June 30, 2002
must be shaking in their boots
The people who run Capitalism, that is. Not happy at all, I'm sure. Today, first the NYDaily News with a dramatic front page graphic and the headline, "BUSTED TRUST, Wall St. scandals spooking big, small investors," then the NYTimes Week...
another sinner against gay rights?
Nope! Rather a brave activist and friend who stood near Saint Patrick's Cathedral during today's New York Pride march....
breaking the habit
A moment of silence for the brothers and sisters who remain lost. A Spanish Catholic priest who came out earlier this year tells a sad story which will not surprise most of us, even today.The Spanish nun who walked into...
in business we trust---no more
It used to be you trusted either biz'nez or the guv'ment. Since the powers of each have dispensed with the fiction that the two were separate, it will now be very hard to look up to either, whether your primary...
Pink Pistols
On this very special day of ours, the oh-so-queer-positive NYPost gives us this present: a story about pistol-packing homos."Pick on someone your own caliber," declares its excellent Web site (www.pinkpistols.org). "We are dedicated to the legal, safe and responsible use...
We wish us all very well!
This day is especially for those around the world who haven't yet made it out, or at least not all the way, more than for those who are able to actually parade. It remains a Very Big Thing for that...
state terroism of the highest form
Terrorists dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities at the end of the Second World War. Why, to save money and/or avoid risking American soldier's lives? But few today believe Japan was not about to surrender anyway, The agument was...
Get them before they get you!
Our governement's current posture toward the rest of the world, and especially my own terrifying picture of the chaotic world which that posture will actually bring home to everyone on the planet in the very near future, looks like nothing...
June 29, 2002
Now there's a choice!
The Green Party's nominee for governor of New York should not be as exceptional as he clearly is in the midst of the current swamp of opportunistic, middle-of-the-whatever, do-as-the-Man-says, make-no-waves and make-no-difference rich boys or paid hacks of both the...
Take that, you Center-Rightists!
And kindly permit the real Left to go about the business of trying to save the Republic (and your own integrity, where it may still survive).As a gay man, I find it laughable that anyone could vote for the Republican...
REMAINING U.S. CEOs MAKE A BREAK FOR IT
Yup, just satire, but even Einbildungenschadenfreude makes us happy for a moment.El Paso, Texas (SatireWire.com) — Unwilling to wait for their eventual indictments, the 10,000 remaining CEOs of public U.S. companies made a break for it yesterday, heading for the...
June 28, 2002
gay macho mythology
Though too late for some, the myth of the homo macho man is, maybe, dying, and good riddance!The world that queer radicals would create is one where no man needs to butch up to fly right. Masculinity would be something...
Zion or empire?
From the words of a professor of history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, writing in the Israeli press, we can still hold onto our hopes for the triumph of basic good sense among Israelis in the midst of terror.If indeed...
Tax religion before it taxes us all
The Supreme's ruling yesterday on school vouchers obviously reflects the increasing integration of religion and public life in America. [The Pledge's "under god" is symbolically very important to this impulse, and symbols are important---look at the fuss we make over...
June 27, 2002
one nation under David Koresh?
An excerpt from an interview with Michael Newdow, the man who brought the suit which resulted in a court ruling against the use of the phrase, "under god," in the Pledge of Allegiance recited in schools.[Interviewer]: I have some reaction...
more on the nation's godhead
Dahlia Lithwick, who covers the US Supreme Court for Slate, suggested on NPR this morning that she thinks the 9th Court's decision is silly, yet she muses on Slate's own web site, "I must wonder why ... all the religious...
June 26, 2002
God struck down!
Finally, one for the handful of Americans who do not believe in invisible friends and who are not part of a cult!A federal appeals court found the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional on Wednesday.... "A profession that we are a...
SUV's good for us all
Is this for real? The Paper of Record actually published this letter, supposedly defending SUV's, in today's edition. [I'm putting it under "Happy," because I can only find it ludicrous, definitely not serious enough for any other category.]The fuel cost...
Not so many
The NYTimes issued a correction on its editorial page today.An editorial last Friday supporting a Supreme Court decision that bans execution of the retarded stated incorrectly that apart from the United States, only Kyrgyzstan and Japan permit the death penalty...
New federal police department to be very secret
For those who may have already missed this item contained within the text of an earlier link, here it is again, from a different source. Note that the proposed Federal Agency will effectively control us all, even as we are...
Boom done with mirrors?
I thought this piece might be too simplistic to pass muster with someone more familiar with economics than m'self, but B says he thinks it's probably too abstruse for the casual browser, too much attempted too minimally. Must be just...
June 25, 2002
A first? "CFO fired"
WorldCom Finds $3.8 Billion Error, Fires CFO [Reuters lead headline] Yes, but I want to know what the severence package looks like. WorldCom, which is already under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, said it would restate its financial...
[Happy?]
Ok, time for a humor break. Let us return to a simpler time, when things did not look as bad as they do today, now that we've shown the world the stuff we're made of. The Onion 26 September 2001...
vision thing, but not the reality thing
The George W. Bushies do have the "vision thing" the father's administration admitted it lacked. Unfortunately "...they are rather less interested in the reality thing." Real problems, even really big problems, are seen by this tinkertoy administration only as opportunities...
June 24, 2002
straight into a brick wall
Oh, don't we wish someone would just wake us when it's over, but this is all too real, it involves us, not some people on the other side of the planet, it involves the future of this planet, and there...
our way or the highway
You tell 'em, Bushie! Insufferable arogance, especially since, regardless of what one thinks of either individual, the facts are that our executive was selected, and Arafat was elected!And when the Palestinian people have new leaders, new institutions and new security...
June 21, 2002
theatre not absurd
Only a few days left, but definitely worth a detour. A great and gutsy production of Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" can be found through sunday at The Culture Project. It's Shakespeare were he alive today, and were...
America as spoiled teenager
Does the world simply envy us, or is there something else going on as well?Americans are the world's luckiest teenagers, with the best car, the fattest allowance and the biggest line of brag, yet like all teenagers we're secretly afraid...
car horns and virgin forest
Yea! The eagles are back in Manhttan, reintroduced into our only remaining swath of virgin forest. Yesterday afternoon a group of Urban Park Service workers toted them down a trail to a 20-foot wooden platform, topped by two green boxes:...
June 20, 2002
and the Pentagon spends a billion dollars a day!
Do we really think anything involving force will make us feel safe? We have more of that stuff than anyone in the world, even the Israelis.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Air National Guard fighter jets were scrambled into the air too...
the morality of power
Why is U.S. foreign policy so fundamentally irreconcilable with that of our European friends? Our differences are still being ignored or minimized by just about all parties, but real differences there are. ...the fact is Europeans and Americans no longer...
June 19, 2002
the most dangerous "president"
This alarming short comment was an introduction to an alert from FAIR about a talk* by Crispin Miller, author of "The Bush Dyslexicon." George W. Bush's broken English and his ignorance about the world are certainly unprecedented for a U.S....
"You must be a fag"
*">This one is really just for those of you are not fags or dykes, or otherwise queer; the rest of us know about this already. We live it. There is still nothing in the universe worse than a queer. But...
not a good gay
I've admired Richard Goldstein for years, largely through his pieces in the Village Voice. This week his essay in The Nation really did it for me. I'm linking it here because Goldstein has done an excellent job of describing my...
Bushies: women not human
We now have a window into what President Bush and America's senators think of the world's women: Not much. An international women's treaty banning discrimination has been ratified by 169 countries so far (without emasculating men in any of them!),...
June 18, 2002
FUCK the media!
Now can we start the revolution? Look at Bloggy if you want to know what tomorrow will bring for all of us, and take full note of the Washington Post's take on the emperor and his clothes. This is really...
Boychick
Ok, this should be the last log item coming out of the New Festival screenings, but it's a real winner! "Boychik" is a magical little film which was part of the most excellent Growing Pains shorts program. It's tough recommending...
the Manhatan watermelon
Japan has again shown off one of its greatest innovations - square watermelons. Where do we get them? Our little ("compact") apartment refrigerator has never seen an entire watermelon, and I'm afraid it would probably have a compressor attack if...
June 17, 2002
Lies are like wishes
The title of this item is the original title of a compelling new film from the UK, now called "AKA," by Duncan Roy. It's making the rounds of the American queer film festivals this year and was shown three times...
Jesus plays sports!
Aint the web wonderful! Somebody is ready to satisfy any need. You don't even have to ask. Just search. I owe this item to Mark Morford. Ok, I'll include his take on it as a quote. Am always deeply frightened...
we lose a great heroine
This news arrived in our home only today, from Rex Wockner's list, and for that I find great fault with the queer media. Unless I have missed a lot, there have been no reports here of the death of Charlotte...
one for the dogs
So, the life of a lesbian, ok, a woman, even an attractive, vigorous, healthy middle class woman, and even in San Francisco, isn't worth a dog's life, to the dog's owner. What's next, the murderers suing the murdered for lack...
still combative at 60
Rosa von Praunheim announces in his diary, "Im Jahre 2002 werde ich 60, auf keinen Fall weise oder leise, aber immer noch kämpferisch [In 2002 I will turn 60, in no way wiser or quieter, and definitely still combative]." An...
Now that's a sports story!
My curiosity has been fed, but not satisfied, by an interesting item in today's NYTimes "Sports Monday" section. Americans are reacting with queasiness to the ancient soccer tradition of exchanging shirts after a game — not just trading the shirts,...
June 16, 2002
the cost of Gotti's business
Ok, I'll admit to a certain interest in the creative out-sized flower arangements (the cigar, the martini, the poker hand, the race horse, etc.), and where else is there a demand for those retro flower car limos (yikes, the very...
no, still not safe to go back to Coors
Boycott Coors, still. The National Lawyers Guild's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Committee is disappointed at Out Front Colorado's refusal to run its advertisement educating the queer community on the Coors family's funding of bigoted activities, and released a statement June...
Up is the new down!
[I've been trying to get a link to this for days, but while Bloggy beat me to it, I'm not going to let that discourage me] Bushie defines "down" and "up" in his own way....
June 15, 2002
the end of the world, or just hives?
We're scared out of our wits, and the Bushies' continual and manipulative alarms are doing everything they can to keep the heebie jeebies going. Nine months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States finds itself in a jittery mood,...
June 14, 2002
ACTing Up in Palestine
It took some time before the Gay City News interview with Steve Quester, who joined the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine this past April, was put on line, so I have been unable to send this until now. While the...
Israel a surrogate religion?
Henry Siegman has credentials. He should be able to participate in the argument, but he has been more than marginalized by those who dominate the discussion in the U.S. of the fate of Palestinians and Israelis. Henry Siegman is a...
"Most things are"
Whoa! You mean we don't always have to race around and complain? Marguerite Stanford will outlive us all. People on non-rush-hour buses talk to each other. I walk when I'm able, but bus riding is truly enjoyable. Most things are;...
NOT IN OUR NAME statement
We need not stand alone. We are not alone. Where can we sign up? I'm not a celebrity and I'm not an academic, but I have asked to be a part of this very reasonable statement. But I'm already a...
the current state of Shrub science
Fortunately, it only takes a few good words to totally destroy any "rationale" offered by the current intellectually-challenged Administration for its insufferable deeds, attacks on the environment no less than any other crimes. Our understanding of what affects global warming...
June 13, 2002
Bushies say we've lost the "war"
So, if everything the Administration is doing is not going to protect us from terrorists, why do we accept what the Administration is doing to protect us from terrorists? Three weeks have passed since government officials unleashed dire warnings that...
"U.S. To Relax Air Pollution Rules"
No comment on this news item is necessary. [Actually, I find comment impossible at the moment. Maybe later. Maybe.] The announcement received across-the-board rave reviews from industry groups representing refiners, petrochemical, manufacturers and petroleum sectors....
Isn't this all so exciting?
I can't remember more exciting times! Every day brings such extraordinary treasures in the form of simply incredible news. It's all so stimulating. But Let">some people are just spoilsports. They would like to tell us that things are really not...
June 12, 2002
pulling strings
Perfect example of the manipulation of the media in order to manipulate Congress in order to manipulate the public into thinking they are being made safe. The White House dismissed as "outlandish" on Wednesday suggestions that it disclosed the capture...
the "war on terror" is fake
We want to solve the [crime], but not ask why it was done. The answer would cancel out the entire illusory campaign....
American imprisoned without charge or trial
But Bushie has assured us, "This guy Padilla is a bad guy." So there you are. No more questions. Note that Mr. Padilla is an American citizen, that he was picked up as a material witness only, that he has...
June 11, 2002
why Johnny and jane must leave home
Forget the raw materials and the tax incentives and the interstates, the 21st century's growth areas are those which appeal to talented people. This means: High counts of gays and counterculture "Bohemians"? Lots of immigrants? Downtowns with lively music and...
my Wagner, if not theirs
I have put off entering an item about an extraordinary production of Richard Wagner's "The Rhinegold" [sic] two and a half weeks ago, by the EOS Orchestra, since I was waiting for the review which I asssumed would be coming...
Luster made real
The Great American movie? Not quite, but it'll do for this week at least. Queer, yes, but not just for queers. We saw Luster last night at the New Festival and got much more than we expected. Ok, it's set...
Eeegads!
The Bushies are at it again. They just can't shut up, can they? "The free societies we love face unprecedented threats," Bush told the International Democrat Union, a worldwide association of moderate to conservative politicians. "We face cold-blooded killers that...
June 10, 2002
overcoming small numbers, and history
It looks like Afghan women will not let themselves be shut out, in spite of the way the cards have been dealt for the Loya Jirga. The New York Daily News manages a report of its own today, scooping and...
more on the Masai
I was aware of the risk of misrepresentation when I first read the story about a gift of cows to the U.S., but I still don't believe we need to pretend that there is only one way to portray an...
women worthless or worth less?
So, The NYTimes takes the men of Afghanistan at their word that "the Afghan people are being given some say in their future." In a long article explaining the process and makeup of the Loya Jirga, not a word is...
The Robbers
We asked the Italian waiter tonight about the title of a Verdi opera on a vintage LP used as part of the restaurant's decor. He looked down and pointed at the (slash war) symbol on my shirt and said that...
June 9, 2002
"It was people"
In an article about the lack of systems for accessing information either to avoid disasters or to recover from disasters, we are given a peek at how one group of people managed to overcome the obstacles in a very human...
follow-up on the Masai cows
Today the NYTimes provided a follow-up to the item I posted on June 3 about the Masai gift to the people of the United States. In spite of earlier reports, the cows may be on their way here after all....
follow-up on sodom in Jerusalem
Ok, now from the paper-of-record, its report on Gay Pride in Jerusalem. Certainly too much is being made of "god" by all parties, but perhaps the venue has something to do with that (must be awfully hard to sell secularism...
outing and blackmailing the Archbishop
From a party who would appear to be about as disinterested, in the better sense, as a party could be, a very good account of the Archbishop Weakland affair. Only in this case, no child had been molested. Instead, a...
June 7, 2002
"Love without Borders"
Jerusalem survived its very first lesbian and gay pride parade today. A colorful band of a few hundred "crazy fools" marched through the center of Jerusalem, a city revered as holy by three monotheistic faiths which all oppose homosexuality (except,...
the unknown message
In Brussels wednesday, our oh so brilliant secretary of war, er, defense, attempted to defend the Bushie administration's position that we cannot wait for proof before acting against other countries and groups who are suspected of copying our own posession...
the terrible cost of (anti-)drugs
Did our insane obsession with a "war on drugs" cost us September 11, and will it continue to compromise our defense against repeat attacks, even after the Bureau's vaunted reorganization plans? While Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida minions were...
June 6, 2002
peace is war; war is peace
The Washington regime is not disappointing those who expected the worst. [Sad, didn't we once think that "the worst" was what they would do to mess us up at home?] White House talk of never-ending-war to "make peace" is being...
June 5, 2002
yes to intelligence, no to "war"
In a note with an argument both succinct and timely, a NYTimes reader suggests how we can end the hostilities in at least one "war."...
Make no small plans!
Another voice rejecting banality and business as usual at the site of the World Trade Center. As the task of rebuilding begins in earnest, the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation should heed anew Daniel Burnham's advice to...
life for theatre---theatre for life
Martin Esslin, the man who gave us the phrase, "The Theater of the Absurd," and essentially legitimized for a conservative culture some of today'most iconic playwrights, died in London this past February, it was reported today. In his book, he...
police state by executive fiat
Maybe there's still hope. If William Safire says he's worried about the Bushies' assault on the Constitution, we may yet see a bipartisan movement in its defense---and the beginning of the end of this dark night of the Republic? To...
June 4, 2002
Now Israel has to do us a favor
Out of "concern for the world's Jews, for the supporters of Jews, and for peace in general," Israel is asked to remove its semimilitary colonies from the West Bank, Gaza and Golan. As far as I'm concerned, the flawed idealism...
certain knowledge or reasonable suspicion?
Bloggy has a fresh take on arguments about the distinction between "certain knowledge" (conspiracy treason?) and "reasonable suspicion" (cowardice treason?) as they relate to the Bushies and September 11. If administration officials felt that the warnings they had were enough...
June 3, 2002
Pat Buchanan gets it!
[I think.] Buchanan makes more sense than anything we see in the mainstream media! The darling of the discontented Right says we are being attacked because of our imperial foreign policy, and not because "we are democratic and free and...
emperors without clothes
The Dow Jones and other indexes fell over two percent today in the midst of a growing and deepening "mistrust about Corporate America's top management and finances," reports the Reuters wire. Investors' widening distrust helped overshadow a raft of robust...
CNN just doesn't do it for everyone
Sometimes it's refreshing to know that the world is not sitting in the same living room. In Kenya, some of the Masai needed to hear about September 11 in a way that that was most human to them. Most Masai...
the administration disconnects
Climate changes, Bushes don't. The Bushies admitted last week, in a quiet report intended not to make the headlines, that we are indeed destroying our climate and our environment with the production of poisonous gases, but they say there will...
ceci n'est pas un cellphone
Sometimes a cellphone is just not a cellphone, as we learn from a NYTimes reader. As an avid Central Park birder, I'm always on the lookout for the unusual. Recently, after two hours of early-morning birding, I reluctantly headed from...
June 1, 2002
War? What war?
How can we live with this fool? Bushie delivered a major address to the Japanese Diet on February 21. A few seconds into the speech* he said: My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. It...
Iceland solves world's problems
Iceland is on the way to full energy independence, and it does not involve fossil fuels. If we could only widely duplicate some of that country's natural advantages and ecological enthusiasms, we could eliminate much of the planet's pollution and...
