As of now, the Oscars are on. We think they will stay on. Thousands of anti-war protesters are expected. Protest organizers say they need the air-time and coverage because the networks aren't giving them enough.

We support anti-war protests but we think this will backfire on the anti-war movement, particularly in the U.S. We doubt those who tune in to watch the Oscars, ourselves included, are going to look at the protesters and say, "Gee, I should be with them tonight," or even, "I'd like to hear what they have to say." We think protesting during the Oscars will weaken the message and hurt the cause.

There's a time and a place for everything. These actors worked hard all year to create movies to entertain us and make us think. They have earned their night. For three hours of a Sunday evening, we should give them their due and leave the war out of it. Except, of course, for those of them that choose to use their 45 seconds of acceptance time to oppose the war. We think that's fine. It's their time and they can do what they want with it.

The winners are being allowed to say whatever they want on any topic, including the war. Presenters, such as noted anti-war activist Susan Sarandon, however, have to stick to the script.

Again, we are all for the participants in the Oscars expressing their opposition to the war during their speeches. But we think the protestors should pick another night--or limit their protests to the afternoon before the ceremonies begin.

Update on Oscar participants:

A small number of celebrities, including Will Smith and Angelina Jolie - both due to present awards - and Cate Blanchett and Tom Hanks, have pulled out of the ceremony, voicing disgust that America's annual parade of self-congratulation is going ahead despite the war. Designers Giorgio Armani and Collette Dinnigan have cancelled trips to Hollywood to dress the stars and left it to their US-based associates to do the pampering instead.

Donning an anti-war totem is also popular. Among the actors who have said that they will wear anti-war badges are nominees Day-Lewis, Adrien Brody, Pedro Almodóvar Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore as well as veteran star Dustin Hoffman.

Ben Affleck is among those who has apparently not yet made up his mind. Instead he has announced that the final decision will rest with his stylist.

The 500 photographers, TV cameramen and reporters who normally work the carpet have been told that this year the stars do not want to talk and have undergone FBI background checks before they were issued with their credentials.

The owner of the internet domain name "Felons.Com" is auctioning it off on Ebay. Details here. We hope it's bought by someone with a progressive agenda who wants to use it for something like helping former inmates get jobs or regain the right to vote, rather than by some right-wing group that wants to make money off it by using it as some kind of offender registry. If you know of someone who might be interested, please forward them the ebay link.

Lisa English of Ruminate This asks a key question:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we've been led to understand that Iraq presented such a clear and present danger to American interests an ocean away, that George Bush felt compelled to attack without UN authorization. We needed to rid Iraq of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

That is why we are leveling Baghdad, isn't it? It's why we are destroying families and turning formerly parented children into orphans. It's why we've thumbed our nose at the international community and walked away from diplomacy. It's why we continue, as I type, to chance fear in the hearts of all sensible people, the world over....

All because we know there are weapons of mass destruction that sit ...silently...waiting to do us harm.

Right? Well, if that be the case, then please explain why it is that Iraq has yet to use these weapons. They've yet to meet devastating American force in kind.

Why not? What are they waiting for? Could it be that George Bush was wrong?

Technorati bring us the news bloggers have written about in the last two hours. It's a new feature called Current Events .

Here's how its creator describes it:

It is a list of the top links to "professional" news sites by bloggers in the last two hours, along with comments and analysis. I created it because, like most people, I've been following the progress of the war, watching and reading the mass media, and I wanted to know what people out there were saying about the news. What are the most important stories? What is real, and what is propaganda? What is not being reported, or is being underreported? These were the questions on my mind when I created Technorati's Current Events.

Very cool.

Know Your Rights from the National Lawyers' Guild--Now Available in Seven Languages

You do not have to answer any questions by the police, FBI, INS, or other law enforcement agents.

Do not talk without a lawyer. Say you want to see a lawyer.

You do not have to sign any paper without a lawyer with you.

You do not have to let the police, FBI, INS or anyone else come into your house without a “warrant” (special paper from a judge).

You do not have to answer any questions about your immigration status.

Atrios reports that the National Lawyers' Guild and the ACLU are establishing hotlines for Iraqis contacted for interviews by the FBI.

In San Francisco, The National Lawyers Guild hotline is (415) 285-1055.

Here's an update on today's worldwide anti-war protests. Here's more.

New York: More than 100,000 anti-war demonstrators marched down Broadway this afternoon in what is estimated to be the largest anti-war rally the city has seen since the situation with Iraq first escalated. Live video is here. More coverage here .

If you have DirectTV satilite you can find some un-censored US news on channel 375. If you know someone who's been arrested, here is the NY Civil Liberties Union's summary of New York protester rights.

London: The march through the capital, culminating in an afternoon of speeches in Hyde Park, attracted a crowd of about 200,000 people, according to a police estimate.

Los Angeles: Skippy is on it, he's there right now, check his site frequently for updates. Hard news here.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp has confirmed that one of its freelance cameramen has been killed . Reporters Without Borders said the as yet unidentified cameraman was killed

... in an attack Kurdish officials blamed on a militant Islamic group, Ansar al-Islam, which Washington has linked with the al-Qaeda network.

"He was a freelancer, an Australian cameraman on assignment for the ABC. He was killed in a suicide bombing, the attack is apparently being blamed on an Islamic militant group," a spokeswoman told Reuters.

....The Paris media body said a photographer who witnessed the attack had said it appeared to be aimed at the many journalists present at the time.

CNN has made journalist Kevin Sites shut down his warblog. That's a shame. We hope they reconsider. His photo-blogging was terrific. It's still up --go on over if you haven't already visited.

LA Police Chief William Bratton is profiled in A Night Out With William Bratton in today's New York Times. As we knew he would be, the Chief already has become an icon in Los Angeles.

His wife, Court TV Anchor and criminal defense lawyer Rikki Klieman, who has been commuting weekends to LA, moves out to LA for good in June. She has already landed a job on a new pilot for a television series, a drama about district attorneys. Rikki's book, Fairy Tales Can Come True: How a Driven Woman Changed Her Destiny, hits the bookstores in May. You can read excerts, peruse the excellent reviews and order it from the book's website.

Rikki sent us the book galleys yesterday. We are already more than half-way through it and it's a page-turner. There is no question in our minds it's a sure-fire hit and will become an immediate best seller.

Buy the Book Today!

For more of our coverage of Rikki and her remarkable career and relationship with Bill, go here. For our coverage of the Chief, go here.

Here are some reader e-mail letters we've received on Bush and the War in Iraq:

Two thoughts:

1. - -When the press did not speak out or ask questions we and many pundits felt it was because they feared losing access to the white house. We now know it was because they did not want to lose access to the war.

I watched one reporter on last night who grinning was reporting, (with tanks
rolling behind him) that no journalist had gotten to do this before and it was really exciting.

Another report I read about was a news propagandist who was reporting in
full gear, gas mask in place, but they forgot to cut the feed when he was
done and you saw him pull off his gas mask and joke around. . .

War Against America As Well

A point that was raised last night at the rally I attended was that this war is an attack on America as well as Iraq.

Every bomb that is dropped is dropped on America, because ultimately, the money spent is being taken away from services. Each bomb dropped destroys
a daycare center or nursing home facility here in this country, because the funds are stolen from the public coffers to finance the war machine. "

This may be a deliberate policy. Dubya has already opened 300 billion dollar deficits. Meanwhile, this war is "off budget". We could be looking at 500 billion dollars deficits before its all over. Its an extension of the IMF's debt and "austerity" plan to impoverish the country. (David Stockton admitted that Reagan's plan was to bankrupt the government so all of those socialist programs could be stopped - maybe King George is just carrying on with that plan?)

From Charles Boremann, A War for the Soul of the Nation:

Today liberal and progressive voices within the Democratic Party are in full retreat much like the British at Dunkirk. Beaten badly but not defeated as even the British came back from horrible defeat, survived a long bombing campaign, re-organized and claimed victory. Herein we see the great lesson of history in that the moral will of the people always prevails.

A new poll by the American Research Group shows Howard Dean has virtually tied Kerry in New Hampshire.

The poll showed Kerry with the support of 23 percent of likely voters, Dean with the support of 22 percent, Dick Gephardt with 15 percent, and Joe Lieberman with 12 percent, and 20 percent undecided. Among other active and potential candidates, John Edwards garnered 3 percent, Gary Hart 2, Bob Graham, Joe Biden and Carol Moseley-Braun 1, and Al Sharpton and Wesley Clark, 0. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent, putting Kerry and Dean in a statistical tie.

Considering Gary Hart is not a candidate (yet,) we'd call his showing very respectable.

Reporter Phil Reisman of the Westchester Conty Journal News has this to say about Gary Hart after his recent appearance at the annual annual $200-a-plate dinner in New Rochelle Thursday night (where TalkLeft grew up, by the way).

Since last fall, Hart has been flirting with the idea of running for president in 2004. An announcement was expected later this month - but it has been put off because, as Hart said yesterday, the nation is on the threshold of war.

In any event, a comeback is not as outlandish as some pundits think. Hart has real strengths: name recognition, experience in running grass-roots campaigns and a public profile that has been raised by his role as co-chairman of the U.S. Commission on Terrorism, which in January 2001 warned that a catastrophic terrorist attack on this country was imminent.

Brian Nickerson, a professor of political science and director of the Michaelian Institute at Pace University in White Plains, believes Hart is already right up there with the top tier of Democratic candidates.