Because journalists are always right [cnn.com].

Now watch as this whole thing is ignored and blown over... it's just easier to take fiction as fact, then you don't have to think for yourself.

In Response to Phobos (#16346):

you don't have to think for yourself

You certainly seem to have learned that trick.

In Response to zamphir (#16347):

It's easy when you quit trying.

Anyone listen to Elvis Costello?

Funny, I recall seeing a "news" report on this out of the corner of my eye and I was sure there were more than 5 or 6 coffins. How many were in the space shuttle?

Seems odd that people even bother about this... we get Newshour with Jim Lehrer here and he has a segment where he shows the people that have died as their photos are released (or something similar), why is no one freaking out about this?

In Response to tor (#16363):

But are those photos head shots of when the soldiers were alive? People seem to get disturbed looking at coffins vs. smiling faces.

Only a fraction of the photos were from the Space Shuttle.

I wouldn't put it past the government to have released those photos accidentally along with the ones requested in the FOIA filing just so they could be discredited later on.

Of course, incompetence is a perfectly good explanation as well.

In Response to Phobos (#16352):

Woo hoo. Punk Rock rules!

In Response to deerboy (#16516):

This is me, still not rising to the bait.

In Response to jon (#16515):

Of course, incompetence is a perfectly good explanation as well.

I've worked with federal government types. My money's on blind incompetence.

In Response to Phobos (#16346):

Oh goody! So those 500 plus soldiers aren't dead, after all! They're all dead astronauts. I knew the press was lying to me!

In Response to deerboy (#16542):

hmmm menhir a true word is used in jest[1]

Myself I am wondering just how this statement will be phrased for palatability:

"The number of americans killed in Iraq, which had nothing to do with 911, now exceeds the number killed in 911"

I am supposing it is not so unrealistic a happening now and so someone is trying to figure it out...

btw, anyone see the photos of US troops humiliating Iraqi prisoners? Was on the news and I caught a glimpse of what looked like a guy done up in a black dunces cap and wired to something...

Intriguing that people are even shocked. Send people off to kill people and expect them to be nice to those people that don't die. Cool.

Anyhoop, is it a coincidence that this "shocking" set of photos was released just when the Mr Bush made a veiled statement about that city they are going to toast over the coming days. And Kofi Annan made a statement about how you can't really do that when you are the invaders of a country.

Seeing as I am on a rant, anyone else get really freaked out by that half smile that Bush has when he talks? It's sort of a cross between a TV Evangelist and someone that can't believe they are getting away with what they are doing.

[1] I think that may be too obscure, Asterix and Obelix reference when Getafix and all the other druids were hanging out one time. man why can't we have wars like in Asterix?

In Response to tor (#16547):

It's sort of a cross between a TV Evangelist and someone that can't believe they are getting away with what they are doing.

... That is quite possibly one of the best descriptions I have ever heard. And the fact that our president can be summed up in such a manner is one of the reasons that I will be voting for Kerry.

In Response to sakuruth (#16562):

I have a feeling Kerry would be one of those presidents who says he supports a bill, then vetos it. The ones he doesn't support are the one's he'll let through.

In Response to themysticalone (#16564):

I have a feeling anything is better than the man who promoted Tom Ridge.

And, for all Kerry's alleged flip-flopping, I have yet to be shown very many instances where he actually did that sort of thing. (Changes of opinion over a period of ten years or more, as far as I'm concerned, do not count as 'flip-flopping.' When I was four, I wanted to be either a nun, or a lifeguard; I'm now in the process of converting to Judaism and I have yet to take more than a basic CPR course.) But then... careful investigation of their propaganda is exactly the sort of thing Bush's PR people have been worried about. I mean, if we had looked into the matter, we might have realized that Saddam didn't have any nuclear weapons!

In Response to sakuruth (#16576):

I have a feeling anything is better than the man who promoted Tom Ridge.

I suppose you're right. That did help us get stuck with Ed Rendell.

In Response to themysticalone (#16564):

I guess there's no avoiding it: there are some Republicans who nonetheless happen to have good taste in web comics.

In Response to Deathalicious (#16586):

I can't help it if the Republican Party better matches my political and social ideals. I'm actually pretty moderate on the whole. There's plenty of things Bush has done to which I've disagreed. I just think Kerry is a wingnut tool scuzbag, and he's done nothing I've seen to make me think otherwise. Whereas Bush is just a tool.

In Response to themysticalone (#16587):

I just think Kerry is a wingnut tool scuzbag, and he's done nothing I've seen to make me think otherwise. Whereas Bush is just a tool

You've got that backwards.

In Response to zamphir (#16519):

Oh, well then, this looks like a job for a master bai...

...

...It's time to sleep when the jokes turn 5th grade without a sniff of irony.