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July 31, 2004
Question and Answer Period
by JeremyAm I posting this because I just saw a lawyer on TV doing that 'self interview' thing? Absolutely.
Did I intend to point out that when the self-interview is undertaken, the questions are usually formal while the answers are colloquial? You betcha.
Could one make the argument that I am operating under the assumption that I can just blog whatever I want on the weekends? Yup.
Do I think this technique is designed to leave an audience with the impression that they have seen the speaker triumph under fire as his or her assumptions were challenged, even though he or she never actually let anyone get a word in? Sure do.
Is it likely that the questions are often phrased so as to seem like abstract imponderables for which the speaker alone has ready answers? Bingo.
Are responses in the affirmative absolutely integral to the proper execution of this onanistic rhetorical technique? Nope.
Might it not be said that the premise of the subsemiotic paradigm of context implies that sexual identity has objective value? Prob'ly.
(Thanks to the Postmodernism Generator for that last question)
Posted by Jeremy at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 30, 2004
Voter Registration in Afghanistan
by JeremyGood news in Afghanistan (hat tip: Gene at Harry's Place):
"Yes, I will vote. I want a leader of my choice," said the 35-year-old, primary-schooled woman in a village 200 miles north of Kabul. Her words sum up the views of most Afghans surveyed in post-Taliban Afghanistan's first national political opinion poll.Our survey showed that nearly three years after U.S. troops launched the war on terrorism in Afghanistan to drive out the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, Afghans want democracy. They are looking forward to their first free presidential election, scheduled for October, and say they will vote in large numbers. They are also surprisingly supportive of democratic values such as equal rights and peaceful opposition. Though big problems -- public ignorance, administrative and partisan difficulties, and insecurity -- must be faced if the elections are to succeed, the research indicates democracy's chances in Afghanistan may be better than widely thought.
In the study, which involved 804 interviews with a representative, random sample of men and women in urban and rural areas in 29 of the country's 32 provinces, Afghans' interest in the election was palpable. Almost everyone knew it was coming, and 81 percent intended to vote. (This included large majorities of both sexes in every region, though some women feared their husbands might not let them vote.) Their eagerness to participate was confirmed by the rapid progress of voter registration since May, when it began in the rural areas (home to four-fifths of the population). In three months, registration soared from 1.5 million to 8 million of the estimated 9.5 million eligible voters. It continues at a pace of up to 125,000 per day, despite Taliban remnants opposed to the vote who threaten and even kill registrants.
I wouldn't care if the Marquis de fucking Sade were responsible for bringing down that theocratic fascist regime. Calling the war in Afghanistan an act of mass murder, a war crime, whatever is in fashion, is tantamount to spitting in these people's faces.
Omar, at Iraq the Model, recently made this same point about the war in Iraq:
You cannot tell a man that saving him and his family from torture, humiliation and death was a mistake and it should've not been done because it's illegal. This is almost an insult to Iraqis to hear someone saying that this war was illegal. It means that our suffering for decades meant nothing and that formalities and the stupid rules of the UN (that rarely function) are more important than the lives of 25 million people.
Posted by Jeremy at 09:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 29, 2004
Kerry
by JeremyWARNING: Kerry speech transcription. Don't expect to enjoy this unless you are stoned.
[Enters to "Baby You're a Rich Man" playing joyously in background]
"[Somewhat obligatory seeming, extended ovation] [Salutes]"...reporting for duty...love our country...proud...America...fellow Americans...America stronger...American novelist...can't go home again...home...blood...home...parents...rest...open eyes [small verbal stumble]...open eyes and open heart...guess which wing of the hospital maternity ward...I was born in the West wing...mother was the rock of our family...bed when I was sick...cub scout...proud...girl scout leader...trees as the cathedral of nature...can and must complete the march towards full equality for all women in the United states of America...my dad did the things that a boy remembers...model airplane...baseball...bicycle...something bigger than ourselves...responsibilities...sacrifices...greatest generation...he was in the state department stationed in Berlin...mesmerized by the British, French, and American troops...and Russians standing guard...rode my bike into Soviet East Berlin...told my dad, he promptly grounded me...saw the fear in the eyes of people who were not free...gratitude...goosebumps...stars and stripes forever...America at our best...freedom...determined now to restore that pride to all who look to America [applause]...thank a whole generation for winning World War Two, for winning the cold war...parents inspired me to serve...Kennedy called my generation to service...environment, for women, for peace...change the world; we did...power to change the world, but only if we're true to our ideals, and that starts by telling the truth to the American people. As president I will restore trust and credibility to the White House...young prosecutor I fought for victims' rights...vote...for balanced budget...fought to put 100,000 police officers...POW's Missing in action...finally make peace in Viet Nam...I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war...secret meetings with polluters [not]...I will appoint an Attorney General who will uphold the constitution of the United States [substantial applause]...this is the most important election of our lifetime...enemy unlike any we've ever known before...2 jobs, 3 jobs...we're told that outsourcing jobs is good for American [boos]...they said this is the best Economy is the best we've ever had...nothing more pessimistic than saying that America can't do better...we're the optimists...can-do people...what we did in the 1990's...balanced the budget...created jobs...lifted standard of living for middle class...so tonight...so tonight...so tonight...on behalf of the new birth of freedom...for the brave men and women in uniform....pray for their return...great faith in the American people, I accept your nomination for president of the United States. [Not booing: yelling Kerry-Kerry-Kerry]...proud...Edwards...this son of a mill worker is ready to lead...fighter for the middle class to succeed Dick Cheney...and what can I say about Tereza...moral compass...nurturing, courageous wise and smart...speaks her mind...love her for that too...embrace her as the next first lady of the United States...nothing will ever mean as much as our children...never letting me get away with anything [big, phony smile]...what we learned as soldiers...fought for this nation because we loved...every day is extra...still know how to fight for our country...[props to other Dem candidates]...thank you for teaching me and testing me...unity to move America forward...fellow Americans...world...very different form the world of...hours after sept. 11...drew strength...firefighters...risked their lives...Pentagon...flight 93 sacrificed themselves...flags...porches...strangers became friends...brought out the best in all of us...I am proud that all our people rallied to president Bush's call...[lauds non-partisanship] How I wish it had stayed that way...some issues aren't all that simple...saying there are weapons of mass destruction doesn't make it so [etc.]...I will immediately reform intelligence system...as president I will bring back...only go to war because we have to...I know what kids go through when they carry an M16...write letters home...I will wage this war with the lessons I learned in war...look a parent in the eye...but we had no choice, we had to protect the American people'...against a threat that was real and imminent...only justification for going to war...never be asked to fight a war without a plan to win the peace...I know what we have to do in Iraq...credibility to bring our allies to our side...that's the right way to get the job done and bring our troops home...we need to rebuild our alliances so we can get the terrorists before they can get us...let there be no mistake, I will never hesitate to use force when it's required...forces...overstretched..we will end the backdoor draft of the national guard and reservists...to all who serve in our armed forces today, I say: help is on the way...smarter, more effective war on terror...principles as well as our firepower...strength is more than tough words [huh?]...we need to be looked up to, not just feared...keep the most dangerous weapons in the world out of the most dangerous hands in the world...tell the terrorists: you will lose and we will win...the front lines of this battle are not just far away...homeland security...9/11 commission has given us a path to follow...immediately implement all the recommendations...container ships...nuclear and chemical plants without protection...opening fire houses in Baghdad and shutting them in the United States of America...important message for those who question the patriotism....wrapping themselves in the flag...remember what America is really all about...reclaim our democracy itself...[speaking our minds] not a challenge to patriotism; it is the heart and soul of patriotism...we call her Old Glory...I fought under that flag...gun turret...[poetic war talk]...strength, our diversity, our love of country...that flag doesn't belong to any president...ideology...belongs to all the American people...my fellow citizens...[audience chanting "USA-USA-USA"]...not just policies and programs that matter...must be guided by principle...values are not just worlds...causes that we champion...those who talk about family values to start valuing families...kicking kids out of after school programs...cops off the streets...so that Enron can get another tax break...denying prescription drug coverage to seniors...honor thy father and thy mother...senior citizens never have to cut their pills in half...body armor...veterans health care...value of doing what's right...shared values that unite us...family, faith, hard work and opportunity...God-given potential. that is the American dream and the American value...steel worker...job sent overseas...what does it mean when workers...train their foreign replacements...help is on the way [catch phrase]...breast cancer...chemotherapy...America can do better and help is on the way...golden parachute...American can do better and help is [you get the idea]...families living in poverty...where is the conscience of our country? I'll tell you where it is: it's in rural and small town American [and other places too]...jobs...pay your bills...middle class is not being squeezed...new incentives manufacturing...technology...tax loopholes that reward...shipping jobs overseas...American workers...trade...compete...fair playing field...American worker...fiscal responsibility...cut the deficit in half in four years by ending tax giveaways that are nothing more than corporate welfare...won't raise taxes on the middle class...will cut middle class taxes...small business...roll back the tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals...$200,000 a year...education plan...high standards...accountability...smaller class sizes...tax credit to families for each and never year of college...invest in Head Start...and we value health care that's affordable and accessible for all Americans...our health care plan for a stronger American...save families $1,000 a year...Medicare will negotiate lower drug prices for seniors...buy prescription drugs from Canada...only advanced nation in the world...health care...is a right for all Americans...we will make it so...controls it's own destiny...finally and forever independent of Midwest oil...not the Saudi Royal family...our energy plan...will address the new technology [and we'll breed tiny cows for every apartment dweller? How, man?]...directly to George W. Bush: in the weeks ahead...let's be optimists...respect one another...never misuse for political purposes...the Constitution of the United States [cheers. Again, they're not booing...]...the high road may be harder but it leads to a better place...big ideas, not small minded attacks...enlist people of talent: Republicans as well as Democrats...we welcome people of faith...I think of what Ron Reagan said of his father...I don't wear my religion on my sleeve...but faith has given me [something. Values?]...we are on God's side [cheers. Why? what does he mean?] Whatever our faith.........[oh fuck this. Jesus Christ. Stop speaking. For the love of God. Save yourself, Kerry. Just. Shut. Up.]...moon...stars...solar system...library...finger nail...what if...Parkinson, diabetes, alzheimer's and AIDS...stem cell research [cheers]...children are safe in the afternoons...bigotry and hatred...Mekong Delta...Arkansas...California...no one cared about our base or our backgrounds...an America where we are all in the same boat. Never has there been a moment more urgent...reach for the next dream...horizon...the sun is rising [Mr. Mojo Risin']. Our best days are still to come [U2: "It's a Beautiful Day"][A polite ovation]
Sorry the above is longer and more boring than a blog entry ought to be. I don't know what to say, other than that John Edwards is far more credible when talking tough on theocratic fascism than is Kerry (though read some of his statements from years past and the words, at least, are less apologetic on this matter).
The audience reaction was not anywhere near those for Clinton and Dean, though there were a few outbursts of applause as noted in the text.
I just realized the Google flypaper these posts are going to be. I have spammed my own blog. Have I invented a new income 'modality'?
Also this: he says he's going to end our dependency on Saudi Oil. How? There were some other examples of this. I think "how?" is going to be a key question with Kerry. Is he going to bring Chirac's France into Iraq? How? You get the idea.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:57 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 28, 2004
Convention Blogging
by JeremyThis is good convention blogging.
I tried an experiment in real-time blogging. I think this is what people generally refer to as self-indulgent. But it was strangely satisfying and it purged me of both my anxiety over whether and how to blog the convention, and of my desire to watch the convention.
I'll probably James Joyce the Kerry speech, however.
"Softly she gave me in my mouth the seedcake in my mouth warm and chewed. Mawkish pulp her mouth had mumbled sweet and sour with spittle. And Joy: I ate it: before I voted against it."
Well, ok; it won't be that interesting.
I did tune in briefly yesterday to listen to Ted Kennedy, who sounded, as always, like an old fart yelling at some young punks at a busstop: "Get away from that White House you-you-you damned crazy hooligan, goodfernuthin', radio-playin', glue-sniffin', war-resolution-votin', fascist-topplin', terror-warrin', cabal-whisperin', neocon-lovin' kids!"
And Barak Obama, who is supposed be the great new hotshot of the Democratic party, was less than exciting. The man isn't even a senator yet and he's already in danger of being overhyped. The only thing that impressed me was during an interview before the event. He was asked whether he was nervous about speaking at such a huge national event as the convention and he replied that it had come to his attention that nobody would be watching so it didn't matter what he said, as long as he smiled for the camera. And indeed his speech was the equivalent of a handshake and a "hi, how ya doin'," though the audience reactions were disproportionately enthusiastic. Jesse Jackson, by the way, was seen standing and applauding energetically.
It'll be interesting to see how Kerry himself scores on the ol' Jackson-ometer.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Normblog Anniversary, Glenn's Birthday
by JeremyNormblog is one year old today! In blog years that's like 10. Congrats, Norm! (This blog turns 1 on August 18th, in case you wanted to know when to send the cigars and flowers). When Cara and I started our blog it seemed as if Norm was already a permanent fixture in the blogosphere, but he'd only been blogging for a couple of weeks. The guy hit the ground running and, happily, hasn't stopped.
Also in the news: Glenn Halpern of Hippercritical turns 30 today (that's only about 3 in blog years, so you needn't feel old, Glenn, if you think of it that way). Of course 30 is not at all old for a man, but it's positively geriatric for a child. And 30 is about when it hits you that you haven't actually been a boy for some time. So don't begrudge the man a little empathy.
Posted by Jeremy at 08:13 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 27, 2004
Advice to Bush Campaign
by JeremyTwo asses have to be kissed, but quick:
Posted by Jeremy at 10:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
"Is it okay for a guy who writes about politics to completely ignore the Democratic Convention?"
by JeremyYes!
Watching and blogging the conventions is comparable to doing the same for sporting events (not that there's anything wrong with that, Roger and Norm and other worthy sports fans).
But for the benefit of Michael Totten, who was far away but is now back, here's the skinny on the Sandy Berger scandal: he's the new spokesman for Burger King and he got into a bit of trouble when he was caught enhancing his "image" by stuffing sesame seed buns in his pants. This was seen as rather the wrong message to send to the kids.
Posted by Jeremy at 05:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 26, 2004
Hillary, Bill
by Jeremy[Music playing: New York State of Mind. Get it?]
[Smiling much]...the next great Democratic president, John Kerry...the! man! we! need! to! be! our! next! president! and! commander! in! chief! [she thinks the audience does not speak English?]...solve the health care crisis for our people not ignore it [Perhaps. But should you really be the one saying this?]...[many! words! far! too! boring! to! reCORD!!]...I think I know a great leader when I see one [with knowing, man-loving smile on her face...Introduces hubby. Abuse of Fleetwood Mac via soundtrack]
[Thunderous goddamn applause. Standing ovation. Clinton says, "calm down!". Shot of Jesse Jackson standing with hands folded across his belly]
[Clinton is striking the right tone, somewhere between that stadium enthusiasm and the sound of an actual human speaking as if off-the-cuff. He hasn't said anything of actual meaning yet. I'll let you know when he does]
...[he speaks fast: I never really noticed that before. generic hope and inspiration for a better world]...to build that kind of world, we must make the right choices...[Republicans and Democrats different but both care deeply]...on the other hand the Republicans in Washington believe that America should be run by the right people: their people...they believe the role of government is to concentrate wealth and power...since most Americans aren't that far to the right...they need a divided America, but we don't [clever: sniping, but at the 'bad' Republicans, not the 'good' majority Republicans]...unite the world in the struggle against terror. [vulnerable, impassioned voice] Instead he and his cogressional allies made a different choice...push the country too far to the right...before...inspectors had finished their work...[slightly more angry voice]...at home the president and the republican congress have made an equally fateful choice, which they also deeply believe in [brilliant maneuver: now belief is a bad thing]...occasionally the republicans were kind of mean to me...[jokey voice. Paraphrase: but now they love me, I guess, because I'm rich. Clever: I'm rich but I don't deserve their tax cuts. As if to say, 'The rich aren't bad people, but they don't need government charity.' It's funny; I agree with this but it still strikes me as brilliant bullshit.]...100,000 working families...poor children...off the streets...[ie: chose tax cuts instead of funding such programs]...[White house wants to cut funding for police officers who put their lives on the line on 9/11. How? I missed that. Sinister boos from audience for taking money from 9/11 police officers]...they're taking police off the street while putting assault weapons on the street...if you agree with that choice...but if you don't, vote for John Kerry...if you believe it is good policy to pay for my tax cuts [with money belonging to working people, etc.]...we cannot kill jail or [missed word...all our adversaries]...our way works better...two good men with wonderful wives [oh yeah, that's right: he likes women...I mean respects women...I guess]...John Kerry said "send me" [i.e. Kerry could have avoided the war but went anyway. And "send me" is going to be repeated as a catch-phrase. Says 'send me' a whole bunch of times]...insatiable curiosity to understand the world around him...willingness to hear other views [and a willingness to pretend to hold them?]...Their opponents will tell you that you should be afraid of John Kerry and John Edwards because they won't stand up to the terrorists, but don't you believe it. Strength and wisdom are not opposing values [Brief explosion of applause]...to form a more perfect union...in the early days of the republic...America was at a crossroads...Civil War...another crossroads...we chose a more perfect union...again, we chose to form a more perfect union [a few people could be heard saying 'a more perfect union' along with him]...who knows how to steer a vessel through troubled waters...more perfect union...so let us say...in a clear voice...SEND - JOHN - KERRY [Hey! what happened to MORE - PERFECT - UNION]
You've got to admit it: Clinton is a tremendously talented public speaker. This fact impressed me enough to want to study his technique. The effect of that technique, however, is clear: he gives the impression that you're sitting next to him at a baseball game and he's telling you what he really thinks. This despite the fact that he is decidedly not telling you what he really thinks. And yet he also manages to capture that "this is a crossroads in history" tone without sounding pompous. The man should have been a diplomat, a preacher, or perhaps a traveling spokesman for Transcendental Meditation or Insurance. He is also the living embodiment of the fact that public speaking, though it's a good start, just ain't leadership.
Cara noticed, while I was looking down at all my spelling errors, that Clinton ended his speech with what I understand to be a guy's-guy salute. This seemed to say, Cara mirthfully explained, "Well, that's the best I've got, Johnny boy; you're on your own now, pal."
Even before this I was thinking that Clinton's speech was evocative of that painfully familiar scene [uh...I mean I've heard about this kind of thing] where the shy, awkward high school boy agrees to let his popular and charismatic buddy "talk him up" to the girl on whom he has a crush. Following this gambit, the popular friend, while retreating past said geeky shlub, offers precisely the same salute.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
I'm losing steam
by JeremyThose last two posts from here at the center of the action (my living room) were fun, but I feel as if I've been chug-a-lugging that blue 100% artificial "juice" beverage product I used to wish my parents would buy at the supermarket when I was a kid. My point? I don't think I could stand to watch the Clintons, let alone blog them in real-time. But we'll see.
It's hard to resist, though. Glenn Close is on. Her accent is slightly British for the occasion and she is speaking -- deliberately -- slowly -- in round -- loudly hushed tones -- the way stupid English speakers do when they become aware that the person they are speaking to does not understand a word of English. This is how Democrats speak when they want their audience to pretend they are being profound. I vaguely recall that Clinton sometimes knew better. And, I guess, that's why he is loved by lovers of both chai and hot chocolate (with little marshmallows in it) the world over.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:13 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Carter
by JeremyHe asked Americans to turn our thermostats up to 78 degrees this Summer. This was met with raucous laughter and thunderous applause. Well, ok, he didn't do that, but he should have.
Navy...officer...shipmates...combat...preserve the peace...Truman...Eisenhower...military responsibilities with honor...horrors of war...restraint...judgment...and they had a clear sense of mission...wars of choice...unless...vital interests were in danger...mislead us...national security...he showed up when assigned to duty...knows the horrors of war...he will restore the judgment and maturity to government that nowadays is sorely lacking...working families instead of the super rich...our dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America [smattering of applause]...truth is the foundation of...our credibility is vulnerable...sacred covenant between a government and the people...in just 34 months we have watched in deep concern as all of this good will has been squandered [impassioned applause]...unilateral acts...isolated the United States...have cost our nation its reputation as the world's most admired champion of freedom and justice...what a difference these few months of extremism have made...confused and disturbing strategy of preemptive war...Middle East peace process...screeching halt...violence...Holy land...this must change...North Korea's Nukie'er menace...place in jeopardy the centrality of human rights [he means Bush?]...we cannot lead if our leaders mislead [rousing applause]...can't be a war president, and a peace president next, depending on the latest political polls [one supposes he means Bush? only moderate applause. Were people thinking, "does he mean Kerry?"]... At stake is nothing less than our nation's soul...bright and hopeful future...
In short, Carter's interpretation of "no Bush-bashing" is 'just don't say the guy's name.'
Jesse Jackson's early cessation of clapping (though he was standing) pretty much sums it up.
Carter rushed back to the microphone and said: "The one thing I do like about Bush is that, like me, he has accepted the true son of God as his lord and savior, whereas Kerry is some kind of Catholic or something."
Ok, he didn't really say that last bit. But it looked to me like he was thinking it. He's a born-again Christian. Did you remember that? So is Gore. But Carter used to drive the point home a bit more frequently.
Posted by Jeremy at 09:37 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Gore
by JeremyGore managed to do a little yapping at Bush. I'm too slow to have done much notation, but I guess "no Bush-bashing" to him meant, simply, don't growl so much, try not to flare your nostrils.
He made a couple of obligatory gestures toward getting Republican swingers to vote for Kerry, asking whether Bush's economic policy is "really conservative at all" and expressing his party's desire to "reach beyond our party lines to Republicans as well." But I didn't get the feeling his heart was in this part of the party line.
He paid an oblique homage the whole "anger" thing with the following wink and nod:
To those disappointed over the outcome of the 2000 election he said: "I want you to remember all of those feelings." He said this in a voice of cartoon anger, which I took to be real anger slathered over with fake good-spiritedness, with a coat or two of phony anger painted on top of that.
Conclusion: eminently forgettable performance. And that is a huge triumph for the Kerry camp. What I imagine is going on between Kerry and his staffers right now: "I've already forgotten what Gore just said." "Something about voting for me I think." "A short and dull speech, if you ask me." Then high fives all the way around. Maybe champagne.
Posted by Jeremy at 08:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Strange Maneuvers to Watch For
by JeremyClinton (UPDATE: and, perhaps more to the point, Gore) will be speaking today at the Democratic National Convention. Don't be ashamed for either not knowing or not caring. Still, it may be mildly interesting to watch how a certain dynamic plays out these next four days.
Speakers at the convention, we have learned, are being asked to lay off the Bush-bashing:
Democratic leaders said the speeches at the four-day convention were being carefully vetted to minimize attacks on President George W. Bush and instead emphasize the positive qualities of Kerry and running mate John Edwards.[...]
"The strategy is to influence the 10 percent who are still undecided," said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the convention's permanent chairman. "We believe people are tired of negative attacks and want a positive message."
Seems wise to me. But there may be something else going on. While the "Bush is evil" factor is a necessary source of votes for Kerry it may not be sufficient. And anyway, the "Bush=Evil" votes are a gimmee (except for that pesky Ralph Nader lurking in the shadows like some lanky French whore) as long as Kerry remains a warmish body who is not George W. Bush. But there may be some swing vote potential in conservatives who actually feel that Bush is too liberal in key areas. Andrew Sullivan describes it this way (via Harry's Place):
Start with the war. Almost overnight after 9/11 Bush junked decades of American policy in the Middle East, abandoning attempts to manage Arab autocracies for the sake of the oil supply and instead forging a policy of radical democratisation. He invaded two countries and is trying to convert them to modern democracies.Nothing so liberal has been attempted in a long time. In the 2000 campaign, Bush mocked the idea of "nation building" as liberal claptrap. Now it's the centrepiece of his administration. The fact that anti-American lefties despise the attempt to democratise foreign countries should not disguise the fact that Bush is, in this respect, indisputably a foreign policy liberal. He has shown none of his father's caution, no interest in old-style realpolitik.
And, though of course Sullivan supported Bush's wars of liberation he, like many conservatives, has decried Bush's deficit spending at home.
According to Ronald Brownstein of the L. A. Times, there are signs that Kerry gets this and is prepared to use it:
In presidential campaigns, it's common for Republican candidates to portray Democrats as naive, dreamy and utopian in their approach to foreign affairs.Democrats see the world as they would like it to be, not how it is. They dissipate America's strength on idealistic causes unrelated to core national interests. They confuse foreign policy with social work.
To one degree or another, every Republican presidential candidate since the 1970s has employed those arguments. They were a central element of the case George W. Bush made against Al Gore and the Clinton administration.
And now these same arguments are moving to the forefront of John F. Kerry's case against President Bush.
[...]
In this shift, Kerry is tilting away from one Democratic tradition - Wilsonian idealism. But he is excavating another - the realism of the post-World War II foreign policy "Wise Men" such as Dean Acheson and George Kennan. These thinkers, and presidents such as Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy whom they influenced, were as determined to balance America's commitments with its capacities as they were to contain the spread of communism.
So, while not exactly casting himself as the conservative alternative to the liberal Bush, this would come across as Kerry as realist to Bush's idealist. To conservatives who think Bush is destroying the Republican party (or whatever exactly their trip is) this will amount to the same thing. And the beauty part is that, to Deaniacs, none of this will register in the slightest.
While all of this may be a bunch of nonsense, it's reason enough to pay passing attention to the convention speeches.
And here's something that intrigues me about Clinton: I think he genuinely admires Bush. In another L. A. Times piece by Brownstein, Clinton, though he politely criticizes most of Bush's policies, has this to say about the man's chances for reelection:
"The president may still be reelected, because he's a great politician...
Here's what he says about Kerry:
"A slight majority seem to have decided they would like a new president," Clinton said. "Kerry just has to close the deal."
Interesting contrast.
Posted by Jeremy at 01:04 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 24, 2004
The Gravest Threat to Muslims
by JeremyA terrorist group in Iraq has taken an Egyptian diplomat, Momdoh Kotb, hostage. The coincidence of the diplomat's surname is as good a symbolic reminder as any that the Islamo-fascist movement, in addition to demonstrating itself to be the enemy of Arabs and Muslims, is increasingly swallowing its own tail.
In the tape broadcast Friday, masked men calling themselves the Lion of God Brigades surrounded Momdoh Kotb.The previously unknown group said it took the diplomat hostage in response to Egypt's offer to help Iraq with security.
The Egyptian Embassy in Baghdad confirmed Kotb's identity, and a spokesman said the embassy was in "shock" over the incident.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher El Sayed said his country has no plans to "send any troops or military officials to Baghdad."
He said the hostage-takers "kidnapped an Egyptian diplomat working in the Egyptian Embassy in Baghdad who is working on building a brotherly relationship between two peoples."
Also televised Friday, by a separate terrorist group, were a group of hostages from India, Africa, and Egypt.
The Kenyans are Faiz Khamis Salim, 39, Jalal Mohamed Awadh, 39, and Ibrahim Khamis Idd, 48. All are from Mombasa and are married with children.A Web site message purportedly from a group linked to suspected terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi warned Muslims and Arab countries not to send troops to Iraq.
Posted by Jeremy at 03:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 23, 2004
Whither Paradise, Child of Aquarius?
by JeremyI knew David Crosby had 'let himself go.' It's the anger it truly pains me to see.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Brief Blog Break Over Soon
by JeremyAn unavailable laptop, a visit to the dentist, a mild gastroparesis flareup...it all added up to an unscheduled blog break yesterday and today. We will return to our regularly scheduled programming Tomorrow.
As always, thanks for tuning in!
Posted by Jeremy at 01:45 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 21, 2004
Ali Corrects Some Imprecisions in the English Language
by JeremySometimes we native speakers of English fall back on bad habits. We carelessly misuse or omit key words and phrases leaving our poor readers to work out the meanings for themselves. Often it's a non-native speaker who will notice such usage errors and correct them for us.
Ali at IRAQ THE MODEL has just seen the "Not in Our Name" statement that was published in the Guardian a year or two ago and has helpfully brought some of its statements into sharper relief by supplying slightly more precise wordings (Ali's added phrases are in bold type):
We believe that peoples and nations have the right to determine their own destiny -and when they're ruled by dictators the right will be legally transferred to their rulers - free from military coercion by great powers. We believe that all persons detained or prosecuted by the United States government should have the same rights of due process. We believe that questioning, criticism, and dissent must be valued and protected. We understand that such rights and values are always contested and must be fought for, and that these rights are only ours and not for people who live in totalitarian regimes and thus don't know or appreciate the meaning of democracy and freedom.[...]
What kind of world will this become if the U.S. government has a blank check from the congress that represents the American people to drop commandos, assassins, and bombs wherever it wants? Possibly a free world but that's not the point.
[...]
Join your voices to ours and lets DO NOTHING.
P.s we sent this document secretly to one of the newspapers and by the time you read it we'll probably be lying in some unknown mass grave in the large desert of Nevada that contains the remains of most of those who opposed GWB.
(via Gene at Harry's Place)
Posted by Jeremy at 05:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
I'm in the Boston Globe
by JeremyHere's a Boston Globe article in which I'm quoted as a man-on-the-street on the topic of Howard Stern and NPR vis-a-vis the left wing culture of the "Happy Valley" in which Cara and I live (basically Northampton and Amherst and surrounding communities).
The only thing I'd call incorrect is this:
And Belchertown's Brown, who agrees with the substance of Stern's diatribes...
That's really the opposite of the truth, since I like Stern but dislike his farting contests, his degrading chats with strippers, and his sudden turn toward boilerplate Democratic party rhetoric. I don't remember precisely how I might have phrased this to Joanna Weiss, the journalist who wrote the story, but I don't know how agreement with the substance of his diatribes came out of it. On the other hand, it doesn't really matter. I'd discussed my political views at great length but in the end the article was simply about how Hampshire County Lefties view our radio choices not some portrait of the nuanced political views of Yours Truly.
Still, a dim or unsympathetic reporter could have cast me as someone who was Left but turned Right. I had been afraid that this might happen, so I'm thankful she knew better.
And, because she did not 'out' me as a blogger, I don't have to contend with the slings and arrows of outraged members of my community. I'm amazed at how few people I know have discovered my blog. Or maybe they're just playing along. In any event, my default anonymity is still intact and that feels like a good thing, though my former boss still evidently announced to my former co-workers "Jeremy has gone right-wing and is proclaiming his love for Howard Stern in the Boston Globe!" I don't even understand the logic of this. But this gives you a taste of what I'd have had to deal with if Weiss had shared more of what I said to her during our 45 minute interview.
What a world (as the Wicked Witch of the West said just before melting away into a puddle of her own malevolence).
Posted by Jeremy at 01:11 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Sandy Berger's Fashion Choices
by JeremySandy Berger's pants, socks seized by authorities:
Posted by Jeremy at 12:17 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 20, 2004
My New Favorite Sentence
by JeremyFrom this unjustifiably cruel review of a first novel (no piece of writing could be as bad as is claimed in this review) comes this sentence:
"The struggle there, Eli, is for the soil of my fathers"
A writer capable of producing a line like that isn't actually bad -- I'd argue it's more like a kind of dyslexia. To compose a sentence that is poetically bad you have to have talent. I mean that seriously. I'll try to illustrate this with a brief anecdote.
There was a guy at the precision cooling-fan factory where I used to work who trashed a two million dollar contract in similar way. He had two carts full of bench-tested fans (they were referred to as "high precision custom air moving devices" and sold for hundreds of dollars apiece, though each was small enough to fit in the palm of your hand). One set had passed a rigorous battery of quality assurance tests with particularly excellent results, the other set had failed miserably.
The task was simple: send the good fans to the big company so they could assess the quality of the product for themselves before buying two million dollars worth. How did he differentiate the two carts? He wheeled them, side by side, over to a work table to be labelled and processed, all the while cocking his head alternately left and right and reciting:
"Good [left], Bad [right]"
Good, Bad
Good, Bad
Good, Bad
...uh...
Bad, Good
Bad, Good
Bad, Good
Moral of the story: first separate your work into a "good" pile and "bad" pile. Done that? Excellent. You've got what it takes to succeed. Now -- and this step is crucial -- choose "good."
(Hat Tip: Norm)
Posted by Jeremy at 06:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Darfur, Sudan: How we might help
by JeremyJim Moore urges us to contact our representatives to get the Darfur genocide declared as such.
If you are a US citizen, please call or write your Senators and Representatives today! Ask them to declare the situation in Sudan a genocide, and pass the resolution.
Or use your imagination: anything that brings this issue into the mainstream consciousness has got to help.
Frederick is right that people need not wait for their political representatives to act:
Why would the anti-war Left show up in hordes to protest against the toppling of a brutal totalitarian dictatorship in Iraq, but are nowhere to be heard or seen when it comes to one of the most appaling human rights situations in the world since Rwanda?
A fair question. So maybe, in addition to lobbying our politicians, we should be lobbying the credible organizations who helped bring people to anti-war protests (I'm excluding such groups as ANSWER who, though they organized many protests, seem not to be anti-genocide)
It seems to me that much of the protesting against the war in Iraq happened because groups organized with their own interests in mind (ANSWER or the Dean campaign [I'm by no means equating the two]) proving that if you build it they will come. Many people showed up to anti-war demonstrations who might otherwise have been loath to associate themselves with a group like ANSWER (ANSWER is affiliated with the Worker's World Party, whose website makes only one mention of Sudan and Darfur; it's in the context of Sudan being historically in the "crosshairs of imperialism." This moderate illustration of what is offensive about this group exemplifies why I would exclude ANSWER).
Similarly, many of these people might be willing to show up to a protest to pressure for, at the very least, more attention being paid to the impending genocide in Darfur.
Example: though Julian Bond, oddly, wants to wear a radically left wing mask in trying to rouse voters against Bush, he's nevertheless willing to put human life in Darfur ahead of politics. And so is Charlie Rangel. These are the sort of people who might be helpful in organizing larger protests. (though Moveon.org is good at organizing, it must be remembered that their business is advancing the Democratic party, not advocating for human rights or any other issue similarly irrelevant to the bureaucratic machinations of electing Democratic candidates. But their methods can and should be copied).
So yes, let's shun hypocrites and apologists for fascism and Stalinism, but let's also look for unlikely alliances.
I'm sure there are conservative groups who would be willing to protest along side liberal groups on this kind of issue. So let's lobby them all. The idea is for this to become an issue that can't be overshadowed by the presidential campaign. The goal might be to get both candidates taking ownership of the issue so neither has incentive to sweep it under the rug. Politicians are cold-bloodedly cautious. We need to make them see that the only way to lose here is to go down in history as not having taken responsibility for what they might have done to save hundreds of thousands of lives in Darfur.
Posted by Jeremy at 01:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 19, 2004
Anne is Going Straight? (UPDATED)
by JeremyI was going to join the chorus of junkies urging Anne to give up this crazy talk of hopping on the blog temperance wagon, but it felt a bit enabling. Do we want her to default on all her other projects? To die homeless and penniless after spending every waking moment on Typepad? Well, sure, but not if it feels like it's our fault -- that would make it seem wrong.
And if Norm and others worry that she has some unique gift for analyzing the subtleties of relationships and other girly stuff, they need not. I will pick up the slack (and that's a threat)
I promise to blog about all kinds of relationshippy stuff, quoting liberally from wise and sensitive souls like Martin Amis and Rod Mckuen, every day that Anne is gone. (Unless, of course, she reconsiders).
UPDATE: This plan may not work after all. The poor woman thinks it's a good idea, and she makes a pretty good case:
You know the best Martin Amis observation on relationships, don't you? (Actually it's his & Hitch's, which they came up with while discussing Woody Allen's "the heart has its reasons" press conference.) Wherever people use the word "heart" they should really use the word "dick."
Put that together with Rod Mckuen and you've got yourself a game that need never end. Here's Mckuen:
Where did I lose you and when? Did it Happen even as we knew we were discovering each other that first time. Was loss a piece of swelling big as the enlarging heart?
This project has suddenly gotten a little out of control. It was a long shot anyway.
Posted by Jeremy at 09:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Yo, Check it Out...
by JeremyRiddle:
Q: Who is a curmudgeon when it comes to "the same old American blogs" but is nevertheless, when the chips are down, a righteous candyman?
Hint: He calls himself Harry.This is a great (possibly legal, almost) resource.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 18, 2004
Rock & Roll Poll Results
by JeremyThe Rhodesian Casey Kasem has reported the results of his latest poll. Seems pretty reasonable to me. Now that I see "Morrissey/The Smiths" ranking halfway up the list, I do regret omitting the Beach Boys (I do like the Smiths, but let's get real). And I should probably have voted for Van Morrison (he did ok anyway) and Aretha Franklin (she didn't make the list!). Certainly Joni Mitchell deserves to be on that list more than R.E.M. or the Smiths.
But these things aren't Norm's fault, of course. I didn't vote for Joni Mitchell because I just couldn't think of her as a rock star. Or Aretha, for that matter. Maybe there's something male about the relentless pursuit of legend status (I'd have called that 'womb-envy' in my ideologically trendier days). Neither of these women has done much to nurture their legacies as larger-than-life figures. Their work speaks for itself. And perhaps that's as it should be. But then there's also something fun about the illusion of a person as godlike -- that's a game humans have played for thousands of years, so why stop now.
Here's what we might need: a best songwriters poll; a best singers poll (unless of course Norm actually has a day job or something).
Posted by Jeremy at 01:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 17, 2004
It's Cara's Birthday Today!
by JeremyI wasn't going to tell you, but I just realized that announcing Cara's birthday is a nice thing to do; it's just which birthday it is that a good husband doesn't announce.
But if you're inclined to sign her card in the comments, even belatedly, I know she'd be touched (though she may kick me too).
We love dogs. Sue us.
Posted by Jeremy at 03:47 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
She's Pure Evil
by JeremyWill people now stop saying she's been singled out becase she's a woman rather than because she's a megalomanical punk? She makes Donald Trump look like Fred Rogers in this respect. In the early days of her annoying popularity I often referred to her as a fascist. Now I no longer worry that I was being hyperbolic. I only wish her little camping trip were to take place at the same campground at which her role model spent his extended vacation. Here's Martha Stewart on how she feels about doing time:
"I could do it," she said, according to excerpts released by ABC late Friday. "I'm a really good camper. I can sleep on the ground. There are many, many good people who have gone to prison. Look at Nelson Mandela."
She really gives me the willies.
Here's Mr. Rogers (him I liked):
Posted by Jeremy at 01:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 16, 2004
Den Beste on Form and Substance
by JeremyYou should read Stephen Den Beste's latest on appearance, reality and Iraq. The guy's sharp (brilliant too, but I mean to suggest a blade that slices and dices not one that simply shines):
Form and substance. De jure and de facto. Permission and capability. Authority and power. Credentials and knowledge. Awards and achievements.Appearance and reality. That's what it's all about. It's a fallacy to assume that they are the same thing. The difference between them has become a major factor in politics and diplomacy during the last 3 years.
Posted by Jeremy at 06:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A new blog to keep an eye on
by JeremyThis blog from Sweden called "Thought at the Meridian," run by a guy named Frederick, has this to say for itself:
"POLITICS AND CULTURE FROM A CENTRE-LEFT PERSPECTIVE
Libertarian. Egalitarian. Antitotalitarian"
Works for me.
Posted by Jeremy at 04:49 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Yeeeeeeeee...huh? Jewish Cowgirls!?
by JeremyLook, don't ask me. Just git along over yonder, kindeleh, to Hippercritical and see for yourself...
Posted by Jeremy at 11:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
On The Passing of a Bassist, and On His Bass
by JeremyI have to admit I don't know much about the New York Dolls, but Harry's place has an obituary for Arthur "Killer" Kane, who was that band's bassist. The other thing is that, hanging on our wall at the far end of the house, is a Framus hollow body bass that used to belong to the guy (as claimed by its previous owner. But if he were going to lie, surely he'd have chosen a musician higher up the fame scale). My brother bought it at a yard sale in Woodstock, New York (great town for buying guitars at yard sales). It cost 45 dollars, though it was missing a pickup and had a sloppy hole cut in the back through which some inept electrical repair had been abortively attempted. It works better now, though I don't really know how to play it. What I most love about it is that it sounds just like that plunky old Hofner violin bass of McCartney's. It's a warm, vulnerable, quirkily beautiful sound. But now that I know one of its previous owners has died, it has taken on a new kind of life. I should remove the Scotch tape from the switch panel and finish restoring the thing. Here's a picture of what it must have looked like in its youth:
Note: I was unable (too lazy) to prepare a picture of mine. The image above is a picture of the exact same instrument -- though in much better condition -- that I found on the internet. Mine had a belt buckle inserted underneath the bridge. All it needed was a few turns of the nut on the truss rod to keep the strings from running at dizzying heights above the fretboard, whereas the bowing of the neck, coupled with Kane's belt buckle (if it was his) made the strings into a sort of elevated highway of pain. And all that was needed to remove the tooth-rattling electronic buzz was a capacitor across the volume pot. Now that I've got it working, of course, I never take it down from the wall. But perhaps it's fitting that this write-off of a bass hangs in our home like a work of art. Maybe "Killer" would be pleased.
Posted by Jeremy at 09:13 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Profiled? Hey, Whatever.
by Jeremy
It's just another case of profiling, if you ask me. Be that as it may, I have the honor of being the subject of this week's Normblog Profile. This is a big thing, but it's not cool to let on. I need to maintain an aura of "hey, whatever." But, like, if you were to check it out...that would be cool, too. No one's saying don't. Whatever.
One clarification/amplification: I say at the beginning of that profile that I was told White people can't make a career in Afro-American Studies (this was at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst). This was not antagonism or inappropriate discouragement on the part of those who said this to me; it was simply a piece of realistic advice that this was a career line I should only take if it was my primary passion in life, because it would be up hill all the way. And that made perfect sense to me. The fact is that I only took a major's worth of credits in that department because it was the only subject that I found compelling at the time, not because I wanted to make it my career.
But the proper question would not be "why would you almost major in a subject not having to do with a career?" The proper question is "how the hell could anyone have avoided it?" Consider the following:
- A course on the civil rights movement co-taught by James Baldwin and (novelist and SNCC activist) Michael Thelwell.
- A series of African-American music courses taught by Jazz legend Archie Shepp
- A course on the Harlem Renaissance and one called "Blacks and Jews" taught by Julius Lester (a renaissance man himself, and also a former SNCC member).
These were people who lived much of the history they were teaching. When Archie Shepp told biographical stories about John Coltrane, he was talking from personal experience. When Michael Thelwell talked about Stokely Carmichael, he was telling stories about his eccentric buddy. And Julius Lester, though he did not participate in the Harlem Renaissance (though he is both Black and Jewish) is one of the most compelling lecturers I've yet encountered.
One sad note though, is that I never did have the opportunity to hear or meet James Baldwin. On the first day of that civil rights class, Michael Thelwell announced that Baldwin had taken ill and would not be able to teach for a while. There was a very mournful undertone; I think Thelwell knew how gravely Ill Baldwin was. After making this announcement he said he completely understood that many of us were only there to see James Baldwin and that those of us who intended to drop the class should have no qualms about leaving immediately. Not a single person stood up. I looked around. Not a soul seemed hesitant about staying. Thelwell looked around too. He appeared genuinely surprised. He was clearly moved and, in his understated way, told us so. It was an uncharacteristically emotional moment for the man. James Baldwin died just about three months later.
I went on to take a course in African and African-American literature with Thelwell. We, of course, read "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. A bit later, Achebe took a post as visiting professor at the University (I was no longer a student at that point). My brush with greatness: at a stop sign on University Drive I was about to proceed into the intersection but stopped short for a car zooming across from an adjacent street. Driving that car was Chinua Achebe. He glanced over at me as he passed and gave me a sarcastic salute as if to say, "Thanks for not T-boning me in the intersection, bucko." How many people have gotten saluted by Chinua Achebe? There's your degree in Afro-American studies.
The tragic thing about Achebe is that, a few years later, he was seriously injured in a car accident in which the rear axle snapped off his car while he was driving. The accident paralyzed him from the waist down. One story has nothing to do with another, except to illustrate that life is a crazy, improvised festival punctuated by alternately horrifying and beautiful occurrences. And I wasn't going to learn that in the Social Thought and Political Economy department (though I gave it the old college try).
UPDATE: The other thing about it is that you just can't begin to understand American culture or history without learning something about the influences of European and African cultures and, obviously, about the realities of slavery and the civil rights movement. James Meredith (who challenged the segregation policy of Mississippi State University) saw himself not as a 'Negro' civil rights activist, but as an American citizen simply doing his part to continue the struggle toward democratic freedom that was trumpeted in the declaration of independence. This is the right attitude. We should be taught Black studies as part of the core curriculum in high school, and it shouldn't have to be called Black or Afro-American studies.
Posted by Jeremy at 06:54 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
July 15, 2004
Buy Hitch a "Drink"
by JeremyThe guys at Winds of Change decided it was high time some of us got together to show our appreciation for Christopher Hitchens. Toward that end the dubious "Buy Hitchens a Drink" campaign was born. It seems Johnny Walker was pleased enough with this idea to thank the fellas. And Hitchens, though I'm guessing he appreciated the thought, contacted the WOC gang and requested that any funds raised be sent to the "Patriotic Union of Kurdistan." So there you go. One grand gesture deserves another.
Sometimes it seems like a very small world.
Posted by Jeremy at 02:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Boy am I a dummy!
by JeremyI've been wondering why my visitor stats have taken such a catastrophic nose dive in the past few weeks. I expected a bump in the road for a while resulting from my transplantation from Typepad to Movable Type on a different server, though I thought I'd covered that pretty well. But the numbers just kept plummeting.
Did you ever have the feeling you were being watched, but that the people who were watching you weren't themselves being watched? Ok, well maybe not, but I was starting to get that feeling.
It turns out I'd forgotten to put stats counters on my individual archives pages. This has been fixed. Now, though I'm sure my numbers aren't stellar, I can sit back and watch them suddenly spike.
Not that "ratings" are important to me. I can take inspiration from my favorite TV show from the late 70s/early 80s, The Uncle Floyd Show, which got incredibly lousy ratings, though one of its biggest fans was John Lennon (who turned David Bowie on to it). Sometimes the quality of your "audience" is more important than the number of tickets you sell. So thanks for being a huge readership, quality-wise. Here's Uncle Floyd, by the way:
His name is Floyd Vivino. A piece of trivia: his brothers Jimmy and Jerry play in Conan O'Brien's band. Any Floyd fans out there?
UPDATE: My visitor stats have doubled in the last hour. I'm enjoying the illusion that posting on Uncle Floyd is a stats magnet. That would be a cool world to live in.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:49 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 14, 2004
9th Rate Swiftian Satire
by JeremyWhat would happen if you were a dunderhead and you wrote a pretend report from a pretend consulting fim hired by Al Qaeda (just for make believe) to help increase its efficiency? Don't give yourself a migraine trying to imagine it -- a suitable person has already done it. With results excerpted below:
Supporting FactorsYou have been aided in your activities by three somewhat unexpected factors, none of them under your control. The first is the increasing importance of satellite TV channels such as al?Arabiya and al?Jazeera, with their ability to deliver uncensored news information into many millions of households.
The second is the particularly militant nature of the Sharon government in Israel together with its close links with the Bush administration...
[...]
The third, and by far the most important, has been the termination of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq followed by the US occupation of the country and consequent insurgency. This has been, purely and simply, nothing less than a gift from heaven..
[...]
Even with our perspectives on the incompetence of your opponents, we have to confess our astonishment that the US occupiers in Iraq have been willing to allow Israeli special forces to operate in the Kurdish areas of Iraq. That the US leadership has supported Israel in gaining direct access to an enclave in an Arab country is frankly astounding and further illustrates the fundamental lack of understanding of the current administration in Washington.
[...]
Thus, the future looks bright. We insist, though, that much of this is due to the actions of your opponents and it follows that any actions that you can take to ensure that they persist with their current policies will be to your advantage. The immediate requirement, as we have indicated, is therefore to aid, in any way within the framework of your core values, the survival of the Bush administration.
There was a time, back in the good old days, when I thought people on the Left tended to have a healthy sense of humor while people on the right tended to use "irony" as a blunt instrument to punish people for daring to disagree with them. That equation seems to have neatly reversed itself. This is the pendulum of history, I guess.
Or perhaps it's more that professors of peace studies never have a talent for irony.
It begs a fair question though: would Al Qaeda do better with Kerry or Bush as president. If they're going to try to influence the U.S. presidential election, which way do they want it to go? Maybe I'm being unduly optimistic, but I think Al Qaeda is screwed either way, give or take a few thousand victims. What do you think?
Posted by Jeremy at 02:51 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Wait a second...Mikey?
by JeremyJosh Marshall writing about Susan Schmidt, of the la la la story about yadda yadda, overrules her credibility with the following 'nuff said':
"Susan Schmidt is known, happily among DC Republicans and not so happily among DC Democrats, as what you might call the "Mikey" (a la Life Cereal fame) of the DC press corps, especially when the cereal is coming from Republican staffers."
Am I not the first person to point this out? Is he saying that Mikey would eat anything? Sorry, no. "He won't eat it," the line was, "he hates everything." Hates everything, Marshall: hates. But the "Life" cereal his brother pushed in front of him was so good that even the finicky Mikey ate it right up.
If you're going to quote scripture, folks, please get it right.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 13, 2004
I knew there was a reason I'm a Pete Townshend fan
by Jeremy"Michael Moore has been making some claims -- mentioning me by name -- which I believe distort the truth.He says -- among other things -- that I refused to allow him to use my song WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN in his latest film, because I support the war, and that at the last minute I recanted, but he turned me down. I have never hidden the fact that at the beginning of the war in Iraq I was a supporter. But now, like millions of others, I am less sure we did the right thing.
[...]
I had not really been convinced by BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, and had been worried about its accuracy; it felt to me like a bullying film. Out of courtesy to Harvey I suggested that if he and Moore were determined to have me reconsider, I should at least get a chance to see a copy of the new film. I knew that with Cannes on the horizon, time was running short for them, and this might not be possible. I never received a copy of the film to view. At no time did I ask Moore or Miramax to reconsider anything. Once I had an idea what the film was about I was 90% certain my song was not right for them.
[...]
I greatly resent being bullied and slurred by him in interviews just because he didn't get what he wanted from me."
While I don't share Townshend's second thoughts about supporing the war, I greatly respect the fact that he is not striking a self-righteously moral pose. And it's nice to see a celebrated iconoclast not kissing Moore's hairy ass for a change.
(via Tim Blair)
Posted by Jeremy at 09:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
If It Pisses Me Off...
by JeremyAs much as it annoys me to hear an American actor doing a bad phony British accent or a Brit doing a crummy American accent, they are both trumped by the slow, gnawing hell of a Northern (U.S.) actor's feeble show of a Southern (U.S.) accent, particularly when the actor is engaged in an obvious effort to "find" the depth of soul and unflappable dignity in the Southern psyche. And I'm a Jewish guy from New York -- I can't begin to imagine how infuriating this must be to a person from the South. Any readers (Southerners or otherwise) care to vent their feelings on this?
My favorite TV Southern accent was Andy Griffith's, but you see, that doesn't count because Andy Griffith is a Southerner. I used to like Tom Hanks but then he got "tired of playing pussies" as he put it, so he began his agonizing transformation into some kind of lovable Gary Cooper. But to hear him do a Southern accent is too much. He is asking too much. The trouble is he's just the first random actor I pulled off the top of the batch. There are a lot of women who do this (bad fake Southern accents in movies). It needs to stop. I think this is a post 9/11 thing for me. I think I want people to be themselves.
UPDATE: I know: strictly speaking actors are "supposed" to be other people. Still, though.
Posted by Jeremy at 08:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A Gift From God
by JeremyJust when I think I'm going to have to resign myself to a post-free day because I'm too worn out to get into a lather about anything, along comes this:
Mexico attorney general gets microchip implantMEXICO CITY, Mexico (Reuters) -- Mexico's attorney general said on Monday he had had a microchip inserted under the skin of one of his arms to give him access to a new crime database and also enable him to be traced if he is ever abducted.
Thanks for that, dear Lord.
Posted by Jeremy at 08:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 12, 2004
Old Franken and New Franken
by JeremyAl Franken seems to have changed the name of his show from the "O'Franken Factor" to the arcane "Al Franken Show." Could it be I'm not the only person who thought the old name was stupid? Or did O'Reilly sue him. I don't care enough to google it. But worth mentioning: A caller expressed outrage that Bush was trying to scare the country into complicity by threatening to postpone the November election. Al Franken responded that he didn't think there was anything wrong with having a contingency plan, that it was a case of good sense. I should learn to turn the radio off when I hear something on Air America I like, because the next thing he said to her was that it's not as if Bush is going to let an attack happen for his political advantage -- rather, it's through stupidity that he's apt to let an attack happen, just the way he did on 9/11.
At least Franken, unlike Moore, could be rehabilitated if he were ever to admit he has a problem. Meanwhile, I'm going to practice my quick draw on the power switch.
Posted by Jeremy at 06:22 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Senate Report on Iraq
by JeremyThough the Senate Intelligence Committee report on pre Iraq war intelligence is available for download, it's an image-based .pdf (they must have scanned a paper document). My poor computer just finished the arduous task of doing an OCR (optical character recognition) process on this 521 page report and I've posted a version of the resulting .pdf that allows you to select and search text. I haven't error-checked any of the content, so if you use this you should check anything you cite against the original (that's good practice anyway for a document whose content is alterable).
Here's the link to for the original image-based file (pluse their summary). Here's (2.82 Megs) the link to my text-selectable version. Knock yourself out.
Posted by Jeremy at 05:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
And They Say Too Much TV is Bad For You?
by JeremyHey, if it helps you write shorter, butcher sentences then it's well worth it.
The running of the bulls in Pamplona started 400 years ago and became popular worldwide after Ernest Hemingway wrote about it in the 1920s.
The annual "shooting of yourself with a rifle" has attracted fewer enthusiasts.
Posted by Jeremy at 04:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 11, 2004
Wilson Who? 16 Infamous What?
by JeremyLast year Moveon.org chose to represent Bush's report of the British intelligence claim that Iraq looked into buying Uranium in Niger as the flagship justification for nullifying his presidency:
The Daily Kos was ready to impeach:
...the administration's problems with the truth are a serious breach of trust and sullies the White House far beyond anything Clinton ever did. Beyond what anyone has ever done.[...]
Bush promised to "restore dignity" in the White House. The trail of death and misery his LIES have wrought lay waste to that promise. So this particular LIE just 16 words? Who cares? "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" was only nine. It didn't stop the GOP from impeaching Clinton.
The trouble is it seems Joe Wilson was lying, and it's no longer just the Financial Times reporting that. The Senate Intelligence Committee has confirmed this:
Wilson, who last year launched a firestorm with his accusations that the administration had manipulated intelligence to build a case for war, has said that his trip to Niger should have laid to rest any notion that Iraq sought uranium there and has said the White House ignored his findings.Wilson's claims - both about what he found in Niger and what the Bush administration did with the information - were undermined Friday in a bipartisan Senate Intelligence report.
The panel found that Wilson's report, rather than debunking intelligence about purported uranium sales to Iraq, bolstered the case for intelligence analysts. And contrary to Wilson's assertions, the CIA did not tell the White House it had qualms about the reliability of the intelligence that made its way into President George W. Bush's January 2003 State of the Union address.
And then there's this:
The report states that a CIA official told the Senate committee that Plame "offered up" Wilson's name for the Niger trip, then on Feb. 12, 2002, sent a memo to a CIA operations official saying her husband "has good relations with both the PM (prime minister) and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity."Wilson has asserted that his wife was not involved in the decision to send him to Niger.
Uh...oops.
Much more on the Senate Intelligence Committee Report here.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Be A Space Puppy for Good Rather Than Evil
by JeremyI was shy to a painful extreme as a child. I'm a hell of a lot better now. I've progressed to a point where I'm only perceived as merely shy and/or reserved and generally seen as a bit of a space puppy. These are socially acceptable deviations from the norm; some even regard them positively. More importantly, they are internally tolerable deviations from happy. I am now a substantially happy person (thanks, perhaps to a foundation of supportive parenting, good schooling, a middle class buffer from the violence of poverty...but ultimately these things, though perhaps necessary, were not sufficient: it took the boringly, stupidly simple practice of taking a daily dose of St. Johnswort to help me become happier and less pathologically shy). But there' still something going on with me. It's not serious enough to diagnose, but I think it's on the clinically insignificant end of a spectrum whose far end is autism. My version of this thing (and I sense that bloggers may be prone to this un-named phenomenon more than the general populace) is not even close to being as severe as that of a few famous people I admire who have it to a socially debilitating degree but who have nevertheless been able to achieve great things, Bob Dylan being a prime example.
One of the reasons I bring this up is that the most annoying symtomoid I have of this disorder-not-worth-naming is that I often get overwhelmed by sensory stimulation in small crowded quarters. This often happens in restaurants. I'm unable to think or say anything and every sound is equally and separately prominent. You're way ahead of me by now...the icons below are a vivid hint at this sensation. Scan your eyes over them one at a time so that you register what each is communicating. Turn up the radio and TV while you do this. See if you can conjure a coherent thought or make conversation.
Here's that list of famous characters -- real and fictional -- who, according to the website's author and visitors, have autistic traits. Note that this is not some sly claim of intellectual superiority. Einstein may be on the list, but so is Keanu Reeves. And I would add to this list, not without empathy, Michael Moore.
Posted by Jeremy at 04:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
'Left' and 'Right' Still Apply in Understanding this War
by JeremyAnne has an interesting post about propoganda and the American Revolution which proposes that PR can be a decisive factor during wartime. But it occurs to me that there may be a more vital factor at work: armies whose objective struggle is to bring a people Leftward -- if this means toward liberal democracy and not Left of it -- are more likely to enjoy popular support on both sides than armies whose objective struggle is to bring a people Right of liberal democracy. Better students of history than myself might want to apply this little test to wars gone by.
Obviously it's not always possible to discern which, if either, side in a war is advancing a liberalizing outcome, and in those cases propoganda is important. But I tend to think that the majority of people, in spite of themselves, can sense the reality behind the rhetoric. And we've had some piss poor PR coming out of the Bush administration -- Blair, by way of contrast, makes that painfully clear -- but what has created a rift between the United States and, say, France, is not the lack of eloquence or good faith diplomacy, but the larger intentions, the truth behind the bullshit. The United States made a decision that a liberalized Iraq was necessary for world stability whereas the Chirac administration was nowhere even in the vicinity of such an extreme reversal of position. The Chirac stance, in other words, has been reactionary. While first rate diplomacy would have pissed off fewer middle class intellectuals both here and abroad, it simply cannot have had any actual effect on France's position on Iraq. This doesn't mean that good diplomacy would not have helped in important ways it's just that, in the current crisis in history, it's objective intentions and real actions in advancing the global trend away from feudalism (or say it how you will) that matter.
The American Revolution, in many ways, was the beginning of Europe's thus far successful war against feudal tyranny, not merely the American colony's war for its own self rule. The current series of wars would seem to me to be the Arab world's entry into this very old struggle being brought violenty forward by the United States finally (thank heaven) choosing sides in favor of Enightenment values in the Arab world. What's more, I think this is precisely the realization that groups such as Al Qaeda and the Baathists are trying to smother in the minds of Arabs and Westerners alike. But, as I've suggested, actions speak louder than propoganda.
Posted by Jeremy at 02:28 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
July 10, 2004
Macaroni and Cheese
by JeremyLast weekend it was, while researching the final status of some proposed changes to the National Electrical Code for the 2005 code cycle, that I was interrupted by a peckish Cara wondering whether I might be entertaining any ideas for dinner.
"...how can AFCIs be required in 'all living areas' under a sub-heading that is still titled 'Dwelling Unit Bedrooms?' I said. They're going to have to change that heading."
"Dinner" she said.
It was then that the Shoutcast radio station I was listening to, which I had thought was a Jazz station because it had just been playing Ella Fitzgerald doing a Cole Porter tune, started playing a wholly different, uniquely inspiring piece of instrumental music.
"Macaroni and Cheese!" we said almost simultaneously. And macaroni and cheese it was.
Here's a snippet of the music that inspired this culinary revelation (note, I don't know the actual title of the piece).
We agreed that this was a Lileks moment.
Posted by Jeremy at 06:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 09, 2004
Idiot With Flag
by JeremyWhat happens when some racist idiot tries to impale you on an American flag? Michael Moore uses you as a talking point. But more gravely, you spend the rest of your life in one institution after another. The victim's name is Ted Landsmark, and it happens he went to my high school (didn't know him: 20 years before my time). The story is linked by Lileks, but I'm linking it via Baldilocks because it's more fun that way -- like tossing the beach ball at a stadium concert.
Posted by Jeremy at 09:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Ali on the "Anti-Zarqawi" Masked Men
by Jeremy"We have a long experience with people wearing masks starting with Saddam's Feda?een and I can tell you without much doubt that these people are not who they pretend to be. They are not ordinary Iraqis and most likely they're either part of Sadr militias or other similar groups."But why would such groups do this and what would they gain?!
Anyone who follow the Iraqi issue should notice that the term "resistance" is losing its legitimacy and support among Iraqis day by day. Soon after the liberation, some Iraqis looked at the IP and the new Iraqi army as "collaborating with the invaders". It wasn't far when members of the new Iraqi army were wearing masks to hide their faces fearing that they maybe recognized and then they would face serious threats, this is not the case anymore."Iraqis can no longer sympathize in any way with those who kill Iraqi children and destroy Iraqi infra structure and make their lives harder and harder, thus came new terms for old groups such as "real resistance" and "legitimate resistance". These people are seeking recognition as the real resistance. They?re saying "killing children and destroying infrastructure is Zarqawi's followers doing while we are real resistance; we only resist the occupation and we'll do it peacfully" It won't matter what they actually do since we cannot find who committed this terrorist act and who did that. These people can never, and more important, will never fight Zarqawi."
Posted by Jeremy at 05:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Seen it.
by JeremyI just finished watching "Fahrenheit 9/11" and I'll share a few nuggets. One is that, while it was fun to see how pissed of Ray Bradbury was over the title, I hadn't fully appreciated his indignation until reflecting on it just now. The reason is that, for just an hour or two, I'd forgotten the Bradbury title. I'd forgotten, that is to say, the temperature at which paper burns. 452, is it? 451. It really does take some of the resonance away from Bradbury's most highly regarded work:
"Michael Moore is a screwed a--hole, that is what I think about that case," Bradbury said according to an English translation of the [Swedish news] story. "He stole my title and changed the numbers without ever asking me for permission."Continued the author: "[Moore] is a horrible human being -- horrible human!"
Beyond that, the movie has prompted me to recant on two points. One -- and I find this humiliating -- I had been promiscuously conceding that I could appreciate the idea of a non-fiction film twisting objectivity in the style of a political cartoon. I still think such a form could be effective. But I was taking certain people at their word that Moore's film featured some funny moments. This turns out not to be the case. While I know Moore has effective satire in him, it's not in this film.
Another thing is that I'd previously written that the guy, metaphorically, is a five letter word for the male anatomy, whereas I now feel it necessary to actually write that he is a prick. Why? I'm not going to do a blow by blow because that's been done well by others. But the short answer is that he uses people -- their suffering, the degradation of their poverty -- to make his viewers feel a nauseous sense of disgust for their country. If this were coupled with a call to any useful sort of advocacy, or even a sense that any American citizen has any right to live, then he'd at least not deserve to be called a prick. But he really does seem to hate the poor, the middle class, and the rich people of America (he has been all three). This strikes me as self-hatred of a narcissistic variety.
There were three affecting moments in the film. The first was footage in New York City on 9/11/01. That was there to remind people that it was bad, what happened then, sure. You need to remember that because it wouldn't have happened if Bush (friend of Osama) had not been in the White House. He says this with innuendo, juxtaposition, a nod, a wink. The next affecting moment was a sequence of footage of innocent victims of the bombing in Iraq, injured soldiers, soldiers with legs and arms missing. This is horrible stuff. And it is indeed footage that war proponents should see. But, during the third affecting sequence, during which we see a patriotic mother gradually break down over the death of her son in Iraq, it becomes clear how shameless the manipulation is. Why did her son go off to war in Iraq? Cut to Bush. Why did he have to die? Cut to Halliburton. Where were those films of children being tortured that Saddam's secret police used to show to political prisoners? (meaning the ones who were given favor by not being dropped into tree shredders). Where was the footage of that mass grave filled with the rotting corpses of children? where was the footage of Iraqi mothers and fathers screaming and crying over their slaughtered or disappeared children? Oh, right: they'd have been liquidated too for daring to voice their political dissent, or grief, or whatever you call that. Anyway, that's for someone else's movie. Moore has bigger fish to fry.
I didn't see any of what must be millions of people like this Iraqi, whose 17 year old sister was disappeared 20 years ago (no provocative film footage of her torture and killing, or I'm sure Moore would have included it) for giving a Koran to her friend in school (he clings to the handwritten indictment for "conducting backward religious activity inside the school," an artifact that also documents his sister's religious devotion):
This sort of story, in a well balanced documentary, would cover decades of absolutely innumerable cases just like this -- and far more graphic -- running right up until that "Mission Accomplished" photo opportunity which we're supposed to accept was plainly meaningless, it's victory just a stupid, badly timed propaganda fart.
The guy above would have been happy, I'd guess, to have provided the following sound bite for Moore's picture, if he'd been asked:
"The case of this girl, this pure-hearted girl, has been living with me for 20 years...If I catch Saddam, I won't kill him. That won't be enough. I'll suck his blood. And if he escapes, I'll follow him to the ends of the earth."
So you can argue that our neighbors who are fighting in Iraq are victims of a war you believe they shouldn't be asked to fight and I can respect you for that. But to laugh at those who say the soldiers are saving people's lives is a dehumanizing lie. Moore isn't asking us to wrestle with difficult moral truths. He's playing games with the suffering of people for whom he has nothing but contempt in an effort to make us feel guilty for any urge we might have to think for ourselves about these issues. What Moore is trying to bludgeon into your consciousness is that there's a position you can take that will cleanse the blood from your conscience. But take a look at him: he's Lady Macbeth. He is tired of taking any responsibility whatsoever for the fact that there is no morally pristine path for a thinking person to take in this global community (didn't we on the left used to want to think of the world that way?). But he's charted a path through an ugly little world where all the blood and horror, from both sides of the equation, any equation, is dumped on Bush's head. It's extremely comforting to pretend that Bush is the great Satan. Especially after being shown how unprepared and fallible this Satan is, how he and his satanic cabal have been using their domination of the world to destroy everything good and the blood-soaked police state you now live in is the result. Yes, poverty is an outrage; the death of poor people overseas is an outrage. But, deep down, you will leave the theater thinking that things aren't as scary as the evil Bushies want you to think. They'd have you believe that people in other countries want to crash airplanes into our buildings, or some crazy nonsense like that. Well, sure, if Bush and his war profiteering interests feel it's worth their while to let that happen. And if Gore helps undermine his own election recount. And if Wolfowitz licks his comb and if Bush reads stupid children's stories to children. Sure, then bad stuff might happen.
Rambling ineffectively...sorry...venting. Now I'm basically done.
Now I understand why so many people I respect get so pissed off after watching this film. It's like some stupid kid getting in your face and saying "your mama's ugly" and then showing you pictures of horribly burned firemen and brutally beaten rape victims to prove his point.
But James Lileks who, I don't mind saying, is the best writer in the blogosphere, has this to say on Michael Moore (yeah, it's long too).
P.S. The other thing is that it's poorly put together. I was prepared to concede that it was deft, artful propoganda. But I did not find that to be the case. Here's something Jean-Luc Godard said of Moore as a filmmaker:
"Moore doesn't distinguish between text and image," Godard argued. "He doesn't know what he's doing."
Posted by Jeremy at 04:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 08, 2004
More Air America (and then I'll probably stop)
by Jeremy[NOTE: I won't keep doing this because I'm aware that it's giving my blogging an annoying, whiny tone. This is the same tone Al Franken has these past few years. I think it's called anger. But it's the kind that comes from licking a canker sore, not the kind that comes from taking important issues head on. Listen to Franken's voice when he mentions Bush: he can't even to say the name without harumphing or chuckling derisively. I don't think it's exactly a hate thing so much as a personal invalidation thing. It's like when a 5 year old boy is mad at a girl (or vice versa) and resents even having to say "she" when referring to how much he hates her. For reasons I'm not yet certain of, people on the left feel personally invalidated by the fact that Bush is president. Is it because they thought Gore was going to be president? Is it because this war has killed so many innocent people in Iraq? Then why aren't they moved to paroxysms of childlike hate when being forced to mention the name of someone like Bin Laden, Saddam, or even other presidents who have killed innocent people, such as JFK? Why are they able to say Clinton's name without squirming, despite the fact that he chose not to intervene in Rwanda? This is our homework for the weekend, to answer this question.]
UPDATE: Check out Tom Grey's comment on this question. I think he's onto something (though I'm extrapolating here): it has to do with people like me on the secular left not wanting to let go of the fantasy that we're morally superior and, often, not wanting to face moral ambiguity. If you haven't let go of this then someone like George W. Bush, who puts moral problems in a concrete, black and white way, will crawl up your ass because he reminds you of yourself. This is especially likely to happen when some part of you fears the man may not be so full of shit as you want to think he is. It's right to be shocked and agnry over 1,000 dead American soldiers and thousands of dead Iraqis, but to cast Bush as a monster means not letting yourself be shocked and outraged over 300,000 Iraqi men, women and children in mass graves and many thousands disappeared every year, and the prospect of a messier, bloodier war in Iraq if we'd let the country fall apart on its own...but it all means letting go of a luxury we can no longer afford, namely the childish dream that we'd finally have our just and humane world if the United States would simply stop f**king everything up. 9/11 shook me out of my own bullshit on this stuff. It did the same to the isolationist, Saudi-friendly Bush. So neither side has capitulated to the other -- some of us have just grown up a bit. It only took Bush seven minutes. What's taking Michael Moore so long?
I was listening to Al Franken and his sidekick on the way home. They interviewed Ron Reagan Jr. and said very lovely things about his father (which I dare say they might not be doing if Reagan Sr. were currently president). They lobbed him a bunch of finish-this-sentence questions to help him contribute the desired quota of reverse campaign rhetoric for the right-of-center party they support. They also talked about how they support stem cell research, which I support too. But I felt Ron Reagan was being manipulated. I'd much rather have heard him on Howard Stern.
The next guest was Michael Moore. They discussed the 7 minutes on 9/11 during which Bush had his world rocked in an uncharismatic way causing him to fail to get to his phone booth, change into his satin costume and swat passenger jets from the air (killing hundreds of innocent passengers in an act of heroism that Franken and Moore would, I suppose, have lauded to this day). But Moore said he omitted from his film, out of kindness to Bush, the worst thing which was that Bush stayed in the school building for half an hour knowing that he must certainly be a target and that he was therefore endangering hundreds of kids by staying near them. If Bush really thought the terrorists were going to crash a plane into that school then the cowardly thing would have been to shove those kids out of the way so he could get his ass out of there fast. But it's not really about the logic.
His next guest -- I didn't get to hear him -- was evidently Bill Clinton who, by any honest reckoning, is a neoconservative and who was in favor of taking down Saddam Hussein long before 9/11 (cue sinister music). But again, it's not about the logic.
Anyway, I pulled into the driveway at home and figured I'd listen to more of this crap via the internet feed, but I found out that the radio was playing a tape from, I guess, this morning. What I heard instead was a somewhat annoying person named Randi Rhodes saying something about how the U.S. should have given reconstruction jobs to Iraqis, that they'd be thrilled to have the work. I agree with this 100%. I was glad to hear something that I could get behind, something that wasn't taken from a playlist of DNC sound bites dolled up to faintly resemble gutsy left wing feistiness. So score one for Randi Rhodes.
But, since I plan to watch Fahrenheit 9/11 tomorrow, I'm going to stop listening lest I overdose. I'm going to smoke a cigar out on the deck.
Posted by Jeremy at 06:37 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 07, 2004
New Category Needed
by JeremyYou know, I don't use those automatic blog categories to sort my posts but if I did I'd have to file this under "Yo, That's Harsh." (via Glenn Reynolds)
Posted by Jeremy at 10:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Air America First Impression
by JeremyOne of our local AM radio stations started carrying Air America this Monday. I only just started dialing it in today. I gave a 5 minute listen this morning to Chuck D. (who appears in more than one slot, and there's another guy whose last name is D.) Anyway, they sounded like actual human beings. Usually you only get this on Howard Stern. Mr. D. got onto a tangent about how southern rednecks have names that are stereotypically associated with urban, northern black people. He then said "watch out for white guys with black sounding names." This is silly, indefensible "it's ok cause I'm a leftie" naughtiness and he knew it. The point is he said it because it sounded funny. This is broadcasting.
Harry's got a post, and discussion, about whether left wing comedians can be funny. My thesis is that comedians can be funny and make left wing observations along the way, but you can't put the politics before the comedy. A comedian stops being funny when he's looking for stuff to make a point or to sell his party's product.
On the way home from work I heard Al Franken and found him surprisingly enjoyable to listen to as he took calls from people whose politics couldn't exactly be nailed down. It was actual thinking people talking off the cuff. I was impressed. But, just as Howard Stern must interrupt his witty repartee with strippers, farting-champions and ads for 1-800-MATTRES (leave off the last "s" That's the "s" for savings) Al Franken (who calls his segment the "O'Franken Factor" to remind himself, one supposes, that he's got a feud going with radio and TV broadcaster Bill O'Reilly) has to get back to flacking for the Democratic party because, after all, they ain't on the radio just to entertain people (why not again?). So they go back to the "dump Bush" patter the way cheesy broadcaster Joe Franklin used to force in his ads for local businesses, "that reminds me, ladies and gentlemen, that you really can't get a better deal on cheese than at Shecky's Cheese Palace over on a hunderd and third and broadway" or whatever it was.
How can I launch some half baked critique of a radio network I?ve only listened to for ten minutes? Can you think of a better way to launch some half baked critique of a radio network? And anyway, I?ll keep listening and I?ll let you how I think my first impression stands up.
Here's Joe Franklin:
Posted by Jeremy at 10:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What, Me Worry?
by JeremyOk, I give already. No one else in the blogosphere seems to think this means anything so maybe I'm just a nuclear nelly. But two tons of enriched uranium badly stored in Iraq? Sure, we're supposed to have realized the stuff was there, wasn't weapons grade, etc, etc. But I honestly had no idea there was that much and I had conveniently neglected to crap my pants for fear of someone like Zarqawi either getting it or blowing it up. Anyway, Glenn Reynolds' may start worrying yet, then I won't be the only one. A glimpse into my apparently twisted imagination: I'm slightly worried about how much of this stuff didn't make it out of Iraq. It's nice to know that blowing up two tons of somewhat enriched uranium is something only sissies worry about, but I would still wager we wouldn't want it to happen. I know: "relax, Grandma."
Next time I get my silly little head in a spin over tons of nuclear material in the Middle East please remind me to blog about my stomach problem again, or...hey, come to think of it...I forgot to blog about macaroni and cheese. But honestly. Will do later.
Posted by Jeremy at 03:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
US Removes Two Tons of Radioactive Material From Iraq
by JeremyThe US has revealed that it removed more than 1.7 metric tons of radioactive material from Iraq in a secret operation last month."This operation was a major achievement," said US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in a statement.
He said it would keep "potentially dangerous nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists".
Along with 1.77 tons of enriched uranium, about 1,000 "highly radioactive sources" were also removed.
The material was taken from a former nuclear research facility on 23 June, after being packaged by 20 experts from the US Energy Department's secret laboratories.
It was flown out of the country aboard a military plane in a joint operation with the Department of Defense, and is being stored temporarily at a Department of Energy facility.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency -and Iraqi officials were informed ahead of the operation, which happened ahead of the 28 June handover of sovereignty.
UPDATE: More here:
Tuwaitha was once the center of Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons effort, but its equipment was dismantled at the direction of U.N. inspectors in the early 1990s as part of the agreement following Iraq's surrender in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The U.N. inspectors removed highly enriched uranium that could be used for weapons and shipped it for storage in Russia. The low-enriched uranium was placed under seal in storage at Tuwaitha but under the control of the IAEA.[...]
Before the U.S.-led coalition's invasion of Iraq, as the Bush administration alleged that Hussein had reconstituted his nuclear program, Tuwaitha was a target for U.S. intelligence.
In April 2003, just days after the statue of Hussein in Baghdad was pulled down, a U.S. Marine engineering company took a close look at Tuwaitha, which is 30 miles south of Baghdad. There they found guards had abandoned their posts and looters were roaming the giant facility. At one storage building, which later was found to hold radioactive samples used in research, the radiation levels were too high to enter safely, although the entrance door stood wide open.
A month later, the Pentagon rejected suggestions that U.N. inspectors be allowed to reenter Iraq but agreed the IAEA experts could return to secure the uranium that had been under its seal for years.
And this from the New York Times:
None of the materials were usable in a nuclear bomb, but the uranium could have been further enriched to make it useful in a weapon, said Bryan Wilkes, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, part of the Energy Department.He also said the radioactive sources could have been mixed with conventional explosives to make a "dirty bomb."
[...]
A dirty bomb or, more formally, a radiological dispersion device, is not likely to give off lethal doses of radiation, according to experts, but could contaminate valuable real estate with low levels of contamination in a way that would require an expensive cleanup or simply make an area unusable.
The Energy Department said that it had left behind radiological sources "that continue to serve useful medical, agricultural or industrial purposes," and that the action had been taken "to ensure the safety and security of the Iraqi people."
Posted by Jeremy at 05:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Bloglines
by JeremyBloglines, my aggregator of choice, just got a facelift. And man, it's awful sweet. Check it.
Posted by Jeremy at 03:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
My Fault!
by JeremyYesterday's blog problems were my fault. I tried to export the entire archives, swap out the "smart quotes" in a word processor, then import the whole thing back in again. I had thought it simply failed, but I guess I actually managed to wipe out the entire blog. Hours must have gone by with nothing on the site before I finally noticed that something was wrong. Ah well; ignorance is bliss. Fortunately I'm not so stupid that I hadn't already made several backup copies of the MySQL database before attempting this hotdog maneuver. Thankfully, the Movable Type system rebuilds the blog flawlessly as long as the database is intact (or once the database is restored, as the case was). But it just goes to show you: back up your blog! And if you don't know how, then ask the people you pay every month what you need to do to get a backup copy on your own hard drive every week or so (or every day, if you're of the prolific variety). I know that Typepad allows you to do this somewhere in that sea of features. I don't know how it's done in Blogger.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Fall of the House of Tehran (The Telltale Mullah?)
by JeremyThe British, I would argue, are unsurpassed in the art of stalling without offending in an awkward situation. But there's only so much diplomatic throat clearing, lapel smoothing, eyeglass de-specking and tea offering you can do, only so many times you can say "right" and "well then" before having to come out with a response to a proposal such as this one from Iran:
British officials were taken aback yesterday by a plan to unearth the remains of Iranian soldiers and rebury them in the grounds of Iran's London embassy.[...]
In an initiative privately regarded in Whitehall as "absolutely bizarre", Iran's Sacred Defence Preservation Foundation, which preserves the memory of soldiers who died in the 1980-88 war with Iraq, wants to send an unspecified number of "unknown martyrs" to London to create a weekend attraction for Iranian expatriates.
[...]
A spokesman for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the local authority for the Iranian embassy, said: "This is a entirely a matter for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office."
If only I were a talented enough fictionist to make this kind of stuff up.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 05, 2004
The Evil American Influence
by Jeremy
"An Iranian riot policeman looks disapprovingly at a woman whose scarf does not fully cover her hair as he monitors traffic at a Tehran intersection on Monday. Iran's conservative establishment was showing its strength ahead of the anniversary of the violent 1999 student unrest by deploying thousands of troops to the streets."
Posted by Jeremy at 10:42 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
The Real Threat to Freedom (Part Two)
by JeremyIt's time to face it: this guy is a dangerous flip-flopper who talks out his ass then contradicts himself a minute later if he thinks it will benefit him politically. He tries to deflect criticism of his own shortcomings by hiding in the shadow of the current administration which he accuses of being in the hip pocket of wealthy imperialists. He pretends to have deep religious beliefs out of a cynical desire to win wider popular support. Anyone who would vote for him must be an idiot. Click here if you need to be convinced.
Posted by Jeremy at 08:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
The Real Threat to Freedom
by JeremyIt's time to face it: he's out to control Iraqi oil, he coasted into a position of power on the coattails of his father, he doesn't give a rat's ass about democracy in Iraq, every word out of his mouth is a lie...he must be defeated at all costs by anyone who values freedom. Click here if you need to be convinced.
Posted by Jeremy at 08:02 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Yo, ho, ho...
by Jeremy...and a bottle of Rum... a parrot on my shoulder...anything that might be of comfort as I watch the copy of "Fahrenheit 9/11" that I just downloaded and burned to disk last night. I don't plan to watch it until Friday, so I will post on it Friday or Saturday.
I got it via "BitTorrent," if you want to know. Do some Googling and you'll find you can do it too, though I don't condone violating copyright laws. But Michael Moore is OK with our doing this, particularly for people like me who weren't going to see it otherwise:
Well, I don't agree with the copyright laws and I don't have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people. As long they're not doing it to make a profit off it, as long as they're not, you know, trying to make a profit off my labor.
Posted by Jeremy at 06:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 04, 2004
Happy 4th!
by JeremyThis picture of the Statue of Liberty -- the unapologetic sincerity of symbolism despite the dirt, the litter, the roofing tar -- appeals to me. It's how I see American democracy, and it's how I felt about New York City when I was growing up there. Have you climbed up the stairs to the top of this statue (note the people waving from inside her crown)? Do you remember the "clang-clang-shuffle-clang" resonating and echoing within all that iron and copper? That's a sound worth meditating on today.
UPDATE: Here's a fictionalized, rough approximation of the sound. Of course childhood memories themselves are a kind of fiction, so who knows if the real sound ever existed. Anyone remember?
Posted by Jeremy at 02:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 03, 2004
Help defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment
by JeremyIf you oppose the constitutional amendment that would ban same sex marriage, one thing you can do is use this website to send a letter to your senators and representatives (hat tip: Roger):
Do not be silent as Congress considers amending our nation's most sacred document. Let your opposition to this unnecessary and discriminatory amendment be heard by writing to your Members of Congress today.
It's not likely to pass, but if you have any doubt as to your senators' or representatives' positions on this issue then you can help influence what they decide. The more resounding the defeat of this amendment the better.
(UPDATE: Here's another site doing the same thing.)
Posted by Jeremy at 05:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Reactionary Theocracy
by JeremyYou can't get much more reactionary than to stand in the way of eradicating polio in children. If we're not Left of this, then what are we Left of?
An outbreak of polio has hit children in the Nigerian state of Kano. Kano is one of the muslim states that had boycotted the use of the polio vaccine. Many muslim states in Nigeria banned the polio vaccine because those in charge said the Americans were using the vaccines to make their population infertile. Many of them said the vaccine would also be used to spread AIDS in the region. Despite appeals from neighbouring countries to vaccinate its population, the conspiracy theorists in Nigeria got their way.Now, as expected, polio is beginning to spread among children in the region. Now the local authorities are appealing for urgent assistance.
The World Health Organisation has sent a team to the area. The team has confirmed that the outbreak is polio.
It was only during the month of May this year that officials in Kano decided to resume vaccinations because the new batch came from Indonesia, a muslim country. Unfortunately, this massive delay is going to be paid for by scores of children, who could end up being crippled for life (as well as dying).
Posted by Jeremy at 11:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 02, 2004
Nick Cohen Hits the Nail on the Head
by JeremyI link to the professor's stuff (I'm referring to Norm) so often that I'm beginning to feel like one of his teaching assistants. But Norm is a magnet for precisely the kind of material I think readers of this blog would want to see. Thus do I humbly serve all readers of "Who Knew?" who don't regularly read Normblog (all seven of you). But this passage he cites from a piece in the Evening Standard by Nick Cohen merits being run again today:
Traditional Left-wingers would have regarded Saddam's totalitarianism and the Taliban's terror regime as their worst nightmare. They would have shown solidarity with its victims. Even if they opposed wars to remove dictatorships as a greater evil, they would have supported their comrades once the fighting was over.That Left is all but dead, and Iraqi democrats and socialists can barely get a hearing in the liberal West. What progress there is towards democracy is regarded with widespread indifference or, on occcasion, a morally disgraceful desire for the Saddamist and al Qaeda 'insurgents' to succeed.
Supporting people who share your values in a faraway land can be hard work. You have to take up their cause at meetings, lobby MPs and, perhaps, confront your prejudices - which can mean accepting the consequences of what Bush and Blair do aren't always bad.
It's far easier to flee from complexity and enter the looking-glass world of Michael Moore, where you oppose the powerful whatever they do. If they make a move, you match it with an equal move in the opposite direction. If they U-turn, so do you. And if you find yourself standing on your head and negating every principle you profess to hold, well at least you're in star-spangled company.
Posted by Jeremy at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Bumper Sticker Idea: "Vote for a Kerry Shaped Void Where Bush Used to Be"
by JeremyWe were cooking dinner last night when the doorbell rang. It was a guy wearing a DNC pin and holding a clipboard with a red-white-and blue bumper sticker on it.
"I'm with the Democratic National Committee and we're working to oppose Bush in the presidential election this year."
"Have you endorsed a candidate?" I wanted to ask. But something in his languid expression gave me the feeling he wasn't proud of being asked to phrase it that way. I decided not to be a smartass.
Kerry's name did come up in passing toward the end of his patter.
(UPDATE: The guy was a model employee. here's job description.)
-Jeremy
Posted by Jeremy at 12:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 01, 2004
An anecdote from Mohammed
by JeremyI was taking a walk in the street with one of my friends when suddenly I heard a shout "Dr. Mohammed!" I turned back to see who it was and I found that it was one of the nursing staff who worked with me in Samawa and got transferred to Baghdad. After greetings and asking about each other's health he said "I was just thinking of you" why?, I asked."Do you still run that website?" he asked. I said "yeah".
-Can you do me a favor?
-Sure.
-Do you know Abu Haider's (Mr. Bremer) e-mail address?
-No! Why?
-I want to send him a letter.
-What for?
-To say thanks...
[...]
I should mention that friend is a hard core communist who paradoxically bares strong admiration and gratitude and for America.
We ought to get used to paradox -- it's where the truth often hides. Read the whole thing.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Saddam on Trial
by JeremyHe looks better than he has in years; I think, if I were an Iraqi, that would fill me with rage. He doesn't deserve the comfort he appears to be enjoying.
An estimated 290,000 people are missing and believed to be buried in mass graves throughout Iraq. In a country of 22 million, that is more than 1 percent of the population, the equivalent of about 3.5 million people in the United States. The vast majority of these bodies have not been found.[...]
Some graves contain a few dozen bodies. Others -- like one in Hilla in southern Iraq -- contained 5,000, exhumed to the anguished cries of local residents. Four thousand of those men have been identified so far as Shiite rebels, all of them executed: eyes blindfolded, hands tied behind the back, gunshot wounds to the head.
This is going to be a carbon copy of the Milosevic trial, which is to say the world will be forced to listen to the useless mumblings of a genocidal sociopath who is incapable of remorse. But beyond that, the differences in scale begin to eclipse the similar nature of their crimes (thanks alone to the fact that the world didn't have to wait a dozen years for a military intervention in Yugoslavia):
By comparison, forensic experts working in the former Yugoslavia estimated that "ethnic cleansing" left 30,000 dead in mass burial pits.
So what has Saddam Hussein got to say for himself?
"This is all theater. The real criminal is Bush,"
And this:
Pool reporters said Hussein called the Kuwaitis "dogs" during the hearing, and was admonished by the Iraqi judge that he was standing in a court of law and could not use such language.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Time for Action in Sudan
by JeremyI haven't been blogging so much on Darfur lately because people are reading The Passion of the Present and because Glenn Reynolds has been posting on the topic regularly, so it's not as if my small voice is needed. But this excerpt from an editorial in the Christian Science Monitor struck a chord with me (via Passion of the Present)
As with the other instances of the international community rolling back ethnic cleansing, decisive action is required: Action from the US - and, indispensably, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the European Union, and the African Union (AU). Politically, all of these actors must unambiguously and forcefully condemn the ethnic cleansing in Darfur. Having violated the terms of membership, Sudan should be prevented from voting in the UN. And its leaders must be held personally accountable. International travel by senior government officials and their families should be barred, their personal assets frozen, and the prospect of war-crimes charges against General Bashir and his ruling clique brandished...Economically, pending resolution of war-crimes charges, claims can be made against Sudan's oil exports for compensation to the victims in Darfur - as well as to reimburse the international community for the humanitarian resources expended to ameliorate this manufactured crisis. Simultaneously, sanctions against Sudan's oil exports can be instituted. Shippers caught transporting Sudanese oil would lose their tankers and cargo. The skyrocketing premiums on insurance and freight charges would surely add pressure on Sudan's primary customers - China, Malaysia, and South Korea - to curtail these purchases even if moral suasion alone would not.
.."Never again," is the mandate forever etched into our collective consciousness by the Holocaust. Yet, without an established international protocol for responding to genocide, honoring this mandate is never automatic - as we saw in Rwanda. Preventing it this time depends on a quorum of global leaders acting in unison. By so doing, they can prevent this disaster from becoming a catastrophe and forever staining their places in history.
This is a glimpse into what, years from now, will be seen as a turning point where something could have been done. This is the sort of critical moment where responsible international intervention might have obviated the need for this "sudden" "pre-emptive" war in Iraq. Do we really want Darfur to rise to the "legal" definition of genocide at which point it will be too late to act? Will this, twelve years on, be the next pre-emptive war "concocted" within some PNAC "cabal" over which a new crop of anti-war activists will cut their teeth? "The Sudanese genocide was a decade ago," the protestors will shout; "that country is no longer a threat to anybody. U.S. out of Sudan!"
It's time for the world to consider that ethnic cleansing invalidates a nation's sovereignty. And then, too, that would have to mean something.
Posted by Jeremy at 07:00 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Yahweh and Lucifer's Excellent Adventure
by JeremyI suppose it's because I'm a secular Jew, but I'm not as familiar with the teachings of St. Paul in Corinthians as, perhaps, you might be. Here -- I'll jog your memory:
"There's nothing wrong with remaining single, like me. But if you know you have strong needs, get yourself a partner. Better than being frustrated"
Remember now? (note: this is not the King James version). I find it doesn't quite scan as proper verse unless you insert the word "hey," after the word "but."
Here's something from Genesis in which God, having created the firmament, sees that it is good:
"I got techniques drippin' out my butt cheeks, sleep on my stomach so I don't fuck up my sheets."
(Ok, ok: here's where I got that last bit of apocrypha)
(Hat tip: Mick Hartley)
Posted by Jeremy at 06:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
