driven to distraction...

while the extremelybloodylikely prospect of war looms directly overhead, here's another very interesting oil-related story about to unfold.

of course, it's not in any way taking advantage of the fact that everyone's a little, er, preoccupied right now. oh no.

...what was that being said about it having nothing at all to do with oil in the slightest? hrrm.

(heads up comes from Paul the Postman, BTW.)

[addendum as of 8:49am CST on Thursday, 20 March 2003: Fi just sent me this. which is good news of a sort, although rather small in comparison to everything else. :I

oh, and if you've been having problems posting comments due to it demanding a password of you, sorry---my mistake. it's fixed now, so comment if you wish.]

while i've rather lightly brushed up against the topic, i'd like to say now that i really wish i could write something brilliant right now about this whole mess, but i can't. what can i say that hasn't been said already? just saying "er, this is really fucked up," doesn't quite cut it, does it?

someone once mentioned to me the joke that SBC really stands for "sodomised by cowboys."

an awfully apt description for this particular period in time. wonder if that's how it'll be demarcated in the history books? "The SBC Era: How the World was Lost."

also, Spaz got the latest issue of CBLDF's Busted! yesterday. full of interesting news about their ongoing fight to avenge trouncings of freedom-of-speech laws as regards anything and everything to do with comics. in it was an update on the Texas vs. Jesus Castillo case; the crux of which blows my mind every time i read it.

basically, it comes down to this: apparently, one isn't supposed to sell pornographic comics to adults of legal age. at least, not in Texas. because, you know, comics are only meant for kids. nevermind the fact that the arresting officer even made note of the fact that the "Adult" section was clearly marked and set off from the rest of the store, and that all materials within that section (including the translated hentai manga purchased by the undercover officer) were all clearly marked as "adult material." you can read more about the case here, and an interview with Jesus here. there's also another Newsarama followup here.

the CBLDF and other likeminded organisations need support more than ever, especially now, when voices of dissent seem to automatically equal treason in an alarming number of minds.