the end of the world is nigh
scott and i were just discussing the notion that i should blog again. so here i am.
i vow, among other things, to state my piece on recent developments in the us.
i will also, soon, blog on the "momentous decision" regarding my future as a ph.d. student (hint, there ain't none).
watch with baited fingers! (as if)
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.
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.
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!
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?
WATCH THIS SPACE. MEXICAN BLOG IN THE WORKS.
hey.
i've not written in a while, but i have spoken to most (if not all) of the people who read this, so i won't bore you with an explanation.
my friendly acquaintance emily graham died not long ago. scott blogged about it.
i'm in alabama visiting my parents.
dubyah was in birmingham (with me) today. i had to go from gardendale (where i am) to century plaza (a mall) today. because of dubyah i took a back way (dubyah clogged the interstates) which took me (surprise!) right next to the airport. i was within a few hundred yards of air farce one, in fact, at one point. i looked around and saw no evidence of security. either they are VERY VERY GOOD or they weren't there (my bet? the latter.). i did see a shiny s.u.v. sitting alone up on a hill not far away. my thought was the occupants were spooks (or they were filming a commercial).
phil donahue's show on msnbc needs love and support. go get 'em, phil!
the jefferson airplane had all the answers.
love,
G
well, soccer has been interesting.
i'm still holding out hope that brazil will lose, but if turkey can't finish any better against them than they did against senegal there is no chance. south korea / germany? hmmm. that's a pickem, i think.
a germany / turkey final would be cause for mass rioting throughout germany, by the way.
tomorrow morning i'm going to drive to alabama and stay with my folks for a few weeks before moving to mexico. this should save a bit of money, as well as giving me a chance to spend quality time.
today is west virginia day. on this date in 1863, this state was born after seceding from the dirty rebel state of (east) virginia. motto of west virginia? montani semper libre.
speaking of semper libre, i saw "minority report" yesterday. it was excellent and dark and scary and timely. spielberg added a clumsy happy ending, but the rest of the movie was very much worth watching.
a small plane flew dangerously close to the white house and it (the white house) was evacuated: no one told bush (no joke) until later.
meanwhile, i await soccer.
hands up who (other than me) has a drunken englishman sleeping on his couch!
here is the story, in english, of "korea team fighting" (sorry for the lack of loveliness in linking):
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/04/23/200204230035.asp
KOREA TEAM FIGHTING also, by the way.
they won against italy team (not fighting).
google "korea team fighting", and you'll find the whole story of the phrase. i think it's funny.
USA TEAM FIGHTING!!!!USA TEAM FIGHTING!!!!USA TEAM FIGHTING!!!!USA TEAM FIGHTING!!!!USA TEAM FIGHTING!!!!USA TEAM FIGHTING!!!!USA TEAM FIGHTING!!!!USA TEAM FIGHTING!!!!
usa team fighting! (first half)
THIS reminds me that the country which made me what i am (usa) is about to play the country in which i'm about to work (mexico) for the right to play the country which made birgit what she is (germany).
actually, it's even more tangled than that. i've studied and lived and worked in the u.s. and germany and am about to work in mexico. birgit has studied and lived in the u.s., studied and lived and worked in germany, and currently works in mexico. birgit will almost certainly go back to germany to work at some point. i would like to. neither of us are against the idea of working again/forever in the u.s. or germany or mexico.
i'm going to be torn to shreds by these games! good job birgit doesn't care much about soccer.
hehehe! an article in
SPIEGEL ONLINE just pointed out that several times in the last few days (you probably heard it), dubyah used a variation on the line "we've got over 2400 people in custody. now [with the "arrest" of padilla] it's 2401".
i wish i was prominent, so that i could attach my name to
THIS STATEMENT.
i hope
THIS STATEMENT gets loads of press around the world.
i fear
THIS STATEMENT will not show up in most american media outlets.
Korea team fighting!
i move that, in gratitude for their good work in dragging our sorry asses through to the second round, we withdraw our troops immediately!
hardball, which i rarely watch due to a wierd allergy i have to chris matthews's voice, is discussing the recent decision by cnn's lou dobbs to no longer refer to the u.s. engaging in a war against terrorism. his (dobbs's) idea is that this is really a "war against islamists".
this will, no doubt, spark a small debate on semantics. right now, a guest (tashbih sayyed) has trotted out the "true muslims can't be terrorists" line. it is my understanding that all it takes to be a "true" muslim is to sincerely declare oneself to be one. same deal with being a "true" christian.
it strikes me that the core problem in many of the various conflicts in the middle east, the u.s. (not quite so violent at the moment), northern ireland, or other places is rooted precisely in how people *interpret* their religions.
i can think of one "easy" solution to ALL such problems: stop believing in any religion! of course that's unlikely to happen any time soon (if ever) for most people, and atheists have proven themselves more than capable of being as nasty as the next fella . . . sigh.
speaking of people attacking the greens . . . bushwatch has opened a new front. i guess this is some planned action from the left in the democratic party.
ugh.
if these weenie democrats were to spend as much time and energy attacking folks inside the democratic party (with whom they disagree on numerous issues) as they did attacking the greens (with whom they agree on numerous issues, then guess what . . .
FEWER PEOPLE WOULD SUPPORT GREENS BECAUSE THEY WOULDN'T SEE AS MUCH NEED FOR AN ALTERNATIVE!!!
dumbasses. they should look in the fucking mirror. they will see the faces of joe lieberman, zell miller, gray davis, bill clinton, al gore, etc etc etc. you can't have progress without progressives. you can't oppose conservatives in one breath and support them in the other.
i've just added the following link to my links stuff on the left of this page:
Eric Alterman: Altercation.
i have to say that, while i like just about everything i've ever read by eric alterman (he writes for The Nation, if you're wondering who he is), i do want to go on record as disagreeing strongly with him about the greens/nader. he was REALLY nasty about the nader candidacy during the 2000 election (and takes another poke in a recent entry on his site).
otherwise i dig him.
scott recently blogged on the meaning of terrror/ism/ists. this article:
Robert Fisk: Bush's Weird War fits right into that discussion, particularly in this segment:
"Sure enough, Michael Elliott turned up in Time magazine last week to tell us that "not all terrorists are alike". There are, he claimed, "political terrorists" who have "an identifiable goal" and "millenarian terrorists" who have no "political agenda", who "owe their allegiance to a higher authority in heaven". So there you have it. If they'll talk to the Americans, terrorists are OK. If they won't, well then it's everlasting war. "
i know we know this, but what do we do with the knowledge?
not long ago i blogged about the mtv awards. i forgot to mention that mandm performed. i just don't get mandm. i thought the dido song was clever, but otherwise i don't see it. among other things (other things are below), i hate the self referential nature of his whole genre (an ironic thing to say in a blog, i realize).
mostly i'm upset about the things so deftly handled in the following link:
The Eminem Shtick.
any thoughts on mandm, or similar themes?
UPDATE: padilla apparently has seen a lawyer. i've just heard her interviewed on the fox newspeak channel, and she is now seeking to see him again now that he's been transferred to the brig.
DER SPIEGEL notes, in an analysis of the recently announced capture of the "dirty bomber", that the tip came from Abu Zubaydah (a captured al quaida member alleged to be close to bin laden himself).
why is zubaydah being so helpful? is he pulling legs? he was, remember, the guy who recently warned of attacks in new york city. his warning turns out to appear to have been inspired by the film "godzilla". my my my.
of course, we'll likely never know much (or it will at least be a long time) since these folks will never get an open trial and we'll therefore never have evidence presented. sigh.
it has often been said, since 11 sept, that the terrorists hate us for our freedom and our "way of life" (this is suggested every few minutes in the awful commercial where the guy says he will fight terrorism by going to work!). if that is indeed the case (and i think it is only indirectly true: the direct cause seems likely to have been geopolitics) then we are showing them! with a mighty roar of righteous indignation, the american people have cried: "try to take away OUR freedoms, eh, you dastard? NEVER! we'll take them away from ourselves and rob you of your victory!"
ugh.
the u.s. and south korea tied. sigh. the u.s. was VERY lucky not to lose, as the koreans were far better in the second half. brad friedel should be framed and hung on a wall for his performance, and eddie pope and jeff agoos should cater to his every whim for eternity.
mayor quimby, on a simpson's rerun, just said that it is time for us "to face up to the un-face-up-to-able". i agree.
so johnny law has foiled a terrorist plot . . . hoo rah?
nevermind that the guy they have in custody . . .
is a native born u.s. citizen from new york city . . .
has been in custody since early may . . .
has not been charged with a crime . . .
has had no access to an attorney . . .
is HISPANIC . . .
is being held in a NAVAL BRIG . . .
and will probably never get the trial entitled him by the constitution.
the bullshit just keeps a flowin, and the fucking sheep herd that is the american public just keeps on looking away! this is AMAZING.
the guardian asks
what sort of superhero you are . . .
THIS has GOT to be the biggest coup in satire history!!! i am SOOOO crippled by laughter right now!
lennox lewis won over mike tyson in a knockout. he apparently dominated the entire fight after the first round. hopefully this will be the last we'll hear of tyson. hopefully he can now be locked up to get the intense help he seems to need.
any thoughts on boxing?
i am a close personal friend of one of the members of
lupec >> ladies united for the preservation of endangered cocktails>> l - u - p - e - c.
this group has recently gotten lots of press. pretty cool deal!
