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Wednesday, Mar 12, 2003

know boundaries

"She was an archaeologist, a linguist and the greatest woman mountaineer of her age. And in Baghdad in 1921 she drew the boundaries of the country that became Iraq. James Buchan on the extraordinary life of Gertrude Bell."

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step by step

another nyc anti-war protest on march 22, this time with real marching.

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vichy soiree

heres some more crazy right wingnut theatre that digby dug up from the national review. and you thought we were joking about invading france.

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Tuesday, Mar 11, 2003

sunset boulevard

"Now that it seems certain that the Big Posse ordered up by our Hard Sheriff (President Bush) will soon go thundering into Iraq, scribes and helmers (Variety's words for writers and directors) can hardly be oblivious to the epic possibilities, cinematic and televisual, unfolding here.

My own thought is that it's far too epic a possibility to be relegated to the small screen. Television, after all, is where we'll see the real war -- or, at least, the real propaganda. Desert epics of this magnitude need a screen that will show a lot of sand. Remember "Lawrence of Arabia"? Remember "The Wind and the Lion"? Remember "Ishtar"?"

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do i overstate?

wow. it was bad enough when a couple of shitforbrains in buttfuck thought it was ever so clever to redub their french fries "freedumb fries," but for this to be taken up by members of congress is beyond ludicrous.

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stormin' norman

"That is a big statement, but I can offer this much immediately: At the root of flag conservatism is not madness, but an undisclosed logic. While I am hardly in accord, it is, nonetheless, logical if you accept its premises. From a militant Christian point of view, America is close to rotten. The entertainment media are loose. Bare belly-buttons pop onto every TV screen, as open in their statement as wild animals' eyes. The kids are getting to the point where they can't read, but they sure can screw. So one perk for the White House, should America become an international military machine huge enough to conquer all adversaries, is that American sexual freedom, all that gay, feminist, lesbian, transvestite hullabaloo, will be seen as too much of a luxury and will be put back into the closet again. Commitment, patriotism, and dedication will become all-pervasive national values once more (with all the hypocrisy attendant). Once we become a twenty-first-century embodiment of the old Roman Empire, moral reform can stride right back into the picture. The military is obviously more puritanical than the entertainment media. Soldiers are, of course, crazier than any average man when in and out of combat, but the overhead command is a major everyday pressure on soldiers and could become a species of most powerful censor over civilian life."

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not so suddenly susan

long susan sontag interview on booktv.

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a life in pictures

"a borderless space provides the opportunity to build a collective memory with a people who have no national archive. Images and recollections serve as testimony to the long and suppressed history of the Kurds."

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Monday, Mar 10, 2003

Hawks Gone Wild: Vol. 1

atrios asks you to Name That War! a new reality show soon to be saturating the airwaves.

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pennitent

the first effort at blogging your way to congress?

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