In Latin America, as much elsewhere, there were/are Fascists, Communists, and there were/are "Strongmen". The first two functioned, or pretended to function, on an ideology of The State, and both claimed to be socialist movements "of the People". [Strongmen were more frankly "Ubi Mea", and in that sense they were a more honest form of gangster ].
And, as elsewhere, it was/is often quite hard to discriminate, by their practice, who was ostensibly who. Peron, for example, was a classic Fascist. Yet is considered a "Hero" by many of the Castro/Chavez Coalition of the Swilling.
Somoza was a classic "strongman", having no discernible ideological vision to espouse, but was willing we should buy him fair and square.
The Pineapple was a basket case who tried all three forms, at once. Which incoherence, perhaps, conjoined with his exquisite bad timing in pushing it when Carter was already gone, landed him in our hospitable jails.
Chavez is another classic fascist, but the days of swashbuckling parades under Brown flags are seemingly history, and so he has wisely decided to go for that nice alliance of The Red and The Green. And on and on and on....
Of Thugs in government Latin America has always had no dearth. It is simple democrats, and those other naifs who actually believe in a humane and free society, who have been rara avis [and as soon as they start to be less rara, then the avis get culled pretty damn quick time].
The one true oddity, and so naturally one who takes a place of honor in Le Pew's Little Black Book, is Pinochet. He takes over from True Red Communist Allende, flexing his Military Strongman muscles. So, wonders the world, will he be a Fascist or one of those Ubi Mea Somozista types? But the bastard confounds us all and goes on to be absolutely untrue to Latin American form, and institutes a series of carefully planned and graded steps to a modern capitalist economy and a society which has both democracy and stability [once he chooses to leave the scene, of course]. And, wonder of wonders, he actually does what he plans and surrenders power. Well, let's just say that Castro, for one of many progressive examples, was not so foolish to make that mistake!
Alas, the bourgeois virtues of a decent economy and a civilized politics make for a Chile no self respecting Le Pew would wish to go and pepe in. And it patently dishonors the proud heritage of the People's governments long the hallmark of "Abasta Los Gringos" America. Why, left unapposed, this stinking corrupotion might even threaten to make a bourgeois of a Lula, eh? So let us join with Le Pew and rejoice at this Second Coming of the Caudillos.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
No more Mr. Neanderthal
Says Condi, chanelling Dominique. So OK, Foggy Bottom=Quai D'Orsay, what's new about that? But, how about W, is he getting wobbly, too?
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Maybe They Want Him at the UN
There must be a lesson in all this. You get Mugabe's and Putin's and Saddam's boys to clap for you in New York but a few months later the peacock has been turned into a feather duster back home. I will work on building portentous-sounding adages like For he is not a god of the living, but of the dead: for all die unto him later. For now I will have a cool DPA and a belly-laugh. Too bad, M Pompadour.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Taranto Excerpts this Moonbat
but it's worth reading in its entirety. The fact that the main cheerleader would back any out-of-town quarterback reminds me of Al Gore losing Tennessee in his bid. Also, some of this criticism echoes parts of such diverse opinions as Pepe's and AI's. Do the extremes really touch?
Dog Bites Man
Though I would have predicted a cave a bit earlier. Chirac must have some property in the 'hood.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
brain fryers -- LXXiV
Yet another study proving my point: cell phones are baaaad for your brain!
The effect of electromagnetic fields from digital mobile phones (DMP) on cognitive functioning is an area receiving increased attention. This study compares the performance of 120 volunteers on 8 neuropsychological tests during real or sham exposure to a DMP set to maximum permissible radiofrequency power output. When results were adjusted for known covariates (gender, age, or education), several alterations at significance levels of p < 0.05 were obtained. Of these, simple and choice reaction times (CRT) showed strong evidence of impairment.
More sapping of the will...
The effect of electromagnetic fields from digital mobile phones (DMP) on cognitive functioning is an area receiving increased attention. This study compares the performance of 120 volunteers on 8 neuropsychological tests during real or sham exposure to a DMP set to maximum permissible radiofrequency power output. When results were adjusted for known covariates (gender, age, or education), several alterations at significance levels of p < 0.05 were obtained. Of these, simple and choice reaction times (CRT) showed strong evidence of impairment.
More sapping of the will...
MFT Has Requested in a Comment
this, Manhattan, Montana's contribution to poetry. I must say that it took a fair amount of courage on his (or AA's?) part to take a camera into the men's room of a beerjoint in Montana, but this is Ansel Adams-level stuff here, well worth risking life and limb.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Support the Troops
Pepe has been very busy lately and thinks we are all retards, but has sent me this article with the above in re line. I think he is right about there being a break between government feelgoodism about supporting our troops and horseshit like this. I can't imagine any of us disagreeing if this story is true.
myth and reality: who knows?
When I read these stories, I always wonder what a journalist wanted to believe and report vs. how well this stuff actually works. Click here to see how soldiers can see out of the back of their heads.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Fire truck
Click for full size.
JJ has been asking me to post a photo that I took about a year ago (above). I live very near to a fire station, and on this night I was staking out the view from my office window as a fire truck returned from a mission. They usually return about ten to fifteen minutes after rushing off, probably because most calls are either false alarms or coffee runs. The wet road and the single lamp post make for nice shadow/reflection effects. This is River Street in Cambridge, and the exposure time of this photo was about 5 to 7 seconds.
(PSA: I lost the original photo due to a hard drive crash. It's 10:48PM; do you know where your backups are?)
BSO Performing Stravinsky
whoa dude: that's so like, deep...
- Non human-centeredness - humans do not have a privileged position at the expense of all the other life forms on this one Earth that we share.
Did anyone else get the deep ecology memo?
Did anyone else get the deep ecology memo?
Monday, April 24, 2006
Flat in Par(se)liament Square?
Red meat.
Can we be so sure he got the constants right? Kylie's seems like a trip to a soyburger place to me. The expert commentators from the Corriere della Sera have decided that these, belonging to Natalia Bush are nicer. I think the Italians have better taste in issues like these, but what do you non-Mediterraneans think?
Amsterdam Wool, Sheepish Ads
A while back I remember reading a story where Bostonian undergrads were suspect of putting women's undergarments on sheep and releasing the quadrapeds into dormatories... now look at what they are doing to them in the Netherlands.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Excellent Coverage of the Italian Elections
Even more interesting are the intellectuals who are beginning to discuss whether Catholics and non-religious people can unite to defend Western identity (or maybe just to figure out what it is). Right now, the leaders of the group are mostly secular, although Pope Benedict XVI converges with their thinking more than did John Paul II, who was more focused on interreligious dialogue. Despite their secularism, a name given them by the Riformista newspaper--i teocon, "the theocons"--has stuck, perhaps because it combines theology with neoconservatism, both less than popular in Italian intellectual circles.
Article.
The author echoes a lot of what I have been telling you guys for a while, but also brings out other stuff I had no idea about. This is excellent reporting and writing. You'll see that he refers to Il Foglio for which I provided a link in the sidebar a while ago. It's as good as he says it is. You Romance readers will get it with little problem, though likely not many of the jokes.
Article.
The author echoes a lot of what I have been telling you guys for a while, but also brings out other stuff I had no idea about. This is excellent reporting and writing. You'll see that he refers to Il Foglio for which I provided a link in the sidebar a while ago. It's as good as he says it is. You Romance readers will get it with little problem, though likely not many of the jokes.
A Pulitzer for This?
(Top Link here to avoid registering) Where are the lies and distortions? Where are the blown state secrets? You can get to the 2006 winners from here. The punchline(s) I will save for you to find in the journo list.
Montana
Fields of dental floss. Beautiful country impossible to photograph. Seems that Nikon will be getting another large out of me soon, though, particularly with Nico egging me on. This picture ain't gonna get it even with a couple hours of Photoshoppaggio. Thank you, AA, for finally getting me out there to see my beautiful God-daughter. MFT, great to meet you. Nico, thanks for the Zappa ref. and photo advice.
Kos on Army Life
Of course, that was a different time, a different Republican Party. And I was a different kind of Republican -- always socially liberal, committed to fiscal sanity, and willing to pay more than lip service to the concept of national service. Talk was cheap. I was going to wear combat boots.
Military service is a sacrifice from the beginning. The cheap combat boots assigned to new recruits blister the toughest of feet -- after one particularly grueling 20-plus-mile road march with a 100-pound rucksack, I literally squeezed out blood from my socks. But basic training was the best thing to ever happen to me. They say they break you down in basic training so they can rebuild you into a real man. I was already broken when I arrived at Fort Sill. For me, it was all building.
Eight weeks later, I emerged a brand new person, this one weighing 140 pounds. And after my three-year stint, while I was stationed in Germany and missed deploying to the Gulf War by a hair, I emerged as a Democrat.
Here.
Military service is a sacrifice from the beginning. The cheap combat boots assigned to new recruits blister the toughest of feet -- after one particularly grueling 20-plus-mile road march with a 100-pound rucksack, I literally squeezed out blood from my socks. But basic training was the best thing to ever happen to me. They say they break you down in basic training so they can rebuild you into a real man. I was already broken when I arrived at Fort Sill. For me, it was all building.
Eight weeks later, I emerged a brand new person, this one weighing 140 pounds. And after my three-year stint, while I was stationed in Germany and missed deploying to the Gulf War by a hair, I emerged as a Democrat.
Here.
UCLA Wins Moonbatbowl. Comandante wins Heisman.
This website is developed as a resource for students of critical pedagogy. The critical pedagogy which I support and practice advocates non-violent dissent, the development of a philosophy of praxis guided by a Marxist humanism, the study of revolutionary social movements and thought, and the struggle for socialist democracy. It is opposed to liberal democracy, which only serves to facilitate the reproduction of capital. It advocates a multiracial and anti-imperialist social movement dedicated to opposing racism, capitalism (both in private property and state property forms), sexism, heterosexism, hierarchies based on social class, as well as other forms of o-ppression.
Wish I had found this on my own. Instead, Iowahawk has a great post mentioning him.
All Hail Iowahawk!
Wikipaedia has an article praising this fool as much as its articles on Coanda heap adulation on him.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Qui a peur de l'islame?
Lots of Eurolitists, yes, but also lots of Ordinary Blokes. Because fear is a rational indice of the nature of Islam Militant.
Find an intelligent ouzo-free man without such fear, then you have found one who is calculating his profit from the triumph of Islam.
So what may we surmise from the current calculational din reverberating through the capitals of Old Europe?
Article.
Find an intelligent ouzo-free man without such fear, then you have found one who is calculating his profit from the triumph of Islam.
So what may we surmise from the current calculational din reverberating through the capitals of Old Europe?
Article.
Al Qaeda: questions from summer camp
For copyright reasons, I won't reference them all, but here's excerpts that Harper's ran in the May/2006 issue (pp. 26-7):
Excerpt: From a list of questions... found by U.S. forces in 2002 in a[n al qaeda] "safe house" in Kandahar:
—Is there a plan to attack the U.S. naval bases, and how could I work in this field?
—Is it legal to get rid of the Al-Qaramitah group by placing poison in their water tank because they cursed and defamed the companions of the Prophet?
—What is the delay in executing the martyrdom operations against the Americans?
[and my personal favorite] —Does the freedom fighter face his Creator if he goes out for jihad and dies as the result of a snakebite or mule kick?
Excerpt: From a list of questions... found by U.S. forces in 2002 in a[n al qaeda] "safe house" in Kandahar:
—Is there a plan to attack the U.S. naval bases, and how could I work in this field?
—Is it legal to get rid of the Al-Qaramitah group by placing poison in their water tank because they cursed and defamed the companions of the Prophet?
—What is the delay in executing the martyrdom operations against the Americans?
[and my personal favorite] —Does the freedom fighter face his Creator if he goes out for jihad and dies as the result of a snakebite or mule kick?
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Friday, April 14, 2006
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
The Democrats and Science
Now there’s a few modelers around who know something about storms, but they would like to have the possibility open that global warming will make for more and intense storms because there’s a lot of money to be made on this. You know, when governments step in and are saying this – particularly when the Clinton administration was in – and our Vice President Gore was involved with things there, they were pushing this a lot. You know, most of meteorological research is funded by the federal government. And boy, if you want to get federal funding, you better not come out and say human-induced global warming is a hoax because you stand the chance of not getting funded.--William Gray
He's the guy that discovered the effect El Nino has on the hurrican seasons in the Gulf.
Linzen, Gray, another Gray.
Sounds pretty faith-based to me.
He's the guy that discovered the effect El Nino has on the hurrican seasons in the Gulf.
Linzen, Gray, another Gray.
Sounds pretty faith-based to me.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Mountain Time
I will be in Montana from tomorrow till Tuesday. Given that the mullahs of Billings have yet to issue a fatwa on the use of computers, likely there will be rather thin blogging from me during that time. I do however intend to take a camera with me and make up for the inexplicable fact that Montana has not been photographed much (or so it seems, searching the Net).
Oddly enough
Dilemmas of life...
"A trait that's good for sex is often not good for surviving and a trait that's very good for surviving may not be good for sex".[...]
She says the classic example is the male peacock's tail, which is good for attracting females but weighs him down and affects his chances of survival when being pursued by a predator.
[W]hen females are not around, the males develop into sexually mature adults slowly, growing into relatively large adults with lots of energy stores. The researchers say this gives the male spiders a higher chance of survival when they set out on their search for female mates. When male spiders are surrounded by females, they focus their energy on maturing quickly, ending up both smaller and leaner because they have spent less time foraging.
"A trait that's good for sex is often not good for surviving and a trait that's very good for surviving may not be good for sex".[...]
She says the classic example is the male peacock's tail, which is good for attracting females but weighs him down and affects his chances of survival when being pursued by a predator.
[W]hen females are not around, the males develop into sexually mature adults slowly, growing into relatively large adults with lots of energy stores. The researchers say this gives the male spiders a higher chance of survival when they set out on their search for female mates. When male spiders are surrounded by females, they focus their energy on maturing quickly, ending up both smaller and leaner because they have spent less time foraging.
Bear Butte: new southern Dakota biker bar
Excerpt: STURGIS, S.D. - Another biker bar will live in the shadow of the sacred Bear Butte in the Northern Black Hills.
With a vote of 5 to 0, the Meade County commissioners approved a malt beverage license April 4 for Jay Allen, owner of the soon-to-be Sturgis County Line campground and biker bar, which is located two and one-half miles north of Bear Butte.
In this is argued this: When Bear Butte is destroyed, it is the end of our culture, Camp said.
Without using a value system as to whether or not Bear Butte should or should not have another biker bar, this statement is loaded with just too much nostalgia. There are a whole different varieties of Native Americans, and to suggest that they — and their myriad of cultures — aren't resilient enough to carry on in the face of some shitty biker bar is too much to swallow. The Amerindian has occupied the Dakotas for the past 12,000 years, facing much more adversity (via nature's wrath) than any kind of thunder a liquor license could bring.
Last week, some jackass told me that if the "Fighting Sioux" nickname was changed, "then their culture would die." I said, "Um, excuse me? Could you repeat what you just said?" Yes. He repeated, and I called bullshit. The Fighting Sioux logo could go, and the Lakota that I know would still carry on, would still get up in the morning, would still remember their past, would still paint their winter counts, and would still know their past.
Furthermore, in the vein of conservatism and traditionalism, I told the previously mentioned jackass that UND should return their logo to the Flickertails, like it used to be.
Shepard Krech III (Brown University anthropologist), "The Ecological Indian: Myth and History," (W.W. Norton press,
1999) is more comprehensive in his polemic against nostalgia.
With a vote of 5 to 0, the Meade County commissioners approved a malt beverage license April 4 for Jay Allen, owner of the soon-to-be Sturgis County Line campground and biker bar, which is located two and one-half miles north of Bear Butte.
In this is argued this: When Bear Butte is destroyed, it is the end of our culture, Camp said.
Without using a value system as to whether or not Bear Butte should or should not have another biker bar, this statement is loaded with just too much nostalgia. There are a whole different varieties of Native Americans, and to suggest that they — and their myriad of cultures — aren't resilient enough to carry on in the face of some shitty biker bar is too much to swallow. The Amerindian has occupied the Dakotas for the past 12,000 years, facing much more adversity (via nature's wrath) than any kind of thunder a liquor license could bring.
Last week, some jackass told me that if the "Fighting Sioux" nickname was changed, "then their culture would die." I said, "Um, excuse me? Could you repeat what you just said?" Yes. He repeated, and I called bullshit. The Fighting Sioux logo could go, and the Lakota that I know would still carry on, would still get up in the morning, would still remember their past, would still paint their winter counts, and would still know their past.
Furthermore, in the vein of conservatism and traditionalism, I told the previously mentioned jackass that UND should return their logo to the Flickertails, like it used to be.
Shepard Krech III (Brown University anthropologist), "The Ecological Indian: Myth and History," (W.W. Norton press,
1999) is more comprehensive in his polemic against nostalgia.
Le Monde Comes Around to Vinocur's View
"Les Irakiens ne veulent traiter qu'avec des Français ou des Russes !"
Article.
Article.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Italy on a Razor's Edge
Not to speak too soon, but this morning I heard about Chirac's squalid climbdown on NPR. EVEN NPR asked the union-types and deadbeat Sorbonners if winning this one might not be sealing their own doom. Nah, of course not. Same old nonsense about the patronat, no mention of the banlieues or retirements... Immediately afterward the horrific news struck that the polls in Italy had closed and the Communists had tripled (!) their vote according to exit polls. I thought about calling in sick.
I just got home and it seems that the Italian elections are extremely close, with the Senate tending to the right on pure votes. The representation rules are regional and so it might go quite decisively right in terms of its final makeup. The lower chamber looks like it is going left but within one half percentage point!
Any law has to be passed by both, so if it holds up, this is pretty good news, I'd say.
Berlusconi and his crooked ad personam dealings sickened everyone in the country but not enough for the left to win. That would be throwing the mutt out with the dogwater and letting a pig in.
It seems, anyhow. I am trying not to get my hopes up, but the prospect of another cretin like Zapatero again fills me with dread, for every time he opens his filthy yap, I miss Aznar's measure and poise. Prodi would never have been another Zapatero. He's LSE, after all. Still, many of his allies are even worse.
If for any reason, you ever feel the need to become violent, I suggest some readings from Bertinotti, Diliberto, or Pecoraro Scanio. I put a little Livingstone up to see how your digestion reacts.
Fingers crossed, friends.
I just got home and it seems that the Italian elections are extremely close, with the Senate tending to the right on pure votes. The representation rules are regional and so it might go quite decisively right in terms of its final makeup. The lower chamber looks like it is going left but within one half percentage point!
Any law has to be passed by both, so if it holds up, this is pretty good news, I'd say.
Berlusconi and his crooked ad personam dealings sickened everyone in the country but not enough for the left to win. That would be throwing the mutt out with the dogwater and letting a pig in.
It seems, anyhow. I am trying not to get my hopes up, but the prospect of another cretin like Zapatero again fills me with dread, for every time he opens his filthy yap, I miss Aznar's measure and poise. Prodi would never have been another Zapatero. He's LSE, after all. Still, many of his allies are even worse.
If for any reason, you ever feel the need to become violent, I suggest some readings from Bertinotti, Diliberto, or Pecoraro Scanio. I put a little Livingstone up to see how your digestion reacts.
Fingers crossed, friends.
France surrenders
To the French! OK, OK, it's just Chirac and Villepin who give in to the rule of the mob, but hey, it's still par for the course, non?
"Lonely" North Dakota
About every six months or so (more or less, I'm uncertain; it'd be real burdensome to do a check), the New York Times or some other news rag runs a story about northern Dakota, and in all the stories the theme has been the same (if not, then just incredibly similar), but it's a theme that Serious Newspaper Journalists always tout as "New[spaper]." The late Dr. Elwyn B. Robinson published his History of North Dakota in 1966, and he was saying these same truths. Can the New York Times ever say anything different about North Dakota? Probably not. Therefore, I offer my criticism: a resounding B-O-R-I-N-G!
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Fukuyama on the Ropes, Throwing Wild Punches
Call it quits, Francis. The ref ain't buying it. Krauthammer it is, by KO in the first round.
Steyn on immigration
Article.
Deena Gilbey is a British subject whose late husband worked on the 84th floor [of WTC]: On the morning of Sept. 11, instead of fleeing, he returned to the building to help evacuate his co-workers. A few days later, Mrs. Gilbey receives a letter from the INS noting that as she's now widowed her immigration status has changed and she's obliged to leave the country along with her two children (both U.S. citizens). Think about that: Having legally admitted to the country the terrorists who killed her husband, the U.S. government's first act on having facilitated his murder is to add insult to grievous injury by serving his widow with a deportation order.
Deena Gilbey is a British subject whose late husband worked on the 84th floor [of WTC]: On the morning of Sept. 11, instead of fleeing, he returned to the building to help evacuate his co-workers. A few days later, Mrs. Gilbey receives a letter from the INS noting that as she's now widowed her immigration status has changed and she's obliged to leave the country along with her two children (both U.S. citizens). Think about that: Having legally admitted to the country the terrorists who killed her husband, the U.S. government's first act on having facilitated his murder is to add insult to grievous injury by serving his widow with a deportation order.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
British schadenfreude
Powwwww!
Few things can fill the Anglo soul with such warm happiness as the sight of the French getting hysterical in public. Parisian riots are of a marvellously win-win proposition. The dishonest, arrogant, self-interested, lazy baggage handlers, ticket collectors, air-traffic controllers, protected peasants and nihilistic, drivel-ranting students all get doused, bashed and gassed while the repellent attack dogs of the state, the CRS, get cobblestoned and bricked. [...]
There is an insufferable self-satisfaction about French politicians, an air of smug entitlement; their suits are too natty, their ties too fulsome. But we know their veneer of statesmanlike reason and grey-templed suavity — all that French polish — masks knees like castanets, livers of the whitest lily, spines of golden jelly. For 100 years French politics has been marked by collective and singular humiliation, brought on by arrant cowardice and duplicity and compromise, all to avoid embarrassment.
We get a peculiar pleasure from seeing another French prime minister having his pants pulled down and being spanked by the sans-culottes because they are always so happy to lecture us on the superiority of Gallic moral virtue.
Few things can fill the Anglo soul with such warm happiness as the sight of the French getting hysterical in public. Parisian riots are of a marvellously win-win proposition. The dishonest, arrogant, self-interested, lazy baggage handlers, ticket collectors, air-traffic controllers, protected peasants and nihilistic, drivel-ranting students all get doused, bashed and gassed while the repellent attack dogs of the state, the CRS, get cobblestoned and bricked. [...]
There is an insufferable self-satisfaction about French politicians, an air of smug entitlement; their suits are too natty, their ties too fulsome. But we know their veneer of statesmanlike reason and grey-templed suavity — all that French polish — masks knees like castanets, livers of the whitest lily, spines of golden jelly. For 100 years French politics has been marked by collective and singular humiliation, brought on by arrant cowardice and duplicity and compromise, all to avoid embarrassment.
We get a peculiar pleasure from seeing another French prime minister having his pants pulled down and being spanked by the sans-culottes because they are always so happy to lecture us on the superiority of Gallic moral virtue.
Brain fryers, XLIX
Yet another study.
Those who heavily used wireless phones [2,000 or more hours, or about one hour per day for 10 years] had a 240 percent increased risk of a cancerous tumor on the side of the head where they used their phone.
Ah, don't worry, says JJ, just an idee fixe. Have more ouzo.
Those who heavily used wireless phones [2,000 or more hours, or about one hour per day for 10 years] had a 240 percent increased risk of a cancerous tumor on the side of the head where they used their phone.
Ah, don't worry, says JJ, just an idee fixe. Have more ouzo.
Easy rider
The remake
Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
And whatever comes our way
Yeah Darlin' go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space
Friday, April 07, 2006
Thumos
The doggish part of the human soul?
Manliness is not sensitive. Today, we mainly cope with it by politely changing the subject. The very word is deemed quaint and outmoded. Gender experts in our universities teach as fact that the sex difference is an illusion--a discredited construct, like the earth being flat or the sun revolving around the earth.
(Christina Hoff Sommers)
Manliness is not sensitive. Today, we mainly cope with it by politely changing the subject. The very word is deemed quaint and outmoded. Gender experts in our universities teach as fact that the sex difference is an illusion--a discredited construct, like the earth being flat or the sun revolving around the earth.
(Christina Hoff Sommers)
Fake but accurate?
Judith Beheading Holofernes
Some idiot in Mela's lab is bugging her. I sent her “Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.— H. L. Mencken." To which she, "And what about normal women? I feel like that approximately 3.4 times per day."
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Coulter Echoes Churchill
Will Hollywood Democrat Alec Baldwin ever crossbreed with right-wing provocateur Ann Coulter?
It can't be ruled out - but judging by their reactions to the possibility, it would sure be an angry coupling.
"Would you rather sleep with Ann Coulter or Dianne Feinstein?" Elle magazine asks the actor in a raunchy interview.
"I gotta go with Feinstein," Kim Basinger's ex answers. "With Coulter, we'd have sex and I'd have to jump out the window. I wouldn't even get dressed."
Yesterday, Coulter told Lowdown: "That's the only reason I can think of for wanting to have sex with Alec Baldwin."
Story
It can't be ruled out - but judging by their reactions to the possibility, it would sure be an angry coupling.
"Would you rather sleep with Ann Coulter or Dianne Feinstein?" Elle magazine asks the actor in a raunchy interview.
"I gotta go with Feinstein," Kim Basinger's ex answers. "With Coulter, we'd have sex and I'd have to jump out the window. I wouldn't even get dressed."
Yesterday, Coulter told Lowdown: "That's the only reason I can think of for wanting to have sex with Alec Baldwin."
Story
Generalizations are Good if they are Right
The forever riot
On a slow news day, back to the never-ending French riots. Do these people have a life, or do they just march up and down the streets all day long?
The real targets of the demonstrators are Jacques Chirac, whose popularity rating is now perhaps higher in the U.S. than it is in France — 20 percent — and Dominique de Villepin
Bhahwahwah!
Many want to see scrappy Nicholas Sarkozy, the nemesis of both Chirac and Villepin, emerge victorious. If he does, by next year Chirac will be doing reunion gigs with Gorby.
What about Villepin? Where could he recycle his talents?
Happy Easter!
The French high moral stand takes hit number 256.
Le programme onusien dit "Pétrole contre nourriture", en vigueur entre 1996 et 2003, permettait à l'Irak sous embargo de vendre du pétrole et d'acheter en échange des biens de première nécessité. Doté de 64 milliards de dollars, le programme a fait l'objet de détournements importants.
You don't say!
Le programme onusien dit "Pétrole contre nourriture", en vigueur entre 1996 et 2003, permettait à l'Irak sous embargo de vendre du pétrole et d'acheter en échange des biens de première nécessité. Doté de 64 milliards de dollars, le programme a fait l'objet de détournements importants.
You don't say!
Italian Cops Awake at the Wheel?
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
The Victoria, Paddington
See the Fuller's Chiswick signs? Fuller's beers have a unique record. Since CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) first held their Champion Beer of Britain competition, Fuller's have won the Beer of the Year award five times. Our beers have been best in class no less than nine times and ESB has been voted Best Strong Ale an unprecedented seven times making it something of a legend. This is an outstanding achievement by Fuller's brewers, who, through the use of traditional ingredients, great care in the brewing process and stringent quality controls, continue to produce an unmatched range of prize-winning beers.
ESB is wonderful. I can't resist. See you there, anytime possible.
Rosbifs wanna go home
But the French won't let them.
"Pouvez-vous nous expliquer pourquoi exactement êtes-vous en grève ...?"
What a question! Why is the sky blue?
"Pouvez-vous nous expliquer pourquoi exactement êtes-vous en grève ...?"
What a question! Why is the sky blue?
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Portuguese moonshine
Poisons the Vikings! Hey, I thought those Norsemen are sturdier than that -- what's a little metanol mixed in with a shot of Port? Can't be much worse than ouzo, can it?
VDH on Immigration
[T]here is still a solution to the immigration problem: It involves supporting any practice that leads to the assimilation of legal Mexican immigrants into the American mainstream — and opposing everything that does not.
Employers and La Raza activists who thrive on the current non-system might not like that approach, but it is the only way to avoid the gathering political and cultural storm.
here.
Employers and La Raza activists who thrive on the current non-system might not like that approach, but it is the only way to avoid the gathering political and cultural storm.
here.
AI, Panic! Run for Your Life!
First the MIRVs, then the 223 mph torpedo, now the killer stealth spruce goose. AI, we ought to fold up the tents and start praying eastward, huh? BTW, do you think that giant pile of sheetmetal on the fuselage might just have a teensy-weensy radar signature?
Cell-phone whacks
Is this getting to be a trend? I don't know why some people insist on using these brain-fryers (I know JJ does -- anyone else?), but it looks like they can be dangerous, in more than one way.
Ulrich B. Phillips: contemporary hybrid history course
The article is a bit old, I know, but here's a little American slave historiography for you math junkies.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Tyrani's Post Below
is about some discussions we've been having about photography. Tyr intellectualizes her views about this more that I do, since she can. My loathing of Diane Arbus' work has no implications for street photographers. For example I think this photo above is genius, and wish I had taken it.
Story.
Diane Arbus article (This one is for you JJ).
I really loved the Diane Arbus retrospective at the Met last year and love her portraits of freaks as she called them. Photography in the late 20th century/early 21st century redefined what art meant to people (which is why Susan Sontag was so hostile towards photography being categorized as an art).
It is also unfortunate that she is only known for photographing freaks with physical deformities. She was attracted to all kinds of people: quirky rich widows, children clowning around in Coney Islands, couples with their babies, teenage sweethearts dressing up like adults, dominatrix (?!), transvestites, couples in old homes at beauty pagents, ordinary couples at nudist camps and so on!
She was attracted to freaks and people on the margins and the way she photographed her subjects made you look at them directly and not turn the other way.
After the retrospective, you really did not get the sense that she was objectifying her subjects. On the contrary, all of them are aware of the camera and are returning the photographer's gaze (and perhaps the viewers too). There was nothing surreptitious about the process (unlike that of Henri Cartier-Bresson or other street photographers). She had her big medium format camera and often returned to shoot her subjects in settings they were very familiar with. There was always full consent and none of her subjects sued her when she had gallery exhibits (of which she had very few because the snotty NY art scene hated her work and hated her guts).
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/art/?050321craw_artworld
It is also unfortunate that she is only known for photographing freaks with physical deformities. She was attracted to all kinds of people: quirky rich widows, children clowning around in Coney Islands, couples with their babies, teenage sweethearts dressing up like adults, dominatrix (?!), transvestites, couples in old homes at beauty pagents, ordinary couples at nudist camps and so on!
She was attracted to freaks and people on the margins and the way she photographed her subjects made you look at them directly and not turn the other way.
After the retrospective, you really did not get the sense that she was objectifying her subjects. On the contrary, all of them are aware of the camera and are returning the photographer's gaze (and perhaps the viewers too). There was nothing surreptitious about the process (unlike that of Henri Cartier-Bresson or other street photographers). She had her big medium format camera and often returned to shoot her subjects in settings they were very familiar with. There was always full consent and none of her subjects sued her when she had gallery exhibits (of which she had very few because the snotty NY art scene hated her work and hated her guts).
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/art/?050321craw_artworld
"Never make fun of North Dakota."
Dave Barry, "Flowing Grand Forks tribute warms the heart"
Barry: Never make fun of North Dakota. Because the North Dakotans will invite you, nicely but relentlessly, to visit, and eventually you'll have to accept.
...Without question the most memorable experience I had in Grand Forks was a public ceremony in which a municipal sewage pumping station was formally named after me. I am not making this up. They took me in a limousine to the station, where more than 100 people had gathered, despite that the temperature was an estimated 8,500 below zero.
Barry: Never make fun of North Dakota. Because the North Dakotans will invite you, nicely but relentlessly, to visit, and eventually you'll have to accept.
...Without question the most memorable experience I had in Grand Forks was a public ceremony in which a municipal sewage pumping station was formally named after me. I am not making this up. They took me in a limousine to the station, where more than 100 people had gathered, despite that the temperature was an estimated 8,500 below zero.
Kidnapped
You all probably heard about that kidnap-murder in Italy. Horrible crime. I cannot resist noting the reaction:
"I believe that if today we all weren't Christians, we would really be in favour of the death penalty," Christian Democrat politician Pier Ferdinando Casini told a rally in Bologna.
So, where is the contradiction? Turning the other cheek does not mean baby murderers should not get the penalty they deserve. And, does Signor Casini mean to imply that we in the U.S. of A. who think so are not good Christians? I suspect this mentality is prevalent in Old Europe (and its spiritual enclaves on the Coasts here), but I'd be curious to hear confirmation.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Surrender already?
Villepin getting ready to throw in the towel.
"There is misunderstanding and incomprehension about the direction of my action. I profoundly regret it,"
Bring in the ash and sackloth.
Asked if he might resign, Villepin said; "I'm not a man to give up."
... says Dominique.
Give everyone a job for life, with all the Nanny State trimmings, willya?
"There is misunderstanding and incomprehension about the direction of my action. I profoundly regret it,"
Bring in the ash and sackloth.
Asked if he might resign, Villepin said; "I'm not a man to give up."
... says Dominique.
Give everyone a job for life, with all the Nanny State trimmings, willya?
Mountain Time
BTORB took a ride over to Chamonix via
The photo is of
Saturday, April 01, 2006
H L Mencken
A man's women folk, whatever their outward show of respect for his merit and authority, always regard him secretly as an ass, and with something akin to pity. His most gaudy sayings and doings seldom deceive them; they see the actual man within, and know him for a shallow and pathetic fellow. In this fact, perhaps, lies one of the best proofs of feminine intelligence, or, as the common phase makes it, feminine intuition.
In Defense of Women [1918, rev. 1922], Part I, p.3
Thanks for reminding MFT of him, Mela and thanks MFT for a good catch. I love Mencken. Aphorisms and longer quotes.
In Defense of Women [1918, rev. 1922], Part I, p.3
Thanks for reminding MFT of him, Mela and thanks MFT for a good catch. I love Mencken. Aphorisms and longer quotes.
Apparition of a Computer
in Mecca. Praise Allah!
Karnar from NASA took one piece of the stone from the British Museum. He charged it with a million telephone wires, yet the stone withstood it. He charged it with 100 million telephone wires, yet the stone withstood it. This piece of stone was the size of a chickpea. He found that this stone emits invisible radiation. He found that a stone the size of a chickpea emits 100 rays. Each ray can pass through 10,000 people.
What were they trying to get the pebble to admit to?
I strongly suggest you look around this Memritv site. There's some lovely filth down here.
Karnar from NASA took one piece of the stone from the British Museum. He charged it with a million telephone wires, yet the stone withstood it. He charged it with 100 million telephone wires, yet the stone withstood it. This piece of stone was the size of a chickpea. He found that this stone emits invisible radiation. He found that a stone the size of a chickpea emits 100 rays. Each ray can pass through 10,000 people.
What were they trying to get the pebble to admit to?
I strongly suggest you look around this Memritv site. There's some lovely filth down here.
Jill Carroll
was a damned convincing actress. This is satisfying as hell after all the Robert Fisks around.
O wad some Power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as ithers see us!
My good friend Mela has decided she hates our blog and so will not become a contributor. She writes,
So, like, someone writes a post, and just to show that he's up with what's really important in the world, he does a bit of reference-dropping. Someone else comes along, and with self-satisfied confidence that his place in this little world is secure, he thinks "I get your references." And just to cement the fact, he writes a reply, which says "I see your four references, and to prove it to you, I raise you four more, related by dubious wit, and perhaps some linguistics as evidence of my intellect." And just so it's not too obvious that he's one-upping the first guy, he veils his reply thinly with humor, or (gasp) irony...
I suggest we not make so many references, linguistic and other, and we not try so hard at self-affirmation with self-satisfied chortling at dubious humor. Probably we ought to be less pompous and know-it-allish in our little world.
Sorry, Mela. Habits are hard to break. Maybe gene therapy?
So, like, someone writes a post, and just to show that he's up with what's really important in the world, he does a bit of reference-dropping. Someone else comes along, and with self-satisfied confidence that his place in this little world is secure, he thinks "I get your references." And just to cement the fact, he writes a reply, which says "I see your four references, and to prove it to you, I raise you four more, related by dubious wit, and perhaps some linguistics as evidence of my intellect." And just so it's not too obvious that he's one-upping the first guy, he veils his reply thinly with humor, or (gasp) irony...
I suggest we not make so many references, linguistic and other, and we not try so hard at self-affirmation with self-satisfied chortling at dubious humor. Probably we ought to be less pompous and know-it-allish in our little world.
Sorry, Mela. Habits are hard to break. Maybe gene therapy?
Monde Diplomatique
If men gave birth
The human race would have died out a long time ago, says this Russian guy. Any smart-alecky retort from JJ?
Pepe,
Yer sweet Baby Jaysus post has a scientific error about it. The authors will be writing a retraction any day now.
Like facing the guillotine?
So how about going to Paris and listen to the French youth whine and bitch and moan about the injustice of it all? I'd rather go to John Harvard's and have an IPA. But, a chacun son gout -- maybe there are takers around here?
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