ah well.

the german election was razor thin close. good news, though. the good guys won. well, the less-bad guys won (schroeder ain’t my fave rave, but i like fischer ok). i’m glad of two main things from the results:

1) speaking out against the u.s. war talk seemed not only not to have hurt schroeder but also to have helped him. i don’t care why he said what he said (obviously it is possible that he was trolling for votes and so it was another cynical move from a very cynical man): it was the right thing to say.

2) the extreme right did very poorly. that’s good news in light of the votes in austria, france, the netherlands, and denmark in recent years. one FDP (sorta the german equivalent of the u.s. libertarians or the british lib.dems) politician seemed to be making a play for fascist votes with a few carefully worded anti-israel comments. the FDP also set 18% as their electoral hurdle. they got nowhere near it, but (ominously) the number 18 is neonazi code for adolf hitler (a=1, h=8). heads up out there! also, watch out for the number 88, which is said to refer to “heil hitler” in certain circles. anyway, they lost (or didn’t do nearly as well as they expected), so good. not that the CDU/CSU is hardcore anti-fa, of course . . . but still.

i was just watching the trailer for The Two Towers and a silly thought hit me. i hit you with it now.

bush = sauron, blair = saruman, the u.n. is rohan (with various pro-war “wormtongues” whispering in its collective ear).

who are the hobbits? who is “the fellowship”? what is the ring? who is gollum? who is gondor? who is gandalf? who is tom bombadil? (i’ve still not gotten over his not appearing in the first movie. i LOVE him).

i think the decisive thing is not the war against iraq, by the way, but whether it is ok with everyone if the u.s. rules the world.  ¶ 11:13 PM

  scott taught this hippy claptrap to his students today (of all days!)!

for shame, scott. the next thing you know you'll be filling your poor students minds with the declaration of independence and the beatitudes!

last year, by the way, at the big madison square garden concert for the cops and firefighters, the who (with the one remaining barrel of their once awesome rhythm section still loaded) tore through "won't get fooled again". i was sooooo proud of them. take that paul mccartney! take that neil young!

of course, we DID get fooled again. or some of us did.  ¶ 11:10 PM

  Given that the U.S. [is] at [sic] 'high alert' on eve of 9/11, it is hardly surprising that our most treasured natural resource should be properly secured.

Dick Cheney is safe. I won't say where he is, but I will say that he drinks way too much tequilla for a man in his condition! He is also helping me grade papers.

Part of what is written above is not true, by the way. Take that you terroristses!

ole!  ¶ 10:16 PM

  read The forgotten anniversary. it is good.  ¶ 11:57 PM

  hey.

just thought i'd drop myself a line.

well, it's been a quiet month (or so) in guadalajara, my (new, current, temporary?) home town. i've been a'teachin'. i teach a course called "advanced english essay writing". up to this point i've only taught college students. i have also only taught history. now, however, i teach high schoolers. going myself two better, i decided to not only teach english (sort of: essay writing, not really that much of a stretch) but also to teach it to mexicans (and although they all have an admirable grasp of the english language, they do need a bit more linguistic hand holding than i expected to be able to provide).

i am far more brave (or stupid) than most people who know me might have thought.

as i look around from my pleasant balcony high atop . . . um . . . a hill, i can see that my neighbors are getting all geared up to memorialize the events of 11 september, last.

some of them are allowing their dogs to bark. this is the traditional mexican way of honoring the dead.

one of them is mowing and raking her lawn. this symbolizes a clean break with the violence of the past.

oh. and 16 sept is mexican independence day.

as you can see, the mexican nation has it's collective gaze fixed firmly on the true north star. mexico grieves for the government and people of the united states. mexicans cannot help but recall the almost two hundred years of mutual peace and goodwill which has existed between their nation and their dear, dear friend across the nueces (er, rio grande).

sic.

speaking of war . . . how goes it?  ¶ 8:56 PM