If you're trying to get a sense of the times, you're in good company. Seems like most people are glued to the radio, the TV, the Net, and the papers trying to ferret out a sense of which way the nation's moving. Nobody wants to be on the losing side, which lends an increasing sense of ugency to the enterprise. We're seeing an increasing antipathy toward polemics of late, however, and then there's the matter of cognitive dissonance—the tension that arises from incongruities between one's attitudes and behavior.

Works like this: Our soldiers are fighting a war overseas. If you think they shouldn't be there, it's a problem. If you think they're doing something necessary, it's less of a problem. Since we don't like problems, and we can't change what's going on over there, changing our own attitudes to minimize the discomfort is a natural response.

A Day Late

Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder screwed himself on Tuesday during a performance in Denver. He figured that since he had a big audience and it was a rock concert an' everything, it'd be a good opportunity to whip up some anti-Bush sentiment. Bad move.

Seems that as part of the show Vedder "impaled a mask of President Bush on a microphone stand, then slammed it to the stage." This drew mixed cheers and boos.

But dozens of angry fans walked out during the encore because of the macabre display with the Bush mask, which he wore for the song Bushleaguer, a Bush-taunting song from the band's latest album, Riot Act.

Maybe it was the sight of fans streaming toward the door that had Vedder backpedaling frantically. "Just to clarify," he said later in the show, "we support the troops."

Speak for Yourself

Hard not to think of Machiavelli when I read that Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch told the crowd at a conference in California yesterday that Americans have an "inferiority complex" because we worry too much about world opinion.

"I think what's important is that the world respects us, much more important than they love us," added Mr Murdoch, who is Australian but took American citizenship in 1985 to get around ownership rules that barred foreigners from owning TV stations.

Crashing the Party

Seems that the German government is making some friendly overtures this morning, and how about this from France:

The Prime Minister of France, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, is expected to make a statement today denouncing anti-Americanism and making it clear that France is "on the side of democracy" in the Iraq war.

A Thousand Words

That's what a picture is supposed to be worth. How would you value this one?

The Los Angeles Times editorial board has decided it's only worth two words: "You're fired! That's because it's a doctored photo, put together by Brian Walski, who freely admits that he used PhotoShop to blend a couple of photos in order to "improve the composition." The idea was to show "a British soldier directing Iraqi civilians to take cover from Iraqi fire on the outskirts of Basra." The LA Times ran it on their cover last week, too, so this was kinda serious. You can read their retraction here, and see the original photographs that Walski used. They caught him when somebody pointed out that the dude in the lower left appears to have a clone in the center right. Oops.

Making You Talk

The Iraqis are pretty good at it. Interesting stories are coming up everywhere this morning as our reporters are finally getting to inspect a few of the regime's torture chambers.

Here's a shot of the "communications facility" in the Abu Al Khasib police station. What, you may wonder, did they use the car tires and electric cable for?

One marine chief who had spent time in the Balkans on UN service told us his thoughts on the tyres and cable.

He said: "This is something we came across a lot in Bosnia.

"The interrogator would stand on the tyres while prodding the captive with the live cable. His own feet were insulated from the high voltage by the rubber.

By the way, MSNBC reports here that in their estimation, rescued POW Jessica Lynch wasn't tortured during her captivity. That's funny, considering what the NY Daily News has to say about that.

Her broken bones are a sure sign of torture, said Amy Waters Yarsinske, an ex-Navy intelligence officer and an expert on POW treatment.

"It's awfully hard to break both legs and an arm in a truck accident," Yarsinske said.

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's thugs are known to use steel bars to bash their prisoners' limbs, she said.

How About Jobs?

That's the obvious question to ask in response to this story about Seattle's plan to install Giving Meters downtown. Jordan Royer, who works for Neighborhood Action Team Seattle, explains:

"We're looking at it as a community building tool," said Royer.

The meters would offer people a chance to express compassion, and even serve as conversation pieces or public art, Royer said.

11:57:31 AM