The Good News, and the Bad News. posted by Richard Seymour

The good news is, Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 911 has topped the Box Office in the US this weekend outranking movies that had far wider theatre showings.

The bad news is, Iyad Allawi, the CIA's new stooge in Iraq , has written (or put his name to) a devious, pompous and ludicrous article in the Independent on Sunday. In it, he gushes:

As Iraqis, we thank the coalition for the sacrifices made by its soldiers and its people for the liberation and rebuilding of Iraq, and for the contributions by all the countries, international organisations and NGOs that have braved the risks to assist Iraq in its time of need. We hope for the continued support of the global community as we Iraqis take the crucial steps in assuming responsibility for our own future.

So, Dr Allawi thinks he can speak for the whole of Iraq now? The opinion polls suggest not . While 23% of Iraqis are prepared to back Allawi, 61% do not. And on the "continued support of the global community", he seems again to be out of touch with most Iraqi, of whom precisely 1% support the coalition. Underline, repeat, highlight with big exclamation fucking marks:

1%

The good news is, George W. Bush has allowed himself to go under the spotlight in an interview for RTE , and produced a few crackers:

1) "Well, I think, first of all, most of Europe supported the decision in Iraq..."

2) "Well, I think, first of all, you've got a democracy in Turkey. And you've got a democracy emerging in Afghanistan. You've got a democracy in Pakistan..." [Emphasis added]

3) "He said -- the United Nations said, disarm or face serious consequences. That's what the United Nations said. And guess what? He didn't disarm. He didn't disclose his arms. And, therefore, he faced serious consequences. But we have found a capacity for him to make a weapon. See, he had the capacity to make weapons. He was dangerous..."

The bad news is, the Whitehouse have now pulled Laura Bush out of an interview on RTE because they say the interviewer was disrespectful etc etc. The Whitehouse lodged a complaint with RTE, and Carole Coleman, who interviewed Bush, received a call from the Whitehouse rebuking her for her tone.

The good news is, the new "Miscellany" section of the blog that has been advertised on the sidebar for some weeks now is up and running. It deals with things like the new Shrek movie, Hume on causality, Kasparov versus Deep Blue and Lacan's philosophy of love.

The bad news is, its the sort of assorted tittle-tattle that I wouldn't even waste my own time with if it didn't match my own peculiar obsessions. And there's very little editorial control going on.