AFN TV is really sort of entertaining, in a sick way. They don't run corporate ads during the normal commercial breaks; instead, it's basically just one public service announcement after another, warning me not to drink and drive, to seek help for my friends who are depressed, and to spend more time at the base gym. Interspersed with these are a bunch of military news segments (read: propaganda) which I guess are supposed to inspire me to carry on with the war on terrorism. Things like the "Why We're Here" segment on what a great job we're doing in Iraq, and how teaching Iraqi soldiers to march and cook is bringing the insurgency to a standstill. (Which is always funny to watch after CNN does a story on the most destructive suicide bombings to date in Iraq.) And last night the Pentagon News Channel did a half-hour story on Guantanimo Bay, and how humanely everyone there is treated, and what a great system they have set up. Which may or may not be true, but please don't whitewash it like nothing bad happens there at all and then feed it to me like I'm a five-year old. Oh, and some Air Force JAG lawyer comes on every now and then and reminds me that it's against the law for me as a military officer to make insulting or defaming statements against our political leadership. (Which could lead someone--certainly not me, though--to say, "If only we had some political leadership." But I won't say that, because that could be construed as insulting.)

Speaking of political leadership, write to your congressmen and senators and tell them to vote down the energy bill when it comes out of conference. Worst thing we could do to ourselves. I can't believe 35 Democrats actually voted for it. Shows you how broke the system is. Even the Cato Institute doesn't like it, so it really must be bad. And if the House gets its way, they're going to protect manufacturers of MBTE from lawsuits over contaminated drinking water.

On a related topic, new required reading: Crimes Against Nature, by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. A great book that details how the administration has basically sold their souls to the manufacturing and energy industries, made the EPA irrelevant (or complicit, depending on how you look at it), and are basically killing our kids in the name of making a few bucks. If you don't want to read the book, read his summary article in Rolling Stone.