August 31, 2002
I'm scared, but it's not what you think
A pretty real piece, "Victims of Realtime...on the bizarre memorialization of 911," currently appears on the first page of the refreshingly-irreverent site, HOLY FUCKING SHIT DAY. I posted my own comment there, but I'm including it below as well, to...
does this mean we can wipe out Israel too?
Tony Blair says that the world cannot stand by while Iraq is in "flagrant breach" of United Nations resolutions."Doing nothing about Iraq's breach of these UN resolutions is not an option. "That's the only decision that's been taken so far....
not safe anywhere
It is not necessary to have illusions about the liberality of the Palestinian Authority, or Palestinian society as a whole in order to oppose what is being done to the Palestinian people by Israel, a government and a society fundamentally...
worshiping hungry gods--by ourselves
More on the American car vs. public transit thing. The rest of the world is becoming more and more aware of our special cult and addiction, and they clearly aren't going to be indifferent to its planetary impact going forward....
Blair, Berlusconi, Bush
Disgusting, but really no surprise. We got the toady and the fascist to forgive future American war crimes....
August 30, 2002
you can't hide, America!
I've finally realized where I've been for almost the last two years. I'm in the midst of a really stupid comic book, but it's not made of paper, and it's not comic, and it's not ending! If you still have...
"They want the war"
For the crew in Washington, war is the end, not the means, according to an argument which would have been familiar to Thomas Merton.They want war. It's not that they want peace and a better way of life for the...
one god, under the nation
This nation has become a theocracy, as proven by the absolute astonishment of the overwhelming majority, and their extraordinary virulence, when they hear that anyone might object to the state imposition of their particular cult. I hugely admire those who...
rejecting freedom of speech (cont'd)
Alright, I'm back. I've recovered just a little from the impact of the item I posted below. Still I can make only a very few observations for now. Just how much free speech is "too much" free speech? Even more...
rejecting the only thing distinguishing our system
I just don't know how to tackle this one. It's simply beyond my comprehension, but it tells me that we really are doomed. Roughly half of Americans think the constitutional freedom of speech guarantees of the First Amendment go too...
our hero
There are all kinds of cultural heroes, and Fred Plotkin belongs in their rank.Mr. Plotkin, 46, is one of those New York word-of-mouth legends, known by the cognoscenti for his renaissance mastery of two seemingly separate disciplines: music and the...
what happened to public transportation?
The question is for America only, for Europe and the remainder of the world have maintained their responsibilities, in many cases with very advanced systems. Americans however have so confounded their own real interests that here virtually any form of...
August 29, 2002
"the world's worst leaders"
Appearing to be railing against himself, the Shrub was back on the campign trail today."We must not allow the world's worst leaders to develop and harbor the world's worst weapons," Bush said at a fund-raising speech [on thursday]. The remark...
tit for tat
[This is not going to be the biggest issue any of us have to deal with today, but, what the heck, we can't do important stuff all the time.] I did not know until this morning that this was the...
a guilty admission of innocence
The Israeli government issued a statement thursday admitting its forces killed innocent civilians in Gaza. [four dead, eight wounded] But anyone who sees what is being done to every Palestinian under illegal Israeli control would long ago have had to...
the man has no shame, thank you
He was arrested at 81 for soliciting sex from a professional (actually a police officer in professional disguise), and not for the first time, and he's neither ashamed nor hesitant about talking about it. He answers the reporter's question, no,...
August 28, 2002
bigger is not better
But if we have any intelligence we already knew this. Researchers at the University of Michigan and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced on Wednesday that lightweight, fuel efficient autos are safer for the driving public than the average sport...
in the middle of it
This is a months-old interview conducted by Ha'aretz on the last of Steve's days in Palestine this spring. I'm posting it here and at this time for the background it provides for the impulses which brought Steve and others back...
buddy capitalists
The myth is that our Republican White House hijackers represent and worship free market capitalism. The reality is that they embody and practice crony capitalism,in which whom you know is more important than what you do and how you do...
speak up and out
I'm a little late with this indymedia item, and I hope it hasn't been rendered null by subsequent police events, but here it is, in a great and honorable tradition.RETURN OF THE TOMPKIN'S SQUARE SPEAKER'S CORNER! Take your muzzle off...
No, no, no, a thousand times no
--to the olympics. First they tried just selling us the billion-dollar sports stadium, then they switched the bait to a plan for a New York City Olympics. Gee willickers, how can you be against that? Both plans are ludicrous through...
Report from Palestine X
[Today's report, probably his last from Palestine on this visit, is directly from Steve himself. I can only comment that I'm unable to clearly see the keyboard or the screen as I try to post this. Once again, the links...
August 27, 2002
like "Family Circus" supporting condom use?
The "deeply decent" handsome, eponymous star of the soap opera-like strip, Rex Morgan M.D. has come out in favor of what his creator calls "a single-payer, state-supported health care system."Interestingly, the man behind Rex Morgan's position isn't some "communist or...
giving away the store
Why do we have to be eternally blind to the experience, whether successful or disastrous, of other nations or societies? Because we're so damned provincial--or foolishly convinced we're always right. The germans, who love the forest perhaps more than any...
Was Kant wrong, or are we messed up?
A magnificent, sober discussion of the morality of war, particularly of what war means in a democracy, and most particularly of the war we are about to launch. No hysterics, no cant.One common philosophical argument for democracy is that democratic...
dare none call it treason?
What a country! Can we still say stuff like this? Yes, but it doesn't matter, since we're still not able to influence what passes for our own government, even if we talk nice. Mark Morford's "SF GATE MORNING FIX" email...
August 26, 2002
Cheney goes absolutely crazy
These are the words of a madman, and not merely the ravings of an idiot, ignorant of fact, of the world and of history. Actually they are certainly both.NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney called on Monday for...
Don't let them close down America
A Kuwaiti political science professor who had come to the U.S. in 1971 for undergraduate and graduate studies, and who was working in Washington last September, is saddened, like many of us, at the prospect of a less open and...
August 25, 2002
the free-market myth
--is not limited to the subject of health coverage. But let's start dismantling it right there.Free-Market Myth of Health Coverage To the Editor: Re "Unproductive Medicare Bashing" (editorial, Aug. 20): In urging President Bush to "stop the Medicare bashing and...
the addict won't confront the pusher
[The U.S. won't remonstrate against the Saudi government.] Are we "Drowning Freedom In Oil"? The Muslim world does not hate the West. They quite reasonably hate what the West is doing to their world.[An Indian Muslim community leader insists,] They...
Report from Palestine IX
[Donald just sent this message describing Steve's report of his experiences yesterday and today in Palestine.] I am writing this around 10:30 AM on Sunday, August 25, New York Time This report covers Saturday, August 24 and some of Sunday,...
August 24, 2002
good people and their haven
It's a chink in my atheistic armor, but I'll admit I have a soft spot for both the people and the institutions of the world's most human and progressive religious communities. The folks connected to St. Paul's Chapel in downtown...
is it now "Wag the puppy"?
Can I just go home now?Some people are suspicious that President Bush will go for a "wag the dog" strategy -- boosting Republican prospects with a military assault on Iraq shortly before Election Day. But a modified approach now seems...
war to end all war, or?
The only actual rationale for an Iraqi war was recently provided by Richard Perle, a leader of the Administration’s neoconservative hawks. "The failure to take on Saddam after what the president said would produce such a collapse of confidence in...
Now the story gets big
Maybe something's finally clicking out there in the head- and heartlands. Today even the NYTimes has to admit it's worth a few lines, but without a doubt this story has real legs--and great pictures!The violent demonstrations against President Bush caught...
August 23, 2002
Protest? What protest?
There was not a word of this in the New York Times today, and only four inches of a narrow column hidden just past the comics section of the Daily News. But doesn't it seem worth some real notice when...
report from Palestine VIII
[This report from Steve himself just came through. The photo links are my own doing.] First: The end of the truck story is that both guys got their trucks back. The one guy got his back after all the vegetables...
Report from Palestine VII
[Steve did report that his friend Erica had been arrested, and that she has support people here. This report just arrived from JATO (Jews Against The Occupation) rather than from Steve directly.] Nablus-A member of the New York-based group Jews...
"it's just sex!" update
[see the last ten lines of yesterday's blog for an update on the radio sex story]...
no new "Report from Palestine" yet
From Palestine, Steve has left messages saying that he is fine, but, because of logistical and technical (phone) problems, we don't yet have another real report or live conversation. We expect one soon....
August 22, 2002
it's just sex!
It was either just a stunt or it was the real thing, but it's just sex! A Virginia couple was accused this week of having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral for a shock radio prank. It seems to me that...
"The Water Profiteers"
I was going to say, "Geez, is air next, but I immediately realized the air has already been sold to the polluters.Around the world there is a growing social movement to protect water as a common resource. Because many large...
the Fire Department club
We love those guys, but we'd love those women too, and what about the queers? And those are just starters, of course.Women make up 16 percent of the firefighters in Minneapolis, 15 percent in San Francisco and 13 percent in...
Blinded by hatred of Left, U.S. murdered in Argentinia
Henry Kissinger committed crimes against humanity in his support of the Argentine military dictatorship's self-described "war on terrorism" in the seventies, when military and paramilitary units were systematically killing, torturing and kidnapping suspected leftists--including several American citizens--during the summer and...
August 21, 2002
Petition against the War on Iraq
I can't say anything more or better than Barry does on this subject.As someone who thinks a pre-emptive strike on a country that few people other than Bush believe is a significant threat to us, I just signed Move On's...
the pigeons they are us
New Yorkers, both queer and straight. This revelation will surely change how we look upon our little neighbors in the future.Oh, you didn't know that half of pigeons live in single-sex marriages? Neither did they, actually. But according to Linda...
Sharon in Florida to bail-out Jeb
Oh, yuck. The White House sends Sharon to Miami to help two Bushes. That's certainly what it looks like, but the move might just backfire.Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, will appear in South Florida with Gov. Jeb Bush on...
not the real thing?
Now we really do have a reason to go to war. Coca Cola is being attacked by arabs abroad. And the source of the terrorism? Iran, one of the members of the "axis of evil." One problem. The enemy is...
August 20, 2002
"Chickenhawks?"
A problematic name, but the website is a worthy enterprise nevertheless.Definition A chickenhawk is a term often applied to public persons - generally male - who (1) tend to advocate, or are fervent supporters of those who advocate, military solutions...
Report from Palestine VI
[This is a report of Donald's latest communication from Steve in Palestine, written this morning in New York.]In the last report, I mentioned that the army was occupying a large house in Nablus, with the original 20 occupants confined to...
our democratic friends from Iraq
And is this the kind of democratic dialogue we could expect from the nice Iraqi opposition groups the Whitehouse is courting?BERLIN (Reuters) - German police said Tuesday two people had been injured and shots fired as four or five members...
Why the Shrub needs this war
And this is from Reuters, not the alternative media!President Bush used to call him "the evil one" but in recent months Osama bin Laden has become the unmentionable one, replaced by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as the chief enemy of...
August 19, 2002
"But in any case, Israeli policy will ultimately fail."
Edward Said has written a powerful, profoundly moving account of the present horror of the Israeli/Palestinian death dance. It's not especially brief, but it carries the reader breathlessly along its argument. The pain is not in the read, but in...
STOP stopping Stop AIDS!
A lot of people out west and in Washington are very upset about at least one San Francisco AIDS prevention program, but tragically that particular controversy is inconceivable here in New York, where we don't really have a visible AIDS...
Report from Palestine V
[again, a report from Steve, still in Palestine, relayed through Donald] Steve and company walked through the checkpoint outside nablus no problem. ISM people are doing a checkpoint watch to advocate for people not allowed through. Steve stayed there a...
"But far more uncool...
[than opposing smoking in a cocktail culture] is closing down every night disgusted with the odor of cigarettes wafting from my clothes and hair, even my skin, and trying to stanch my dread about whether this is, in fact, killing...
August 18, 2002
can our ignorance be bliss?
Um . . . where do we stand with this right now? Is it so wrong to ask the questions? Instead, isn't it very wrong not to ask the questions? Back in June, the columnist Bob Herbert predicted that there...
"All Hat--no cattle"
The NYTimes yesterday illustrated Frank Rich's disection of Dubya's domestic and foreign obsessions with a line drawing and its graphic text, "Big Hat--No Cattle," but I'm told by my reliable source that the customary usage in Texas is my own...
"My Friends Who Bought Me The Election"
[somebody else is not taking this Putsch-ring thing very well! This is from Mark Morford's email list] To All My Friends Who Bought Me The Election They are Republican "Pioneers," the raisers of the early cash that made the machinery...
we are all targets, but we have almost none ourselves
We did it for oil then*. We're doing it for oil now. Almost all Americans cheered our depredations then. Almost all Americans are cheering the planned war now. This is a democracy, we tell the world, so all Americans become...
the New York Times finally comes out
I'm not a fan of marriage in any form, but queers have a right to be as conventionally careless and silly as anyone else. Still, let's not make it a requirement. The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle,...
Report from Palestine IV
[message from Steve in Palestine as relayed through Donald here in New York] Sunday 8/18. I spoke with Steve at 9 AM New York Time (4PM Palestine Time) Still not much action to report, but lots of travelling. Steve says...
August 17, 2002
Report from Palestine III
[not much today, but this is a short update of Steve's activity, relayed through a friend] Just got of the phone with Steve. It's around 8 on Saturday morning. He was at a checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, on his...
August 16, 2002
a great man
--and studly as well! Jonathan Rosen actually does the kind of activism that the rest of us must do no less than support fully, if we can't expect to equal his own dedication and energy."We live among so much poverty...
August 15, 2002
"Give it to Them"
[The text of the caption is from an Israeli bumper sticker which is deliberately intended to reflect current Israeli confusion. The words suggest both that all of the West Bank and Gaza be given back to the Palestinians and that...
Report from Palestine II
[I'm posting the verbatim texts of messages from Steve and three people travelling with him at this time.] Hi all, Four of the JAtO [Jews Against the Occupation] affinity group--me, Lisa, Jeremy, and Ryan--are now in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem....
disaster upon disaster upon disaster
Neither Afghanistan nor the world needs this right now, but Afghanistan is about to explode, and with it goes the only (arguable) accomplishment of our junta's "war on terrorism."But the man in the garden was worried. He was not an...
August 14, 2002
German pizza
The pizza was delivered this eveing by a tall, strong, young man with a distinct German accent. Young German delivering pizza in Manhattan in 2002? Shouldn't he be on Wall Street or partying on the Upper East Side?We don't know...
am I part of the "axis of evil?"
He was elected (by an overwhelming majority), he's an intellectual, he's savy, shows good leadership abilities, appears to be concerned for the welfare of his nation and of the world, gives good speech, shows charisma, and is an attractive, figure....
terrorist "risk management"
I've argued all along that our response to the events of September 11 was and remains, aside from being just plain wrong, all out of proportion to both the scale and the continued threat that it might represent, but until...
Report from Palestine I
[This is my friend's first, brief, report following his arival in Palestine. The text is that of his contact in New York who will regularly be in touch with Steve by cellphone while he's there.] I spoke with Steve on...
Smart, the smart car
These images are for all of the people who think Barry and I are crazy to take this car seriously. The cocoon-framed passenger pod remains intact, as it was designed to--by Mercedes Benz. [We are crazy about the car, but...
August 13, 2002
stepping up to the security bar
What kind of war is this? Woman says airport security forced her to drink breast milk. But we still can't manage to get luggage screeners installed (best estimate, maybe sometime next year).A woman says a security guard at Kennedy Airport...
political satire is now redundant
[I posted it as "politics." but should it really be "happy?"] Somehow I missed this story until now. Calls to the government's TIPS number, it was discovered this past week, were being answered by the "America's Most Wanted" television program....
Reform? What reform?
I'm no economist, although I did manage to make it through two semesters in the midst of an otherwise now-extinct liberal arts curriculum. I leave the serious dismal stuff to Barry, but Paul Krugman always makes things accessible to those...
war needs myth, not truth
No, Iraq did not throw UN weapons inspectors out of the country in 1998, and, yes, UN weapons inspectors did exceed their mandate sufficiently to collect eavesdropping intelligence used in American efforts to overturn the government. They left because they...
going through it all, to Tao
David Budbill navigates a few of the world's religions to see how we got to where we are today and where we might go from here, in his latest notes, "Christians and the War on Terror."When I was a student...
August 12, 2002
addendum to "What's to stop us?"
I just can't resist adding one final, possibly very perverse, thought to the item posted just below. With apologies to the millions whose lives were destroyed by its most horrible works, perhaps in some measure we should be extraordinarily grateful...
What's to stop us?
The deadly-menace nutcases in Washington now say "we" (using whatever ordinary or special units we want to invent and use) have the right to go anywhere at any time to murder anyone for any reason, without telling anyone and without...
and this will end the cycle of violence?
Travel adventures within the West Bank:[The general secretary of the Tulkarm Blood Bank Society, Azzam Al-Araj, writes,] There is a curfew in effect in my town in Palestine. When I take the risk of walking to my office, which is...
Israel attacks peace protesters
Not really a news development, as the peace activists who have been regular targets of Israeli attacks know well, but it would actually be real news over here, except that it's not in the news. The reason neither the existence...
August 11, 2002
O tempora. O mores!
[Oh the times. Oh the manners!--Cicero] Yes, it's come to this, but not a moment too soon. The NYTimes Business Section today includes a lengthy piece on how corporate executives can survive in prison, "White-Collar Criminal? Pack Lightly for Prison."...
Liberty kisses
Besides biting the hand that feeds you, it's just plain wrong! Madison Square Garden and the New York W.N.B.A. team, Liberty, continues to ignore, if not just plain snub, lesbian fans of women's basketball.[One lesbian fan, Robyn Overstreet,] says Liberty...
more on Har Homa (see post below)
Reportage specific to the experience of the arabs around Har Homa (the project discussed below) concludes the article:A small group of Israeli Arab and Palestinian workers is also living in Har Homa, in a plywood shack. They work and sleep...
slaves toiling in their own land
I know the biblical Tower of Babel was probably located near the Black Sea, but it seems that modern Israelis have decided to build a new one between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, on Palestinian land of course. The complete story of...
good dog!
Some of you already know that Barry and I kinda collect art things--lots of art things. So, if I occasionally make a point of talking about one artist or another in the midst of my political diatribes and my almost-cute...
August 10, 2002
looking at the latest Shrubisms
Reuters caught up with the vacationing Shrub on a golf course today and shares their conversation about Saddam Hussein and Iraq with a public awaiting with baited breath."I described them [Iraq] as the 'axis of evil' once. I describe them...
get your war on
He's getting better--and stronger! [and donate money, if you can, since this stuff doesn't come cheap once he gets the heavy traffic he's now attracting]...
a nation of cowards
[This is not a call for war of any kind. Far from it. I have no doubts that we aren't going to fix what's wrong with ourselves or anyone else in the world by slugging it out. The observation which...
August 8, 2002
the buzz
Of course it has absolutely nothing to do with the global warming the Shrub tells us we just have to adjust to. Are there mosquitos in Crawford, Texas?...
Town Hall to CBGB to the subway platforms
But for Daphne, it was all just one career move. She did what she wanted to do, and did it for a very long time, and then she stopped.Daphne Bayne Hellman, the jazz harpist who performed around the world and...
report from purgatory (Palestine)
Well, if it's not total hell for everyone, it's still a very long way from the promise of this beautiful land, and it's very much a purgatory for all. Even if you don't believe in the concept of expiation, it's...
August 7, 2002
bribing our way toward war crimes
--for total hegemony. You want our money, you want us to not make trouble for you? Then you'd better sign here right now, giving us the right to do our war-crime thing and our genocide thing without any interference. The...
August 6, 2002
"CEOs' behaving badly"
From TIME, for gawds's sake! Nader's a saint. Alright, he looks like Abe Lincoln, but he really comes just after Francis of Assisi. Here he is on "CEO's behaving badly." [TIME's phrase]For almost four decades, Ralph Nader has been the...
we pay, they make out
[straight from a Citizen Works email]Citizen Works made national news last week by noting that during Vice President Dick Cheney’s tenure as CEO, the number of Halliburton subsidiaries incorporated in offshore foreign tax havens rose from 9 to 44. Meanwhile,...
the anti-Chelsea
--anti the new Chelsea. Our block of 23rd Street still has some of the most interesting shops and venues to be found in the City, although the latest developments here are almost surely harbingers of what is to come in...
Chelsea is an adjective
--and a derogation. Yes, it's nice to know I'm no longer the only homo in Chelsea (as it so seemed to me when I first moved here fifteen years ago), but can't we attract at least some people who look...
August 5, 2002
STOP THIS WAR
The best discussion (and the scariest) I've seen yet of the issues raised by what appears to be the administration's insanely stupid determination to start a real war, one which might mean the end of the world as we know...
but the sky is falling!
An Op-Ed piece in the NYTimes describes it conservatively as an "unrelenting stream of bad news and broken faith," but anyone who has not lost touch with reality in recent years would describe it as an absolute disaster, but also...
straightening out the English
[This post of a letter in today's NYTimes is for Otto, wherever you are.] To the Editor: In "Forget Ideas, Mr. Author. What Kind of Pen Do You Use?" (Writers on Writing, July 29), Stephen Fry said he did not...
Israel surrounded and blockaded!
I can't stay away from this one, for its effrontery and for almost perfectly representing the government and media's Big Lie. The oversized (but not for this tabloid) headline on the cover of the New York Daily News this morning...
simple facts fighting lies
This litany of common charges made by the Israeli war party and their calm refutation by an Israeli peace activist may be almost two years old now, but remain key to an understanding of what has transpired both before and...
just not interested
The Washington junta just wasn't interested in terrorism until September, 2001. They were only concerned about imaginary enemies, like those which would be the targets of their appalling star-wars-defense fantasy and their war-on-drugs fantasy.The Bush administration sat on a Clinton-era...
the bogeyman actually lives outside the City
Even I don't have these problems with "country!" I mean, I have done some camping in my time, and I would never think I could "get away" from New York "an hour north of the city." Obviously that was the...
August 4, 2002
coming up with the right jingle
The Shrub administration is creating a new public relations office and campaign to help our image abroad. I didn't know they cared one whit, but they still don't care about doing anything to alter our own attitudes or policies, those...
August 3, 2002
losing a common reservoir of trust
Robert Reich's book is not just for Boston. It should be an alarm for the entire country, and not a minute too soon. Why should we care about what a candidate for governor of Massachusetts thinks? Why should we care...
we're not making it
The American Dream isn't even a dream any more for many Americans. They now pursue only a nightmare, and it appears neither they not the rest of us will waken from it soon....
Boycott Florida!
Yeah, I know, easy for me to say, since I've never been and am now, since November, 2000, in no hurry to go, but there's another reason.[Tim] McCarron and his supporters, members of the AIDS activist group ACT UP, are...
August 2, 2002
just another day for a snake oil salesman
The Republicans can't afford to pay for their own campaign junkets. They need our [Republicans don't pay taxes anymore] tax money.CHARLESTON, S.C., July 29 — President Bush directed unusually harsh criticism at the Senate today for its version of a...
just the smells and bells and funny tales, thank you
It looks like Mexico has the right attitude toward the Catholic Church: We'll take the fun parts and the pretty parts, but don't tell us what to do!...there is a troublesome, yawning divide between the teachings of the church and...
through storms and Red Guards
I've had my disagreements with the Post Office, and with Columbia University for that matter, but if both can somehow persevere through the worst environments nature and man can devise, I have a new respect for both institutions, and some...
