Come On...Invade Iraq! Unless You're...Chicken!

"Paris -- Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday said countries like France that oppose swift military action against Iraq are afraid of upholding their responsibility to disarm Baghdad by force.

Powell's comments, in an interview broadcast on France-Inter radio and translated into French, were clearly directed at French President Jacques Chirac, who believes that U.N. weapons inspectors should be given more time and muscle to complete their job. "It is not a satisfactory solution to continue inspections indefinitely because certain countries are afraid of upholding their responsibility to impose the will of the international community," Powell said."

More here.

Key-rist -Powell's descent into the Bush Hawks' fortress of idiocy has finally come to this: He's taunting France's guts to fight. Remember, this guys is supposed to not just a diplomat but the Head Diplomat. My seventh graders have better diplomatic skills than this!

Thinking Back...

The pro-war bloogers and pundits are busy trying to dismiss the massive protests that took place around the world and involved tens of millions last weekend. "Misguided," "uninformed," and "not representative of the common citizen" are common labels. Clearly, they are stunned by the level of involvement, especially by native New Yorkers, who are very vocal about having their grief hijacked by the Bush Administration. These people braved sub-zero temperatures (many on multiple occasions), harrassment, and other indignities to show their opposition to the administrations insane policies. One wonders if many of the middle-of the road Democrats and the rest of the Right, comfortable for a long time in their world of team leaders, strategy meetings, blast faxes, spineless pandering to corporate interest and other affronts to democracy envied the level of turn out for something they can't control or jump in front of and pretend to lead. Perhaps they're saying to themselves, "sheesh, where were these people when we tried to impeach Clinton or during Whitewater or the Contract on America or the recent tax cut?" Maybe they were never really behind you then, either.

Will The Last One Out Of This Democracy Please Turn Out The Lights?

There's a peace march scheduled in New York City today. But it will be more like a peace standstill. Unlike the 602 cities around the globe where protesters plan to march together to protest a war on Iraq, New York authorities won't allow it.
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But there's more to it than that. The Bush administration - which is in the midst of trying to sell the war to the public - filed a brief urging the judges to uphold denial of the permit. And the Bloomberg administration has no intention of forcing a St. Patrick's Day standstill instead of a parade - even though it's bigger and likely more raucous.

There you have it people: The Bush administration is working to deny individuals their right to protest its policies. Is this the democracy you paid for?

Story here.