temporarily speechless

now playing: jackson browne, "that girl could sing"


somedays, man...i just don't know what to make of what goes on in people's heads.

you see someone do something that's just out-and-out stupid, and you're stuck, standing there shaking your head, jaw hanging open...and of the thousands of things you'll think of later, retorts you could've used, comeback lines, whatever...nothing pops into your head or out of your mouth at first. whatever it was that struck you into such a state has left you unable to react for a moment.

a few minutes ago, i opened up CNN.com to find a headline that stated, verbatim, "Panel: Iraq not involved in 9/11 attacks". it went on to read, "the panel investigating the september 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks found that there was 'no credible evidence that iraq and al qaeda cooperated on attacks against the united states,' according to a staff report released today. the report contradicts recent statements from the bush administration that saddam hussein had ties to al qaeda."

now, for those of you who may also frequent the site, you may be aware of their QuickVote poll that crops up on their index page...on the very same webpage containing this story, almost impossible not to see on a full-screen rendering of the page, is the QuickVote.

todays' QuickVote question: "do you think al qaeda and iraq cooperated to attack the u.s. on 9/11?"


so, of course, i click "no" and the vote button, which opens the results in a new window. the results as of my vote were 70% no, 30% yes.

yeah, that's right. a full thirty percent, or 23,284 people believed - even after having been exposed on that very page to the news that the 9/11 commision found no such evidence - that saddam was at the drawing board with osama when the attacks were masterminded and set into motion.



the realist in me shouldn't be surprised in the least. i see evidence almost every day of just how willing people are to believe whatever they're told...my mind flashes back to the scene in so i married an axe murderer where charlies' mother tells him that the weekly world news has the sixth largest circulation in the world...

so somebody is buying all those tabloid papers...watching all that reality tv...snatching up all those britney spears CDs...

...and buying into the propoganda that's being flung at them about what's going on in our country.

28,000 people! keep in mind - this is only people who take the time to vote in a non-scientific internet poll on a single news website....and it's enough to fill a minor league ballpark, a hockey rink, an outdoor concert arena...

i just can't believe it. seriously, WTF?


there are people - large numbers of them - who are so devoted to this administration that they're willing to believe the voices in their head over the voices of reason.




this is a terrifying, terrifying time in the history of our nation.



UPDATE: as of 11pm this evening, with 196978 votes registered, the number of people who absolutely refuse to face facts has escalated to 60,930, or 31 percent of the vote count.

you poor, dumb bastards.