversy about Iraq being able to deliver WMD in 45 minutes committed suicide, causing a huge investigation into his death known as the Lord Hutton Inquiry. For the three weeks leading up to the verdict, CNN and the BBC built the story up on air and on their websites that this would be the most difficult week in the life of Tony Blair, indicating they were going to make the follow up reporting to the verdict extremely hard for Mr. Blair to overcome. But when Lord Hutton and his committee gave their report, their findings were just the opposite of what the media was expecting, as the committee totally exonerated the British government of any wrong doing and found the BBC guilty of having misled the nation. This was remarkable, yet as could be expected, instead of follow-up reporting, this new development was deemed no longer newsworthy, and just hours after CNN and the BBC reported the verdict, the story was no longer on their websites. Yet for weeks the media had used their misrepresentation of the story to mislead and influence the world. For weeks they had filled Europe, Asia, Africa, and as much of America as they could with the notion that the British government was covering up the truth, sexing up dossiers, etc. when it was actually the media themselves who were guilty. But CNN and the BBC are aware of the psychological damage they were able to impose on the world with the resulting negative attitude toward Tony Blair and George Bush, even though they themselves were the ones in the wrong. So what is the truth? Am I telling you the truth when I say the vast majority of Iraqi people are thankful to the United States? Recently I met with a reporter, and as we started the interview, I decided that rather than tell her what I was doing, I would just show her, so I stood up as I had done many other times in the last month and asked for the diner's attention. When the people heard that I had been in Iraq the restaurant grew quiet, but then broke into applause at the brief message I had brought them. As you can imagine the ensuing interview was quite animated, and for the next hour diners dropped by with words of appreciation for what I had said. In the course of our conversation something happened that should give us all hope, and a little more insight into what is the truth about the situation in Iraq. I told the reporter, "The most interesting thing that I have found is that everywhere I go and speak, people come up and say their cousin in Iraq (or whoever they might know in Iraq) is telling them the same thing that I am telling them." Two minutes later a woman came over to our table and said, "You know my cousin in Iraq . . ." The interview appeared on the front page of the paper the next day. Take heart America. The truth will set you free. Rick Leatherwood Director of Kairos Relief and Development, Inc. Leatherwood@pmbx.net

http://www.fsunews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/09/23/4151f512edf13 Letters to the Editor September 23, 2004 Dear Editor, As the director of a relief and development agency working in Iraq for the last year, I have found the situation there both intriguing and revealing. During this time, my wife and I have often visited with Iraqi friends who have told us the hooded terrorists that CNN, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera were interviewing and passing off to the world as representing the sentiments of the Iraqi people were not from Iraq at all, but from Yemen, Egypt, Saudi, or somewhere else outside the country, but were definitely not from Iraq. How do they know? They know the same way we know if someone is from Boston or Texas: Accents. Yet CNN and the BBC make these international terrorists appear to represent the will of the Iraqi people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nevertheless, because CNN and other media have told this lie loud enough and long enough, people around the world believe them and now have a negative view of the Coalition-led invasion of Iraq. The media has deceived and skillfully misled the world into thinking Iraqis are against America. This is not true, and yet people the world over have become discouraged and disheartened by believing their lie. Was this a calculated ploy by the media through carefully selected interviewing? Why has the media done this? These are good questions because the truth as we saw it from having lived in Iraq for over a year is that the overwhelming majority of Iraqis are very grateful to the United States for liberating them. Incredibly, we find very few people here in the United States who heard about the town hall meetings that have taken place across Iraq preparing the Iraqi people to take over their own country. These meetings had been carried out by both U.S. military and civilians through the efforts of the Coalition Provisional Authority under Paul Bremer. I have watched this group of dedicated Americans from the U.S. State Department work tirelessly teaching the Iraqis about democracy, how to select a candidate, what to look for in a candidate, how to have an election, etc. As a result elections are taking place in every major city in Iraq! This did not just happen by itself, but from the hard work done by these committed people. Why has America not heard about this work? These town hall meetings are the backbone of a democracy and what the transfer of power over to the Iraqis is all about. Yet the world has heard nothing about them. A tremendous amount of training from these U.S. civilians has taken place with mayors and citizens all over Iraq, and yet as we have traveled around the United States, we have found virtually no one in America who has heard of these meetings and the preparation that has taken place through them. This non-reporting of the good things that happen on a daily basis is a distortion of the real situation in Iraq for which the media is undeniably responsible. There are 25 million people in Iraq, and yet the media has continually focused on the 25,000 who were part of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard, or his Fedeyeen, or the ex-Bath party members who are obviously against the United States and the success of a new Iraq. Why has the media primarily given these people, many of them terrorists, a platform to address the world as if they represented the Iraqi people? This has been a gross misrepresentation of the truth by the media. This war in Iraq might well have been over 10 months ago if those trying to bring freedom to Iraq had not had to overcome the efforts of the media as well as the terrorists. As it is, the media has encouraged the insurgents and has undermined the Coalition at every turn. You may recall how quickly the media called the Coalition forces "occupiers" instead of "liberators," which could only embolden the terrorists. And you may remember when President Bush went to Iraq last Thanksgiving. Everyone in Iraq was excited. Did the media share this excitement? Hardly. They derided the President as "grandstanding." As one who was there I can tell you, not only was the U.S. Military encouraged, but also the Iraqi people were encouraged that President Bush had come to their country. And yet the media mocked.

he played both those @ bayfront

just saw a comparison between this one and frances, they hit land at the exact same point, pretty freaky. poor central floridians. :'(

I will be honest. Ohio in general is going through a definite down economy with the closing of many manufacturing plants and such. Many people here are struggling to make ends meet. I live in Toledo currently, born and raised here, moved away for 7 years ans moved back to be near family again. There are cons and pros of each state i have lived in, I have lived in Ohio -19 years, Alabama - 5 years, Florida -2 years, and would rather raise a family in Ohio than the other two. The downside is having a good job to pay for everything. work for p&g, they own ohio

hahahahahahaha dude the hurricane's over, get back to work!

tiesto - Suburban Train (Cosmic Gate Remix).mp3 his best ;D

i went to the show in bayfront park, had a great time. yeah, there's tons of freaky little raver kids but i don't give a f*ck, i'll slap the pacifiers outta their mouths. you really can't beat bayfront park as a venue, it's freakin beautiful there. i got there, roland started things out, he was great, cedric kept things going, he tore it the f*ck up, threw down a great set. it was the first time i've seen him spin before, i was very impressed. then tiesto.....he played a few of his more popular tracks, but they were spaced out between some stuff that i haven't heard before. finished things off with adagio for strings.

genius

i would've shot him in the kneecap immediately.

Renaissance pres. Nick Warren - Revelation - CD2

the government's guns will always be bigger.

That one went over my head. He did a movie on Flint? I have just read some really depressing articles lately on Detroit and Flint. There was one in Playboy this month or last month or something by a guy from Manchester talking about how he grew up in England fantasizing about the home of Motown. The article was all about his impression of Detroit when he got there. Not a positive article at all. I almost showed it to Nick but we have a CJ Detroit planned because of their music heritage and I didn't want to depress him. Michael Moore is from Flint, he did a big piece in Bowling for Columbine on his city.

that is the weirdest cartoon

dude we got ivan yesterday! anyone seen how it regenerated itself, we got a feeder band yesterday afternoon, now it's hitting new orleans & texas. jeez, this is crazy

happy birthday fucko ;D

you were there???? Were you there??? I got there about 2am. well fuck. i left @ 1

you were there????

events on the boat. it's a SHIP, not a BOAT. and those rates have probably gone up a lot since then. right now the going price on that ship/date is $938 pp, if you were to book it directly through rccl (me! ;D)

abe has top-notch grammatical structure. saleen & bcn don't. i think it's norah

f*ck, man. > wish i had that info this past weekend.....2 am, headed back to my hotel, bounced off the walls wishing there was something else to do....

get to work.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/22/news/fortune500/interstate_bankruptcy/index.htm Twinkies' maker files bankruptcy Interstate Bakeries, hit by accounting and low-carb woes, seeks Chapter 11 protection. September 22, 2004: 9:51 AM EDT NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Interstate Bakeries, maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies, filed for bankruptcy court protection early Wednesday. i think we should all take a minute to laugh at the misfortune of a food product that has become a symbol of american gluttony at its best.