The Elysian Fields

Additional info and links over at Daily Kos - found via filkertom

All manner of stories here... interesting how Australian headlines read "Aussies under attack..." and UK ones read "Cruise ship Britons attacked by Pirates" as if each is more important. Hmmm, I thought only the US media stooped that low as to pretend things were more newsworthy only when American citizens were involved.

People were attacked.

Why care only about those in your country? Next thing you'll know, you'll only care about those in your state or region. Or who went to your college. Or from your city. Or neighborhood. Or your household. Or... lets face it, at that point all you care about is number one, and you really are unsure of why your picture is there for the definition of "self-centered."

C'mon everybody, sing along: "We don't need no information..."

Thanks to a post by phantom_wolfboy, I've learned something...

By announcing, last week, that it will simply ignore the unanimous ruling by the North American Free Trade Agreement's court of last resort (the Extraordinary Challenge Committee), which instructs it to drop its unfair and illegal tariffs on imports of Canadian softwood lumber, the U.S. government has taken a page out of Tony Soprano's playbook: "So, you Canucks want your five billion bucks back. Well, Fuggetaboutit! Waddaya gonna do, anyhow? Cry to your mother?" - from U.S. to Canada: Who's your daddy now? on canadaeast.com

I've also learned that, as of the time I checked it, a Google on "softwood" and "nafta" leads only to sources north o' the border (EDIT: first page only, later pages had a handful of links - 1 or 2 per page maximum - from local border city papers).

This would be why I don't peruse the accepted regular news outlets - I learn more from posts from friends in the UK and Canada and from mentions on message boards with an international participation than I ever could if I sat down and watched your standard fare news and read your standard fare paper. There's definitely been a trend lately that things I judge as critical are the things the US media decides should get a one-line mention - if at all - during their more entertaining three-ring media circus.

Not a new poem, but as the topic of the day seems to be grammar (or lack thereof), I thought this might be apropos...

roadkill
April 17, 2001

lying in a crumpled heap
forgotten
ignored
a rotting pulpy mass
that was once
living
breathing
wait, does it move still?
or is that the wind
a limb
or part of one
picked up and lifted into
animation
by the turbulence of
passing cars
paying no heed
looking the other way
it can't exist
it's too awful
and as such
a thing of interest
a focal point
catching the eye
once a faithful companion
honest
true
in its own way
but now a victim
lying on the side of the asphalt road
crushed by the multi-media highway
its stories unheard
simplified
tabloid tales
no matter how
the editors may try
if one looked closer
poking through the
soft wet parts
they might find something
legible
a headline
or obituary
proclaiming the death
of the printed
word

Copyright © 2001 Everett Ambrose Warren

For those that have heard about the zombie terrorist kid, make sure you check out this more thorough reporting of events, discovered by dreadpiratetait, before you get up in arms (or braaaaaiiiiinnnnnsss) about making horror fiction a felony crime.

Addendum: What's great about this is seeing how fast it moved before anyone did any further research - I checked when I first found the story - by way of juanfandango's typist - and did a quick Google on it.

The number of links in the last hour or so has more than doubled, and I still can't locate the one Jenny found. In fact, I can't locate anything that isn't going on and on about how silly - or Orwellianly Evil - it is that William Poole was arrested for writing fiction.

I did see a few in the early search that echoed my sentiment of "Wait and see if Snopes debunks it," but those seem to have been flooded out by the outraged and/or amused throng.

It will be interesting to see what kind of equilibrium is reached, and how many will call the ending result a coverup or conspiracy.

Modern media in(space optional)action - a perpetually spinning wheel!

Addendum Redux: more info