It’s been a disinterested week here at Insurgent Headquarters.

     A couple of nights ago, I was hard at work being an editor (you know, chain-smoking Pall Malls and yelling “I NEED THAT INTERVIEW BY TUESDAY, JENKINS!” into the telephone), when one of our beloved insurgents called up on the other line. “Are you watching the president’s speech? ”, she inquired. I wasn’t. In fact, I didn’t even know the president was giving a speech that night. As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t interested.

     Only hours before the speech, which was centered on the Iraq war and broadcast before a stoic (bored?) audience of Fort Bragg soldiers, the major television networks had yet to decide if they would air it. Isn’t it unusual that a presidential speech during wartime would receive such a tepid national response? Why could this possibly be? The next morning, curiosity got the best of me, so I looked up a transcript of the president’s speech. Here’s an excerpt:

“Ladies and gentlemen ... brave soldiers ... September the 11th ... freedom ... turned a corner ... democracy ... freedom ... freedom ... terrorists who hate democracy and freedom ... spreading democracy and freedom in the Middle East ... freedom ... Saddam ... September 11th ... freedom ... thank you and God bless America.”

     Are you getting the idea? This speech wasn’t exactly “a day which will live in infamy” or “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Instead, it’s the same old line of tired bullshit we’ve been hearing from the president for three years. No plans to extricate ourselves from the madness in Iraq. No honest evaluation of the escalating violence there. And no mention of Osama bin Laden. No wonder America is tuning out.

     President Bush’s approval ratings are so low that he’s finally been forced to pay attention to them. Hoping for a bounce in those polls, no doubt, he went on national TV Tuesday night, and turned in an extremely unconvincing performance on how we’re winning the war in Iraq. The rest of us, who cannot escape the daily images of death and destruction from the war, know better. Instead of a bounce in the polls, Bush awoke the next day to a new Zogby poll saying that 43% of Americans would support impeachment if it could be proven Bush intentionally misled the country about going to war in Iraq. To us here at Insurgent Headquarters, that evidence does indeed exist in the Downing Street Memos, which have been finally gaining steam in the mainstream American press.

     Maybe next time, the president should go on TV wearing nothing but a red, white, and blue Speedo. It wouldn’t make his claims that we’re winning the Iraq war any more believable, but you can be damn sure the networks would have no qualms about airing his speech.

     In other news this week, we have a new columnist here at Insurgent49. I’d like to take a moment to introduce Kevin Morford, an Anchorage attorney, activist, and counsel for the Alaska Green party. Kevin has been writing interesting, knowledgeable, and thought provoking articles for us for several weeks now. His column, The Bramble Bush, debuts this week. Welcome aboard, Kevin, we’re thrilled to have you.

     Now ... I can already sense the angry emails being typed. Yes, I know all four of our columnists are white men. No, I’m not exactly thrilled about it, either, but my hands are tied. The columnist position requires a person who has demonstrated the ability to write well thought out opinion pieces, and turn them in on a regular basis. At present, Kevin Morford fits that bill. We have room for more columns, however, and would definitely be interested in adding another (who is NOT a white male) in the near future. If you’d like to be a columnist for I-49 or know someone who would be, all you have to do is become a regular contributor. Send us an email at info@insurgent49.com for more details.

     In the meantime, we’re considering dressing Kevin Morford up in high heels and a blonde wig. Okay with you, Kevin?