Issue Date: May 11, 2003
War on the Web
With debate over the war in Iraq a national obsession, having good inside sources can be valuable to those looking for ammunition.
For military junkies, defendamerica.mil is clearly one of the top Web sites; it's run by the Defense Department and has specific information not available other places. There are regular reports from the battlefields of the world, loads of up-to-date military pictures and press conference transcripts in case you want to know everything Donald Rumsfeld said in today's news conference.
If you want to tell celebrity peace activists they don't speak for you, check out HollywoodPeace.com. The site lists all the stars who have made public statements for and against the war (care to guess which list is longer?). The site is decidedly anti the celebrity antiwar movement; it even called for a "Boycott Hollywood Weekend" April 25-27, during which no one would buy movie tickets, DVDs or CDs. According to site creator Greg Oglethorpe, at press time, more than 100,000 visitors had signed up to boycott.
HollywoodPeace.com lets you put in writing what you think of the celebrity activists. Each night, an e-mail message is fired off to the stars who have had notes addressed to them that day.
Generating the most attention is Michael Moore, the documentarian who caused a stir at this year's Oscars with his anti-war diatribe. He's the target of about 12,000 messages posted at HollywoodPeace.com. Coming in second, with 8,000, are the Dixie Chicks, who famously said they were "ashamed" President Bush is from Texas, their home state. "What sticks in my craw," Oglethorpe says, "is that celebrities can stand in front of that billion-watt microphone and say their piece, but we can't talk back to them."
Well, now we can.
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