On Wikipedia's current events page - two things happened recently that I thought were very note-worthy. I'd like to hear what people think about them... although, that's not very likely to happen since this isn't a post titled: "What's up with Tom & Katie".

Anyways. The first story was: South Africa has become the fifth country in the world where same-sex marriages are recognized, after Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The Constitutional Court declared that current marriage laws are unconstitutional and must be changed within a year.

I found the line "current marriage laws are unconstitutional" very interesting. Because here, in the US, we've somehow found a way around the mindset that banning two people who love each-other from marrying based on their gender is not a restriction of a person's rights. It's been very carefully packaged as "protecting the sanctity of marriage" and not "butting into a gay person's personal love life".


Secondly: The US Military has been covertly paying to run news stories written by US Military "information operations" troops. The stories, usually praising the work of the U.S. and Iraqi troops and denouncing insurgents, have been translated into Arabic and published in many Baghdad newspapers.

I think that in both these news stories lies the same problem - "how does gay marriage and US propaganda in Iraq have anything to do with the other?" Wording. Just as it is absolutely necessary for anti-gay organizations and individuals to keep the wording "protecting marriage" in the argument... It is just as necessary for US propaganda to drive-home the linking of "insurgents" and "terrorist". The two have to be one in order for their message to stick.


According to answers dot com - an insurgency is an armed rebellion by any irregular armed force that rises up against an established authority, government, or administration. Those carrying out an insurgency are “insurgents”. Insurgents conduct sabotage and harassment. Insurgents usually are in opposition to a civil authority or government primarily in the hope of improving their condition.

That last line is really the only thing that counts. We've had two... almost three years to get the Iraqi people running water and electricity... to get oil production back on track. All of these things are still far below pre-occupation levels.

Their water is polluted... there is little to no electricity/ air-conditioning in 130+ temperatures... it's estimated that unemployment is around 60%... it's a mess.

And it's not that we just haven't applied the financial support that is needed to get these necessities up and running - that's not the case at all, the money is gone, pissed away on no-bid contracts and security for companies that haven't even lifted a finger. It's gotten so bad that Bush has actually started a website asking for personal donations.