WED 15 OCT 2003

Schwarzenegger Wins Governorship

Arnold Schwarzenegger is Governor of California, so here's a rabbit with a pancake on its head.

Hibernation
This may be our last update for a while. Looking back over the past few years, updates have gone from daily to weekly to biweekly to monthly to semi-monthly to highly sparse and irregular. This wasn't planned, but it seems to be a natural pattern, and sometimes it's best not to force things. Perhaps we'll re-emerge next spring, transformed and renewed. Or perhaps not. In any case, there's always the archives.

Some Observations

• We're really going to miss Johnny Cash, Warren Zevon, and Robert Palmer. Fortunately, their music lives on. Just don't share it.
• I've finally found a truly fair and balanced news source. Seriously.
• Hurricanes can be devastating, but some people really overreact to them.
• The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and hard times invite deceptive scams.
• Censorship: It's not just for cartoons anymore.
• A modern world needs a modern hero.
• I've always wanted to run my own country. You can, too!
• We all have different ways of remembering 9/11.
• Milk does a body good. (Thanks, Shan!)
• Alabama may have its share of crazed fundies, but Mississippi will not be outdone.
• Ann Coulter sucks.

When Will it End?
Two Pakistanis boarded a flight out of Seattle. One sat in the window seat, the other sat in the middle seat. Just before takeoff, an Indian Sardarji got on and took the aisle seat next to the two Pakistanis. The Sardarji kicked off his shoes, wiggled his toes and was settling in when the Pakistani in the window seat said," I think I'll get up and get a coke." "No problem," said the Sardarji, "I'll get it for you." While he was gone, one of the Pakistanis picked up the Sardarji's shoe and spat in it. When he returned with the coke, the other Pakistani said, "That looks good, I think I'll have one too." Again, the Sardarji obligingly went to fetch it and while he was gone, the other Pakistani picked up the other shoe and spat in it. The Sardarji returned and they all sat back and enjoyed the flight. As the plane was landing, the Sardarji slipped his feet into his shoes and knew immediately what had happened. "How long must this go on?" he asked. "This fighting between our countries? This hatred? This animosity? This spitting in shoes and pissing in cokes?"

Quote
Blow up your TV, throw away your papers,
Move to the country, build you a home.
Plant a little garden, eat a lotta peaches,
Try to find Jesus on your own.
-- John Prine

Kenny Boy vs. Martha

 We knew there had to be some kind of explanation....

Tomorrow Never Knows
As our readers have undoubtedly noticed, updates to this website have become most sporadic of late. This is partly because we've recently begun to step back and re-evaluate what Creative Dynamix™ is all about, where it's going and what it's trying to say. The world has changed substantially since 1999, and in some ways so have we. Parts of the site have flourished, but others have remained neglected. Restructuring, reorganization, and reprioritizing may be called for in the near future. In the meantime, though, there are some things that simply can't be ignored, like...

War, Lies, and WMDs

• "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." Dick Cheney speech to VFW National Convention, Aug. 26, 2002
  
• "Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons." George W. Bush speech to U.N. General Assembly, Sept. 12, 2002
  
• "If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world." Ari Fleischer press briefing, Dec. 2, 2002
  
• "We know for a fact that there are weapons there." Ari Fleischer press briefing, Jan. 9, 2003
  
• "Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent." George W. Bush State of the Union address, Jan. 28, 2003
  
• "We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more." Colin Powell remarks to U.N. Security Council, Feb. 5, 2003
  
• "We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons - the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have." George W. Bush radio address, Feb. 8, 2003
  
• "So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership in Baghdad? My judgment, I think our judgment, has to be clearly not." Colin Powell remarks to U.N. Security Council, March 7, 2003
  
• "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." George W. Bush address to the nation, March 17, 2003
  
• "Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly ... all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes." Ari Fleischer press briefing, March 21, 2003
  
• "There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. And ... as this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them." Gen. Tommy Franks press conference, March 22, 2003
  
• "I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction." Defense Policy Board member Kenneth Adelman in Washington Post, Page A27, March 23, 2003
  
• "One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites." Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clark press briefing, March 22, 2003
  
• "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." Donald Rumsfeld ABC interview, March 30, 2003
  
• "Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find - and there will be plenty." Neo-conservative scholar Robert Kagan in Washington Post op-ed, Apr. 9, 2003
  
• "I think you have always heard, and you continue to hear from officials, a measure of high confidence that, indeed, the weapons of mass destruction will be found." Ari Fleischer press briefing, Apr. 10, 2003
  
• "We are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed some. And so we will find them." George W. Bush NBC interview, Apr. 24, 2003
  
• "There are people who in large measure have information that we need... so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country." Donald Rumsfeld press briefing, Apr. 25, 2003
  
• "We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do so." George W. Bush remarks to reporters, May 3, 2003
  
• "I'm absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We're just getting it just now." Colin Powell remarks to reporters, May 4, 2003
  
• "We never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country." Donald Rumsfeld Fox News interview, May 4, 2003
  
• "I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein - because he had a weapons program." George W. Bush remarks to reporters, May 6, 2003
  
• "U.S. officials never expected that we were going to open garages and find weapons of mass destruction." Condoleezza Rice Reuters interview, May 12, 2003
  
• "I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago - I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago - whether they were destroyed right before the war, (or) whether they're still hidden." Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, commander, 101st Airborne, press briefing, May 13, 2003
  
• "Before the war, there's no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical. I expected them to be found. I still expect them to be found." Gen. Michael Hagee, commandant of the Marine Corps, interview with reporters, May 21, 2003
  
• "Given time, given the number of prisoners now that we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going to find weapons of mass destruction." Gen. Richard Myers, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, NBC Today Show interview, May 26, 2003
  
• "They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer." Donald Rumsfeld remarks to Council on Foreign Relations, May 27, 2003
  
• "For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction (as justification for invading Iraq) because it was the one reason everyone could agree on." Paul Wolfowitz Vanity Fair interview, May 28, 2003
  
• "It was a surprise to me then - it remains a surprise to me now - that we have not uncovered weapons, as you say, in some of the forward dispersal sites. Believe me, it's not for lack of trying. We've been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they're simply not there." Lt. Gen. James Conway, commander, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, press interview, May 30, 2003
  
  Thanks to Jerry for this handy reference guide. For a broader historical perspective, check out Black Max's much more comprehensive timeline.

Quote
"A monopoly on the means of communication may define a ruling elite more precisely than the celebrated Marxian formula of 'monopoly in the means of production.' Since man extends his nervous system though channels of communication like the written word, the telephone, radio, etc., he who controls these media controls part of the nervous system of every member of society. The contents of these media become part of the contents of every individual's brain."
-- Hagbard Celine, Never Whistle While You're Pissing