The Decline and Fall of Western Civ for 27 Jan.

After reading: wash, rinse and repeat.

• Question: How many U.S. troops died in Iraq last year? If you answered over 1000, you are misinformed. If you answered over 2000, you have been brainwashed by the mainstream media. The number, in fact, is more around 850. This is a far lower number than the murder rate in any major blue state city. New York City alone, for example, suffered 579 murders last year. And while New York city has a population of slightly more than 8 million, Iraq has a population of almost 27 million.
  
  My point here is that the lower than expected number of folks who showed up in town today to protest American bloodshed in the Iraq war would be better served by addressing issues of violent crime here at home. Heck, I'd be happy if they were doing something like protesting the over 55 thousand vehicle fatalities that happen on U.S. highways each year. We all have problems with bad drivers.
  
  Keep in mind, since the Democrats came to power on a platform promising withdrawal from Iraq, there have been over 230 military deaths.
  
  AP reports tens of thousands marched Saturday in an anti-war demonstration in Washington. Marching with them was Jane Fonda, in what she said was her first anti-war demonstration in 34 years. The rally on the Mall unfolded peacefully, although about 300 protesters tried to rush the Capitol, running up the grassy lawn to the front of the building.
  
  Click here for more biased coverage of the protest from The Washington Post.

• Speaking of violent crimes in major blue state cities, latimes.com reports a smoldering body, believed to be that of a woman, was found on a quiet Playa del Rey street after residents called to report a rubbish fire.

• Reuters reports the planned roll-out of hand geometry scanners in all New York City government agencies has sparked union cries of "geoslavery" and assertions that technology developed for security will be used to track, label and control workforces.
  
  The use of hand geometry and other biometric data, like facial and iris recognition, is not new -- the University of Georgia pioneered the use of hand geometry when it installed scanners in its student dining hall in 1974.

• Citing the controversy surrounding the Dakota Fanning film Hounddog, the leader of the state Senate Republicans says he wants the government to review scripts before cameras start rolling in North Carolina, according to StarNewsOnline.com.

• The Washington Post reports Mexico is in the grip of the worst tortilla crisis in its modern history. Dramatically rising international corn prices, spurred by demand for the grain-based fuel ethanol, have led to expensive tortillas. That, in turn, has led to lower sales for vendors and angry protests by consumers.

• President George W. Bush's father accused the news media of "personal animosity" toward his son and said he found the criticism so unrelenting he sometimes talked back to his television set, according to Reuters.
  
  

  "It's one thing to have an adversarial ... relationship -- hard-hitting journalism -- it's another when the journalists' rhetoric goes beyond skepticism and goes over the line into overt, unrelenting hostility and personal animosity," former President George Bush said.

• AP reports New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton blamed President Bush on Saturday for misusing authority given him by Congress to act in Iraq. Unlike colleague Sen. John Kerry, who was for the war before he was against the war, Clinton conceded "I take responsibility."

• Finally, Republicans, newly demoted to the minority, say they are suffering abuse despite repeated Democratic promises that theirs would be a more open, democratic and inclusive rule, according to AP. What goes around comes around. It's too bad they didn't think about that BEFORE the election.

Tags: Decline and Fall of Western Civ, Open Thread, Wire, Headlines, United States
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