The must see movie of the year. Watched it this weekend (nice fathers day surprise!) and while it contains all the hallmarks of a Michael Moore film- humor, irony, and confrontation- it does so in a more balanced manner than his previous films.

Some people- but sadly, not too many- might find “Sicko” surprising, but most of us know too well the insanity of our health care system in this country. The combined forces of big medicine and Congress, along with the blathering bunch of nitwits we call a media have successfully instilled in us the notion that in order to be healthy, you must be rich. The fact that most of the rest of the civilized world has figured out a way to pay for health care for everyone without running their country into the ground seemingly escapes us.

But in reality, it doesn’t escape anyone. As long as our countries health is a for profit system, then sick poor people will have either a poor quality of life- or die. And every morning, some white shirted ASSHOLE straightens his tie, or checks the hem on her skirt, and marches into work and gets busy saving the company money by denying claims, revoking policies, or by making premiums so hellishly expensive that normal people can’t pay. Every day thousands of “just doing my job” pricks make their stockholders another .000021 of a penny, and another family is ruined.

How do you look in the mirror? Do you have no shame? Michael Moore does. Watch Sicko.

In today’s White House press briefing, reporter Helen Thomas asked Tony Snow if there are “any members of the Bush family or this administration in this war.” Stunningly, Snow claimed that President Bush is actually on the “frontlines” of the war in Iraq:

SNOW: The President.

Fuck you Tony Snow, and the monster you work for. Fuck you.

Tony Blair hinted today at new restrictions on internet journalism, saying online news coverage had become “more pernicious and less balanced” than traditional political reporting.

In a farewell lecture on public life, he said that much of the media behaved like a “feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits”.

Maybe if you weren’t a simpering little dog, riding King Bush’s coattails into the Hague, the media wouldn’t be so mean to you, you warmonger.

Regulate this, jackass.

Left without a pretext for a military assault on Iran, the Bush administration finds itself in a position where it needs to prepare the world opinion for mass genocide with a compelling reason. With its control over the media, it is accomplishing this by denouncing Iran as the killer of American troops while causing civil unrest in Iraq. Tragically, the majority of the public has been paralyzed by fear and believes that the letting of blood is the only cure that will rid them of their unfounded panic. Iran’s woes are not limited to the ambitions of the neo-cons.

F-16s Respond to ‘Hostile Takeover’ Talk

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – F-16s intercepted a small plane after officials misinterpreted a phrase uttered by the pilot as his aircraft flew over military airspace: “hostile takeover.”

Once it was on the ground, more than a dozen armed federal agents and tactical deputies surrounded the plane. Federal authorities, who interviewed the pilot for two hours, said Tuesday that there was no threat to anyone and no charges would be filed.

Wow, imagine that. Intercepting an airplane. Whew, when did we get this sort of technology?

Haj is a Sudanese citizen who had been working for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network for only a matter of months when he was seized close to the Afghan border. The order for him to be detained apparently contained the number of his old passport, which had been lost two years previously and Haj thought the matter would quickly be cleared up. He was very wrong.

The US authorities have never formally charged Haj, though during the time of his incarceration at Guantanamo they have leveled various accusations at him – accusations that have changed from year to year. Among the allegations that have emerged during a series of Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) is that Haj ran a website supporting terrorism, that he sold Stinger missiles to Islamic militants in Chechnya and that he interviewed Osama bin Laden. He denies all the charges, though his lawyers point out that another Al Jazeera cameraman was present during an interview with Bin Laden. Could this be a case of guilt by association?

Continue with Chris Floyd’s Seasons in Hell: Voices From the American Gulag. And when you’re done, join me in a rousing chant of “America…Fuck Yeah!”

a day that broke up your mind?

Yeah they’re old and all, but what we’ve seen of this is very good indeed.

It’s just that demon life thats got me in its sway…

What was long feared by the few military officials in the know had come to pass: Chemical weapons that the Army dumped at sea decades ago finally ended up on shore in the United States.It’s long been known that some chemical weapons went into the ocean, but records obtained by the Daily Press show that the previously classified weapons-dumping program was far more extensive than ever suspected.

Whats the word we’re looking for? Oh yeah. Criminal. Check out the map below when planning your next beach trip:

More here.

The wrath of 2007: America’s great drought
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles

America is facing its worst summer drought since the Dust Bowl years of the Great Depression. Or perhaps worse still.

In the south-east, usually a lush, humid region, it is the driest few months since records began in 1895. California and Nevada, where burgeoning population centres co-exist with an often harsh, barren landscape, have seen less rain over the past year than at any time since 1924. The Sierra Nevada range, which straddles the two states, received only 27 per cent of its usual snowfall in winter, with immediate knock-on effects on water supplies for the populations of Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Court orders release of ‘enemy combatant’ in US

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) – President George W. Bush cannot order the military to indefinitely imprison a suspected al Qaeda operative, who is the only foreign national held in the United States as an “enemy combatant,” a court ruled on Monday.

The 2-1 appellate ruling was a major setback for Bush’s contention in the war on terrorism that he has the power to detain people in the United States without charging them.

See George, we have this thing called a Constitution. In fact, you swore to uphold it. Read it sometime.