As the U.S. spends tens of billions of dollars on a pre-emptive war in the Persian Gulf, we demand that this money be spent on the real global priority - the HIV/AIDS crisis.

AIDS is the greatest global threat to human security that exists today. It is more deadly than terrorism or the alleged existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. AIDS has already cost 25 million lives worldwide. In Africa, ground zero of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, whole communities are being wiped out and the future of the entire continent is at risk. Around the world, HIV infection rates continue to rise at alarming rates. In the U.S., the toll from AIDS is mounting, particularly among AIDS is a clear and present danger to all of humanity. That it is not the top priority of the U.S. government highlights just how misguided U.S. priorities are. This year, while the U.S. focuses on potential threats in Iraq and possible terrorist attacks at home, it is certain that AIDS will kill more than 3 million people globally, most of these in Africa.

AIDS is an urgent wake-up call to a deeper crisis in the state of the world. The huge global inequalities that fuel this pandemic are

Nurses are digging graves in front of the Al Mansour Hospital. Baghdad University is a smoking ruin. Other disasters loom, as the Red Cross warns that Baghdad's medical system is in complete collapse, and the millions of Iraqis dependent on the old Oil-for-Food program wait for rations that are no longer being delivered . "Water first, and then freedom," said one Iraqi man on a BBC report this morning.

Two musicians, Majid Al-Ghazali and Hisham Sharaf, came to our Hotel four days ago, hoping to call relatives outside Iraq on a satellite phone. Hisham's home was badly damaged during the war. "One month ago, I was the director of the Baghdad Symphony Orchestra," Hisham said with an ironic smile. "Now, what am I?"

We joked that he could direct the telephone exchange as he tinkered with our satellite phone's solar powered battery. I told Majid we had some sheet music and a guitar for him. "What are notes?" he said, "We don't even remember."

Majid had a particularly rough experience. During the first week of bombing, a neighbor called the secret police and turned him in for

Rare is the modern movie that can teach and touch you at the same time.  BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM at the Drexel East takes soccer, family. Coming-of-age and an undertone of ethnic tension and turns them all into a lovely visual curry well worth a trip to the theater.

Especially if the theater is the Drexel East.  In my first review of this series I lauded the downtown Arena Grand.  But my heart will always be with Bexley's Drexel, the classic old-timey throw-back to the days when theaters had heart.  Unfortunately, a few years ago our little east-side community tore down its other cinematic treasure, the old double-screen Bexley, to make way for---you guessed it---a McDonald's.  But there is justice in the world:  we locals forced that Mickey D's shut by passing an ordinance against drive-throughs.

Meanwhile, almost miraculously, Jeff & Kathy Frank's beautiful Drexel has survived in tact.  It is seasoned, classy, comfortable and unique, everything a theater should be that cares about what's on the screen.  I consider it an honor and a privilege to live a few blocks away. 

We Have Updated and Upgraded MediaChannel
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Dear Friends,

As is well known, truth is the first casualty of war. In this age of media wars, this is increasingly the case despite all the "breaking news" and instant analysis, which on reflection turns out not be as authoritative as it first sounds. That's why the MediaChannel (www.mediachannel.org) is needed more than ever.

We have responded to this greater need for perspectives on media with an updated and upgraded MediaChannel -- adding a new look and new features: more news, more perspectives and more coverage than ever.

A redesigned front page -- cleaner and more accessible. Media News Now -- from the wires of the Globalvision News Network updated 24/7. Expanded daily interactive weblog analyzing the global coverage of the war and its consequences.

More on the media coverage of the war in our War Peace Monitor

With U.S. troops occupying Iraq and the Bush administration making bellicose noises about Syria, let's consider some rarely mentioned words from the most revered writer in American history.

Mark Twain was painfully aware of many people's inclinations to go along with prevailing evils. When slavery was lawful, he recalled, abolitionists were "despised and ostracized, and insulted" -- by "patriots." As far as Twain was concerned, "Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul."

With chiseled precision, he wielded language as a hard-edged tool. "The difference between the right word and the almost right word," he once commented, "is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." Here are a few volts of Twain's lightning that you probably never saw before:

* "Who are the oppressors? The few: the king, the capitalist and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat."