(SUBMISSION) Somenbody Out There's Watching (moved from ATSNN)

I originally worked this up on June 1'st. But I couldn't get it to post anywhere.

Iraqi Crockie

This morning, Tuesday June 1, 2004, I got up and read the paper. I get the St. Petersburg Times. A headline on the front page titled "Iraqis accuse U.S. of meddling" caught my attention. I was considering doing a little research and possibly contributing a post. I wanted to copy and paste it into my word processor rather than scan it in using OCR, less of a hassle.

Curiously I couldn't find it on the times web site. But then I did a search in Google for the headline and found it, or at least thought I found it, on the Guardian, www.guardian.co.uk...

However, the article at the Guardian was different from the article in the Times. OK, the article in the Times was attributed to the Washington Post. I go to the Post web site www.washingtopost.com....

I look for the "Iraqis accuse U.S. of meddling". That turns up 7172 results, but not the headline. Now, I am not about to pick through all that meddling. Instead I look for "Yawer" and "Pachachi", the principals of the controversy, and I find an article listed under a different headline "Iraqi Council Vote Postponed". Now this is the exact same article verbatim.

BTW, You have to register to get to the Post article, So now my "Unemployed Ass" has been transformed to a self-employed, Information Technology Manager with 1-49 employees. Anyway I do have an MCSA; maybe I'm not lying. If I ever do find work, optimistically it might be doing something along those lines. Realistically though, towel drying cars is more likely, and groveling beggar was not on the checklist, But I Digress.

The Post link, if it works, is www.washingtonpost.com... . You will probably have to register if you want to see the original source. I can copy verbatim once I get on their site. By this time I've got five Notepads and 12 URL's open at the same time and I am so confused I am wondering what in the Hell I am doing this for? But, by now, my curiosity has peaked to an absolute boil.

If you are having trouble following this rant; trust me so am I. I guess I smoked to much LDS and shot up one too many hits of Peyote: This is getting harder to follow than a white rabbit in an Alaskan blizzard. Now don't go away, It gets worse.

Anyway, while I'm at the Times www.sptimes.com... looking for "Iraqis accuse U.S. of meddling" I come across an AP Headline link entitled "Iraq council disbands CPA; still in power". I cut and paste that article to a notepad. Then I go make a cup of coffee in the microwave and go back to the original link so I can copy the URL.

After I copy the URL I click again (Accidentally) and the same link lead takes me to different headline. I have, however, already copied the original article. So I was wondering what was different. Well, the new article is titled "Interim Government Begins Work in Iraq".

It turns out I'm not completely Nuts. To their credit, the articles are identical, Only the titles are different. OK: So What?

Let's say you are a casually scanning your morning paper and you just read the articles that grab your attention. You know: You're an informed Neo-Con and you don't have time for the routine everyday BS: You just want to catch the important stuff.

Here is a little multiple-choice quiz you can take for yourself.

Which is more likely to get you to read the article?

Question 1.

A. "Iraqis accuse U.S. of meddling"

Or

B. "Iraqi Council Vote Postponed"

Question 2.

A. "Iraq council disbands CPA; still in power"

Or

B. "Interim Government Begins Work in Iraq".

Now I don't know what you think, but I think if you chose answer "A" for both questions you would be correct.

Now it seems to me, that newspapers usually like attention grabbers. So: who or what caused these changes to occur? I guess this is multiple choice too.

A. The editors made those changes totally independently because they were the best descriptions for the articles.

B. I'm a Psychotic Paranoid Son Of A Bitch with too much time on his hands.

C. Some outside influence said: "Tone it down a bit.".

Please tell me the correct answer is not C.

As for the original critique I was going to do, Not right now, Maybe later, or somebody else can carry the cross for awhile.

Right now, I've got to go and drown those damn kittens.

P.S. I know I am going to get accused of not producing evidence, but this is supposed to be a Post, Not a Blog or a Website. I have the evidence. I just didn't sit down to write a book.

Peace and Love