This Is ONE Fish Story That Won’t Be One Of Dubya’s Greatest Moments As President…

(Newsday) ‘Intersex’ bass discovered in Potomac River

(WashPost) Male Bass Across Region Found to Be Bearing Eggs: Pollution Concerns Arise In Drinking-Water Source

(SeattleTimes) Best moment as president was catching a largemouth bass, Bush says

That’s Going Too Far: Bush’s fish story, part II

I think this cartoon (and its source stories) speaks for itself, but what I want to talk about is the impending 9/11 Fifth Anniversary mediablitz, and especially, the “docu-drama” going to be shown on ABC that purports to be based on the 9/11 Commission Report, but contains a whole host of inaccuracies, all to the benefit of the current administration. Seems they had themselves vetted by the Republican committee chair and promised Rush Limbaugh through a friend that it would skewer the Clinton administration. Now, ordinarily, I’m very laissez-faire in the free speech department, but I believe that common carriers like television networks have a duty not to promulgate propaganda, particularly when, as originally planned, this docudrama was going to be shown to school kids in study programs. Fortunately, SCHOLASTIC has decided NOT to support it with study materialsScholastic squashes ‘The Path to 9/11’ guide (replacing them with materials “focusing on media literacy, critical thinking and historical background.”), but heck, a lot of ADULTS are going to watch this and think it’s basically a dramatization of the 9/11 report, which seems to be FAR from the case. Anyway, check out Media Matters for more information. Think Progress has a petition here if you care to protest. The innocent victims of 9/11 deserve to be memorialized by the truth, not by partisan fingerpointing. ABC claims that any criticism is misplaced because “editing” had not yet been finished…less than a week before the showing of a five-hour miniseries? Oh, yeah 🙂

UPDATE: MoveOn.Org has this to say: “In a little over 48 hours, ABC will air a five-hour “docudrama” on the 9/11 attacks. The movie was written and produced by a right-wing activist who fabricated key scenes to blame Democrats and defend Republicans.1 It’s so partisan that even Rush Limbaugh was surprised ABC decided to air it.2 And an FBI agent who was brought in to consult on the docudrama quit because, he said, “they were making things up.”3 …It’s not just that ABC’s movie is slanted. Big parts of it are simply untrue. The producer himself even admitted to simply improvising a key scene which depicts the Clinton administration letting bin Laden go when they had him in their sights[^]a complete fabrication.5 Last night, the movie’s star, Harvey Keitel, said “It turned out not all the facts were correct.”6” Click here to sign MoveOn’s petition going to ABC.

Apologies To Stephen Colbert, But Today’s Topic Is … Bears!

(NatGeo) Polar Bears Being Considered for U.S. Endangered List

(NYTimes) Bush’s Chat With Novelist Alarms Environmentalists

(WorldNetDaily) A GREEN GOSPEL–Poll: 70% of evangelicals see global warming threat

In the Gospel According to Dubyus, global warming is, of course, something to be “studied” rather than something that needs anything DONE. That’s because there’s still money to be made by polluting the environment by Big Oil, money to be made by felling trees by Big Lumber. Business’s idea of alternative fuel is coal or nuclear power. But the polar ice caps are shrinking. Evangelical Christians are not known for their stand on the environment, but many of them have come to the conclusion that if God has given man stewardship of the earth, then we have an obligation to each other and the rest of God’s creation not to destroy His handiwork by our own carelessness and greed.