Month: April 2003 (Page 3 of 7)

Happy Easter

“He call his self Jesus, and then he be die one day on two . . . morsels of . . . lumber.”

Had a good time listening to David Sedaris last night, with, variously, Paul, Joyce, Matt, John, Nik and Marty. (I think all these people would write interesting weblogs. But for now, only John has one. Nik, are you listening?) One of the pieces Sedaris read was one from “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” dealing with describing Easter in broken French. It’s not as funny just to read it on the page, but if you want to, you can.

My brother Matt, who’s coming in to town today for a week of visiting and other hilarity, will especially appreciate one anecdote from the reading. Beforehand, having a sandwich at Radical Rye, I said to Paul and Joyce, “I really hope he’s funny tonight. Because I need that.” Paul laughed and said, “Yeah, I can just see him getting up there and saying, ‘This is no time for humor. I think I need to TALK ABOUT THE WAR.'” We all agreed that if Sedaris did something like that, I would have to rush the stage and beat him senseless.

Then, when he asked for questions after the reading, one of the first ones was “What do you think about the war in Iraq?”

I kept my seat. And laughed. Which was good.

Operation Obfuscating Shield

In response to a Salon article recently about the lack of WMD (when did that acronym cease to be one you had to define?) found in Iraq, a letter-writer said something interesting I hadn’t thought of before.

In calling the invasion “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” the administration paved the way for the change in focus I’ve talked about, away from disarmament and toward bringing glorious democracy to the Iraqi people. Bitterly clever, really.

I would challenge anyone to find a pro-war weblog or opinion site that is even mentioning the WMD at this point. But my question is, are they not mentioning it because they know it’s an Achilles heel, or are they so taken in by the propaganda that they think it doesn’t matter?

Words mean things.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think it’s interesting that the American Idol vote-offs go in orderly boy-girl-boy-girl order, always leaving an equal number of boys and girls on the remaining roster? I’m not sure, but I think it was the same last time too. I guess I can understand starting with an equal number of each sex, as they did both times. But the orderliness of the ousters seems to strain probability a little.

Tim Robbins for President

Uplifting, eloquent stuff. Fierce. Pass this on.

(Link stolen, as usual, from lies.com. I used to promise not to steal so much from John Callender. I can’t do that anymore. It’s dishonest. 🙂

Rhetorical question of the week

Why?

“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.”

-Martin Niemoller

I did something today I’ve been meaning to do for years: joined the ACLU. It’s a small thing, but it means a lot to me. I’m unhappy it took me this long to do it. I was struck when visiting their site to sign up that their symbol is the Statue of Liberty (note jaw-dropping splash page). I would encourage anyone dismayed at the scary turn this country has taken to consider joining up with me.

I must say I’ve been a little amused by how the right is so outraged by Michael Moore. I’ll admit that I get a kick out of how much he gets under their skin. They just can’t “get over it,” as they say about, well, pretty much every criticism leveled at Bush.

Apparently Moore’s film “Bowling for Columbine,” which focused on the very real problem of gun violence in this country, was so vile, so evil, so wrong, they just can’t stop talking about it. That Oscar he got was a slap in the face to every flag-waving American – the final straw! And then he gave a stupid speech, got booed, and then tried to say only a couple of people were booing! Oh my god the humanity. We should take away his Oscar! Send him to Iraq! Or better yet, France! And he’s fat!

If this is the most you have to complain about from the left, people, best pack it in. If liberals got as upset about the junk coming from, say, Ann Coulter’s mouth, you’d get your wish and we’d all collapse from massive strokes.

More cures for a crappy day

Puppies. And more puppies. Also, I find getting your car washed can help, too.

Happy Tax Day!

Feel free to post your frustration, etc. in the comments. Personally, I’m a little irritated that because I made so little last year, most of my taxes will go to Social Security, which I’m sure I won’t see when my time comes around. I joked with John and Nik today that my taxes will probably be diverted into the “statue demolition” fund. But it was a bitter sort of joking.

Unsolicited advice

Cure for a crappy day? Etta James. Lots of Etta James. (2MB MP3)

(Thanks to Amanda for the inspiration. Getting a call from a good friend can also help with your crappy day.)