28 Days Later

On November 2nd of this year, a terrible illness swept over this great land. Overcome by the events of that day, many of us fell into a sort of catatonic state. We awaken 28 days later to find a very different* America.

Now, in a world where hoary paleocons roam unchallenged--OK, OK, what exactly has gone down since "Our Leader" was re-elected?

Well, let's see:

• George Bush immediately claimed a mandate and said he intended to spend the capital he'd earned.
  
• Leaders of the far religious right clamber to claim a piece of the mandate pie.
• Notably, Bob Jones III, president of Bob Jones University sends a letter of congratulations to Bush and exhorts him "Don't equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ." (Ed: This "liberal" doesn't hate Christ.)
  
• The terror alert status for Washington, New York and New Jersey financial institutions almost immediately gets ratcheted down a level.
  
• The administration's most prominent moderate Colin Powell resigns within two weeks of Bush's re-election. (Good news column: Attorney General John Ashcroft quits scarcely a week after Bush's re-election.)
  
• Bush replaces cabinet members like the more moderate Powell with "Yes Men" (and women) like Condaleeza Rice, "dispatching White House staff members to take over the State, Justice and Education departments."
  
• Republicans in the House dismantled their own law so that a post-indictment Tom DeLay could continue serving as Majority leader.
  
• The Senate voted to raise the ceiling on the debt level. (What ever happened to the party of fiscal conservatism?)
  
• The FCC continues fining the hell out of everyone.
  
• The so-called "Istook Amendment" appears in an appropriations bill and seems to allow congressmen to access to folks tax returns at their disgression. No one admits to knowing how it got in there.
  
• $2 million in the recent omnibus spending bill passed by Congress was allocated for buying back the presidential yacht. Jimmy Carter quickly sold the yacht upon becoming President because he feared it contributed to making the presidency appear more imperial.

Keep in mind now, Bush hasn't *started* his second term yet. I know, it's easy to forget. All this and November's just ending. If you're the hopeful type like me, you kinda wanna think we're working on his second term already.

Now, just for fun, Google "since Bush was re-elected" and see what you get. And let me know if there's anything I should add to the list.

*OK, not so much different, as more of the same, only worse.

Doubting Dick

You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here. ...

I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell. It doesn't frighten me.

--Richard Feynman, 1981

Where You Gonna Run To?

I just had a driveway moment with Nina Simone. I pulled in with a couple of minutes of her stunning and propulsive version of "Sinnerman" left to run. Recorded in 1965 in New York, this track clocks in at 10 minutes and 19 seconds long. You do not interrupt that song!

Face the Face

Here's English-language Web site for Victor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian opposition leader, whose been in the news so much lately for, among other things, the bizarre and rapid change in his appearance. This page highlights that change rather dramatically. More photos here. In photos from as late as July of this year he looks remarkably different.

A handwritten message on his homepage reads as follows:

I can't be objective regarding Ukraine, because I love her too much!

I trust in Ukraine! - V. Yuschenko

If Yuschenko does win a recount and the election, let's hope he deserves to. A little research reveals he may not be the Havel-esque figure some have painted him to be. At least, he's been accused of stealing millions of dollars. Antiwar.com's Justin Raimondo says there's more to the picture and compares the changes in Yuschenko's appearance to The Picture of Dorian Gray, but I don't know enough about Raimondo to tell if he's got an axe to grind.

Rebuilding Iraq

(from The Saudi Gazette)

Aussie Policewoman Wears Hijab

A small victory for tolerance in Australia: Islam Online reports that Maha Sukkar, a former graphic designer, has become the first Victoria police officer to wear hijab with her uniform.

Meanwhile, France continues to ban headscarves in public schools, and Malaysia has banned turbans from schools. Malaysia is a predominantly Islamic nation, which does allow Sikh students to wear turbans and Muslim girls to wear headscarves, but not a veils.

The Caveman's Call

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds have a new double album out entitled Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus. If you're a Cave fan at all, run out and get this one right away.

Cave usually avoids politics, preferring to focus on our travails from either a greater, more universal (and often religious) distance or to come right from the gut at the visceral, loving level. Nonetheless, these lyrics from "Nature Boy"--a Cave original, not to be confused with the Nat King Cole classic--certainly seem timely:

I was just a boy when I sat down
To watch the news on TV
I saw some ordinary slaughter
I saw some routine atrocity
My father said, don’t look away
You got to be strong, you got to be bold, now
He said, that in the end it is beauty
That is going to save the world, now

Rock 'n roll may just save the world yet.

Is the Sky Falling?

Twice this week I heard prominent economists refer to an impending "economic Armageddon."

The first mention, which I caught via Boing Boing on Tuesday, was an article by Morgan Stanley's chief economist Stephen Roach. He says that conditions in the United States are aligned right now for economic disaster. In fact, he believe we have about a 90 percent chance of economic "Armageddon" and about a 60 percent of *delaying* it, but only a 10 percent chance of avoiding it all together.

The same day, driving home, I heard Paul Krugman on NPR saying that were the United States any other country, we'd be considered a banana republic at this point, but that the world's basically giving us the benefit of the doubt. He also said we're headed for "economic Armageddon," and he was quoted in a Reuters story last Monday entitled "Economic Crisis a Question of When, Not If."

Coincidence? Had Krugman read Roach's piece that day, too? Maybe these guys have been comparing notes.

Krugman is not exactly known as a friend of Bush, but I'm not aware of Roach's political leanings to tell whether his thoughts may be skewed by bias. But, you know, these guys are economists--economic forecasters--and when the weatherman says, "Storm," you're wise to pay attention even if he doesn't have a perfect batting average (if you'll pardon the mixed metaphors). And these guys are predicting a perfect storm.

And just look around. I mean, common sense tells you that if you had a loved one deeply in debt, who decided to get a credit card, which allowed them to spend more money they didn't have, you'd advise them against it, right? That's what our country's doing. And both Roach and Krugman outline plenty of other contributing factors, which portend a coming storm.

The Producer's Holiday?

Anyone who knows me really well knows I practically get hives when I see someone reading Atlas Shrugged or even when I hear Ayn Rand's name mentioned, but few people seem to understand why.

These brief excerpted thoughts from the Ayn Rand Institute's article on an Objectivist angle on Thanksgiving go a long way towards explaining my discomfort:

Thanksgiving celebrates man's ability to produce. The cornucopia filled with exotic flowers and delicious fruits, the savory turkey with aromatic trimmings, the mouth-watering pies, the colorful decorations--it's all a testament to the creation of wealth.

Rand's adherants may make some good points about Liberal guilt or the tendency of some folks to thank God for products that they acquired by the sweat of their own brows, but I still think Objectivism's worship of wealth is just another extreme. And sometimes it verges on fascism.

The Producer's Holiday? Blech. I'd prefer to skip all the cult-like nonsense and simply think of Thanksgiving as a time to express thankfulness for friends and family and the comforts of home and hearth.

That Whirring Sound You Hear

... is Orwell spinning in his grave.



I really wish I could tell you this were a joke or a hoax, but apparently, it's not. Appropriately, it's sponsored by Clear Channel, nesting place for such radio luminaries as Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura.

(Via Blue Lemur)

Update 11/28: Blue Lemur now says that Clear Channel is pointing to a local channel as being responsible for the ad:

Tony Alwin, Senior Vice President, Creative for Clear Channel Outdoor, issued the following statement received at 6:22 p.m. ET this evening.

“Clear Channel Outdoor markets are operated locally,” Alwin said. “Local managers determine what copy to use when a location has time that is not sold to an advertiser.”

There was no further comment.

RAW STORY has been unable to get comment from the local market in Orlando, which asserts that their media contact person is away this week, and that no one else there can speak for the company.

So, it was Clear Channel, but perhaps a local operative. Are you telling me they have the freedom to put whatever they like on these billboards? Has this guy never read Orwell? (I find myself asking that question a lot lately). Or maybe it was an intentional jibe? Almost seems like it.

I mean "Congratulations to President Bush" would've been one thing, but "Our Leader"? And do we really want our President's visage staring down at us along our highways? Isn't that the sort of thing we decried in Iraq? In the Soviet Union?

Can you imagine driving through Britain and seeing Tony Blair's mug smiling benevolently down at you?

Ranting and Railing for a Good Cause

Like many of us, Tom Shales is unhappy with FCC chairman Michael Powell and believes the wrong Powell quit recently. Few though have the opportunity to publish a rant like this in such a prominent paper. He also refers to Jeff Jarvis's now (not) famous (enough) investigation which revealed that a whopping three people complained about a "Married by America" episode and nonetheless instigated a $1.2 million fine against Fox.

Frank Rich has an excellent rant, "The Great Indecency Hoax" in the NYT, too. Rich points out the irony of people compaining about the Nicollette Sheridan football promo dabcle, when the show she's on feature far more explicit content. But kids aren't watching that show, you say. Wrong! "'Desperate Housewives' also ranks No. 5 among all prime-time shows for ages 12-17. ('Monday Night Football' is No. 18.)" Don't nobody tell the Traditional Values Coalition though, OK?

The point of all this, really--and Jarvis points it out *again* today--is that most Americans are not interested in a crack-down on television content. An extreme minority is having an inappropriate impact.

Jarvis also directs us to a rant by Newsweek's Jonathan Alter Alter desibes the Sheridan/Owens incident as a "little fiesta of hypocrisy, cynicism and fear." He also says, somewhat hopefully, "If this had happened 20 years ago (and it could have; TV was full of sexual innuendo then, too), all the talk would have been about the interracial coupling of Sheridan and Owens." Honestly, I'm not convinced that race *didn't* play a role in funneling the overwrought outrage we saw. I mean, would folks be as outraged if Sheridan had jumped into the arms of a white boy quaterback? Really? I think some people just know better than to express their true thoughts out loud these days, so complaining about the sexuality itself seems like taking the high road. Having said that, I certainly don't mean to count all the outraged as racists. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, that's quite a bevy of heavyweight ranters isn't it?

Not Taking It Any More

Tom Friedman is mad as hell--at Tom Delay, Republic House members, Latrell Sprewell and Humvee drivers. All in the same short op-ed. He makes some good points and ends thusly:

I want to take time on this Thanksgiving to thank God I live in a country where, despite so much rampant selfishness, the public schools still manage to produce young men and women ready to voluntarily risk their lives in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to spread the opportunity of freedom and to protect my own. And I want to thank them for doing this, even though on so many days in so many ways we really don't deserve them.

Some, of course, will say he's morphing into Michael Moore.

Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll!

(Via Kevin Drum)

Just a Thought

I hope the same folks who were outraged by seeing a woman's naked back before a football game are really, really outraged over this Pistons/Pacers brawl.

I mean, seeing Nicollette Sheridan drop a towel didn't have children fearful and reduced to tears. "Distraught," as I just heard one father say on CNN.

In the Name of

Call me crazy, but this doesn't sound like Christianity to me. Doug Giles over at Townhall.com:

It’s time to put down our pusillanimous poodle proclivities and start taking onboard a pitbull-esque tenacity … you know, like the Christians of old, like Peter, like Paul, like Timothy, and Stephen. We need a breed of believers with the courage to stand proudly for their faith in God and their place in society.

How about looking at scripture through the eyes of the Pit Bull? Put on your Bad-Boy Ray Bans, and let’s check out a few heroes in the Bible.

A handful of examples follows, all but one of which I note are actually drawn from the Old Testament. So, those guys weren't actually Christians.

Interestingly enough, Christ isn't mentioned among these pitbull Christians.

I emailed him to point out the unfortunate omission.

Oh, and "Put on your Bad-Boy Ray Bans"?

(Via Andrew Sullivan.)

Pepsi Spice Vice

Guy blogs his Pepsi Spice diet, a la Morgan Spurlock in Super Size Me.

Tongue firmly in cheek, I believe, and very funny, if also splendidly grotesque.

I've yet to taste the aforementioned Pepsi product, which is apparently laced with cinnamon and ginger, but I can't say I'm dying to try.