LOGIC & SANITY has comprehensive coverage of the ongoing school hostage crisis in Beslan, including wire reports from various Russian news agencies, TV screen captures, and even a diagram of the school.

We talk quite a bit about a "War on Terror" here in America, but Russians are living the nightmare daily.

BENJAMIN L. GINSBERG complains about media bias, in Wednesday's Washington Post.

A $500,000 ad buy made by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth brings searing media scrutiny and "proof" of illegal coordination based on a lawyer (me) representing both the Bush-Cheney campaign and the Swift Boat Veterans; on an accountant working for Tom DeLay's political action committee; and on a $200,000 contributor to the group who is not a major donor to Bush-Cheney 2004 but who does know Karl Rove.

Meanwhile, the media give practically no scrutiny to a $63 million, five-month, negative-ad buy done by Democratic "527" groups (the Media Fund, MoveOn.org and others) with a revolving door of connections to the Kerry campaign.

I used to think campaign finance reform was a good idea. Now I know better. There will always be loopholes, as long as the First Amendment to the Constitution remains intact.

And yes, the media is biased. But you knew that, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this weblog.

...THIS is what will really hurt the Kerry campaign.

A U.S. INFANTRY COMPANY JUST CAME THROUGH HERE!

IF YOU HAD BEEN VIETNAMESE---

We might have burned your house

We might have shot your dog

We might have shot you . . .

We might have raped your wife and daughter

We might have turned you over to your government for torture

We might have taken souvenirs from your property

We might have shot things up a bit . . .

We might have done ALL these things to you

and your whole TOWN!

If it doesn't bother you that American soldiers do these things every day to the Vietnamese simply because they are 'Gooks,' then picture YOURSELF as one of the silent VICTIMS.

HELP US TO END THE WAR BEFORE THEY TURN YOUR SON INTO A BUTCHER or a corpse.

VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR

And to think that one of those Vietnam vets recently had the nerve to call ME a "baby-killer"...

DO THESE MONSTERS think this will win sympathy for their cause?

A heavily armed gang has seized up to 400 hostages at a Russian school near Chechnya and threatened to kill 50 children for every one of their group who was killed.

A few years ago, I used to feel some human sympathy for the people of Chechnya. They have been treated horribly by the Russians. But killing children doesn't do much to convince me that their cause is just.

Sick bastards.

FIRST OF ALL, I'd to announce that Dean Esmay is a Living God, and that I owe him my first-born. The folks at Hosting Matters are also minor deities.

Secondly, for those of you who were wondering: no, my site wasn't hacked. As far as we can tell, there was a memory buffer overflow problem which caused some of my data files to become corrupted. A bit of tech-weenie advice: don't install your MT-based weblog on Berkeley flat files -- use MySQL instead. You'll thank me later.

Finally, I have this to say:

MY GOVERNOR CAN KICK YOUR GOVERNOR'S ASS!

Speak Up.

ANTI-WAR PROTESTORS gathered Sunday in San Diego's Balboa Park, in an event timed to coincide with the opening of the Republican National Convention in New York.

The Protest Warriors were also present.

We managed to keep our groups widely separated, although several of the protestors came over in an attempt to "educate" us. Police were visibly present, but remained on the sidelines.

Despite a few slightly heated arguments (which monitors on both sides managed to defuse), the interaction remained peaceful and, for the most part, respectful (except for the guy who called me a "baby-killer," and a few other casually hurled insults).

After the festivities were over, everyone on both sides began to peacefully disperse from the area.

Well, almost everyone – Protest Warrior Brian was leaving the parking lot, when an angry young man in a Ché T-Shirt jumped in front of his car, screaming obscenities.

Earlier that afternoon, Ché shows us his IQ.

To avoid hitting the man, Brian stepped on the brakes.

Ché then leapt on to the hood of the car, and proceeded to smash Brian's windshield with his fists.

Brian, who is all of 98 lbs. soaking wet, scrambled out of his car, as Ché continued to attempt to hit him. Police were on the scene within seconds.

Brian is OK, except for the broken windshield, and a little bit of blood spatter on his shirt.

Ché, on the other hand, was taken to the hospital to treat the deep cuts in his hands, and presumably spent the night in jail. Brian plans to press assault charges.

Ché goes for an ambulance ride.
Photo by Joanie

We're still not sure what set the guy off, or if he was just high on amphetamines...

Check out the rest of Joanie's photos here.