Why You Can't Stay the Course. Not in English, Anyway

Fantastic Op-Ed from the Times gets right to the linguistic reasons the Bushies and the country are in such big trouble.

We love Lakoff's understanding of metaphors as moral motivators, and his implicit point that in absence of meaning, political language becomes policy. Read the piece, but here's the golden arrow:

“Stay the course” was for years a trap for those who disagreed with the president’s policies in Iraq. To disagree was weak and immoral. It meant abandoning the fight against evil. But now the president himself is caught in that trap. To keep staying the course, given obvious reality, is to get deeper into disaster in Iraq, while not staying the course is to abandon one’s moral authority as a conservative. Either way, the president loses.

Democrats Discover "VOTING" Could Be Key To Mid-Term Win

Could it be? This article from tomorrow's Times suggests Democrats have finally figured out that getting out the vote is important. And this one, from the Washington Post, says that there are Dem-favorable wedge issues as ballot referendums out there.

Could Democrats be paying attention and figuring out key winning tactics from the Republican playbook can work for them, too? I kinda don't believe it.

Ah...Its Nina Simone

Time for a cocktail

Cheney Says That's Not What He Meant. You Decide!

O.K. We're being very dispassionate here.

Dick Cheney now says that his comments about torture on the radio the other day, which some people think included an endorsement of waterboarding, in fact didn't.

This is good, because it allows to look at a transcript of what the Vice President said on Tuesday, and what he says now according to this article from the Washington Post. Just look at both and compare, right?

Not really. The salient fact is the denial by Cheney that what he said means what people think. He gives his partisans simply say "that's not what he meant" and are completely inflexible. So, the debate centers around parsing what was said, and objective comparison of statements goes away completely.

Any fair minded, of course, could look at what was said Tuesday and what's being said now and arrive at their own conclusion. The media, easily distracted, reports only the "controversy," with hard facts secondary, if relevant at all.

Must Read: Garry Wills on Republican Fundamentalism

Garry Wills is one of the country's best writers on religion.

His critique of the religious right's infiltration into government in the New York Review of Books is stunningly good, comprehensive and powerful. Its also a bit of a slog, but well worth it.

This powerful quote closes the piece, summing up the belief of many evangelical Americans that the war in Iraq is God's work:

There is a particular danger with a war that God commands. What if God should lose? That is unthinkable to the evangelicals. They cannot accept the idea of second-guessing God, and he was the one who led them into war. Thus, in 2006, when two thirds of the American people told pollsters that the war in Iraq was a mistake, the third of those still standing behind it were mainly evangelicals (who make up about one third of the population). It was a faith-based certitude.

Lynne Cheney Attacks!

Desperation? The clear indignance of power when truth is spoken to it. And WHAT is she wearing?

NBC Runs Screaming From Dixie Chicks Movie Commercial

Matt Drudge has it.

You can take a look at the actual commercials here. If this isn't one of the best examples I've seen of corporate owned media in fear of the executive branch of government what is. There is no reason to reject these commercials other than fear. Or none that we can think of.

Speaking of fear, don't forget to join us at the Life Raft on Halloween, when the whole day (!) will be devouted to the instillation of FEAR in the American public as a governing princple. Should be good fun, no?

Republican Going Out of Business Sale

Attention corporate shoppers!!

Corporations are rushing to buy up Democrats while they are still cheap. Everybody knows the prices go up after election day. Just like gasoline!

Waterboarding a "No Brainer" for Cheney

Dick Cheney's strongest yet advocacy for the United States to torture prisoners. The worst part is its really not even shocking any more. Here's the "dunk" question and answer from the White House transcript, where Cheney calls waterboarding a "no-brainer"

Q Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: It's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there, I was criticized as being the Vice President "for torture." We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in. We live up to our obligations in international treaties that we're party to and so forth. But the fact is, you can have a fairly robust interrogation program without torture, and we need to be able to do that.

He aknowledges that torture is a no brainer, then instantly says "we don't torture." This is a sort of language, used consciously, to normalize the concept of waterboarding, and over time erode the preception that it is torture.

Regarding waterboarding, here's the Wikipdeidia definition. Here's an October 2006 Washingtonpost article raising the question of whether waterboarding is legal or not.

The photo at the top, by the way, is of one of the Khmer Rouge's water-board tanks. If its good enought for Pol Pot, its good enough for the Unites States of American in 2006.

Plausible Fiction: Jackie Was A SPY! (No, She Wasn't)

Let's track down a spooky euphemism! After all, its almost Halloween.

Page Six, again. (I know, I know, two lifts in one morning. Sorry). Aside from the blatant silliness of the book pictured above, what grabs us is the swipe from Library Journal's review calling the book "plausible fiction."

Now, Library Journal is an academic and profoundly boring publication. Which means there has probably never been an original turn-of-phrase between its covers since its inception.

So whence comes the term "plausible fiction," with its sneaky subtext of veracity and murkily mitigating modification of the perfectly clear term "fiction."

Well, this google search gives us more than 700 likely suspects. James Frey, author of the implausible fiction masquerading as memoir bestseller A Million Little Pieces, does not appear among them, though he should.

Its lots of academics, of course, who continue to muddy our post-modern waters with ever thinner slices of classification. We'll keep tracking this down, as it seems "plausible fiction" could well be the one term that captures our zeit geist gorgeously.

The war in Iraq as the start of the age of Plausible Fiction? It has a frighteningly fitting ring.

Why Doesn't Bill O'Reilly Just Stay Home?

Because he's got a book to promote, of course. But Page Six has the skinny on what to expect when the culture warrior goes head-to-head with David Letterman on Letterman's show tonight.

Isn't just a little spooky, though, to see how violent language is becoming all over the media. Even on David Letterman?

Nicholas Cage...

...looks awful. I mean, would you open your door if that was on the other side of the peep-hole?

He also put his house on the market for $35 million.

Friday Morning Movie Minute

A new romantic feature film that actually address contemporary politics! What is this, the 70's or something? In theatres this weekend.

The Washington Post is shocked...shocked!...by negative campaign ads

And you will be, too. Some of this stuff is rather breathtaking.

Camille Paglia to Worried Moms: GROW UP!

The always fascinating, often wrong and never boring Camille Pagalia has a go at Dems, why the Foley scandal is bad for liberals, and pants (a little) at that sexy Condi Rice. Its here (you have to watch a brief add to access to the site, Salon.com)

Camille has lots to say, but among the most interesting is her clear exasperation at the muddling of the line between children and teenagers that she sees in the self-righteous discourse surrounding the Foley affair. Very few mainstream voices would wade into this provocative and difficult terrain, but not our Camille!

By the way, her super-duper good book on poetry is not to be missed by anyone who values verse!

Predictable and Deadly: Gay Marriage is Back

The irony is complete. The great October surpise the Republicans were waiting for is the Gay Marriage ruling in New Jersey. Its the lead political story in the Times for tomorrow.

Let's cut to the chase. There's no conspriracy theory here -- this is the outcome of a long planned and deliberate GLBT strategy to address the marriage issue. There is no sneaky Republican plot here....we've done this to ourselves.

Will the GLBT movement leaders ever recognize that they, too, are creating wedge issues? The only difference is they do with good intentions, while the Republican machine does it with strategic malevolence.

Peter Bergen's Excellent Ideas on Iraq

The excellent Peter Bergen gets it right on the Times Op-Ed Page. In addition to being conscise and persuasive, this concept would also be a perfect platform for Democrats to adopt...uniformly.

In honor of Namoi Campbell's Re-Arrest...

This oldie but goodie.

Naomi Campbell Must Be Stopped!

She's been arrested...again!!! For assualt...again!!! The part that you just can't make up...apparantly, she assaulted her (wait for it) DRUG COUNSELOR!

They're At it Again!

Germany is on the march in Afghanistan, and their soldiers just cant seem to hide their fascination with skulls

RNC to Racists: Call Me!

Did the tacky Harold Ford ad backfire? The contorversey of the morning suggests so.

Was that ad racist? Must admit it didn't seem so to us...at first. However, its widely acknowledged that race does play a role in Tennesee politics, and if he wins, Harold Ford would be the first black senator from the South since reconstruction. And would you want to be an interacial couple with a flat tire rural Tennesee?

Bearing that in mind, and looking again, it just might be making a subtle (nearly subliminal) play toward old old fears.

There Goes the Election: Same Sex Marriage Front and Center!

And here it is.

Karl Rove couldn't do itt. The President couldn't do it. But the New Jersey Supreme Court just threw the evangelical right all the red meat it needs to turn out in force. And for a minute, the polls looked like Gay Marriage was evaporating as a wedge issues.

Watch the right wing run with this one. Memo to the incoherent and spectacularly self-destructive LGBT rights movement: TIMING TIMING TIMING!

After Visit to Malawi, Madonna Shows Off Her Own ROOTS!

Ted Casablanca got this just right. Ted thinks it stress over the adoption folderol; maybe, but those are recent issue roots, those are major crisis roots.

Iraq "Not Satisfied" With Bush

Ha-ha-ha...Actually the headline on the Time's website is just the reverse.

Only now, in America in 2006, could the President of the United States stating that he's "not satisfied" with the most visible and colossal catastrophe in American foreign policy since Vietnam be considered front page news.

For a minute, it was even a breaking news banner across the Times site. One wonders who took the banner down...the ghost of Johnny Apple, muttering "it is just too embarrassing."

I think it provides a fabulous insight into how thoroughly the Bush communication team has misrepresented and consistently spun event in Iraq that the by simply saying "I'm not satisfied" is seen as some sort of news worthy evolution of policy. Or maybe they've given in, recognized that there is no policy, and will now just starting covering administration rhetoric alone.

Sure there is some editor somewhere at the Times and other media brave enough to give the President's empty rhetorical stumping the space and prominence it deserves.

The Shocking, Horrible Anti-Harold Ford Ad...

...that makes me kinda wanna vote for him!

Republicans: The Tide is Turning for Republicans

Here it comes. Two weeks to go, and like clockwork, the Republican media machine begins to churn out the narrative for the next two weeks: THE TIDE IS TURNING.

As always, Matt Drudge led the charge with breathless top of page headlines. Dick Morris carries water with positive spin on negative polls, while administration figures blitz talk radio. Harold Ford, fresh from the liberal media spotlight with his cover story, is the Playboy-loving perfidious soon-to-be-loser of the moment being mocked back on Drudge. The self-fulfilling prophecy engine is at full steam.

Here's how the narrative begins to play out to less partisan media, The Times, with the trusty "energized optimistic President" story line. Not a complete assault on the truth, but every little bit helps.

This is exactly what the Rove Republicans do all the time, whether its Iraq, the economy, tax cuts or election: the simply change the story and flow of narrative with overwhelming tactical deployment. Its a classic public relations ploy.

And mainstream media, failing to recognize (or not willing to admit to itself) that it can be so easily manipulated, will pick up the story. First they'll see shades of gray in the polls. Then, if nothing distracts their attention from the Republican artificial narrative by Friday they'll say "its been a good week for the Republicans." And finally, during the race to the tape, they'll say "Nobody thought the Republicans could change their fortunes this fast, but they just may have..."

All of this brings momentum to the candidates in the field, drives turn out and demoralizes/frightens Democrats who -- you can feel it -- just don't believe that they can actually win.

And if the Republicans do maintain control...it will be because they've never lost control of the dominant media political narative. Depressing, but simple, obvious and so true.

My Apologies!

...but Blogger has been having some technical dificulties, and we've not been abale to post reliable since Sunday morning. Looks like everything is working again...so here goes!

After Meeting With Generals, Bush Abandons...A Phrase

All weekend and into yesterday, media were wondering just exactly what would be the outcome of rushing commanders to the White House for emergency high level meetings with the President amidst unrelenting chaos in Iraq.

Well, they changed a phrase. And its headline news.

The degree to which the deadly bloodbath in Iraq is seen by the Bush administration as nothing more ore less than a campaign issue is breathtaking. Even now, the most important change and, apparently news, coming out of the White House about the war is literally semantic.

And the media treat this campaign adjustment almost (but not quite) as though it actually were a strategic adjustment. Lead story on CNN this morning. Front page of the New York Times.

Pravda Scoops West on Impending Extinction of Straight Men

We LOVE Pravda! Sure, its not what it used to be...no more stories on Regan's brain being kept alive in Canada, and you seldom see those rockin' Marxist concert reviews anymore. But, boy are they onto social trends in a big way! Note the major source for this article is a Marxist pubk rock band (!) nostalgicaly named Leningrad!

OBAMA-RAMA!

National media experiences a collective pre-mature ejaculation at the very thought that the immature senator will run. Giving us the prospect of democrats (two years hence) deciding whether to field the first women presidential candidate or the first African-American.

The Times: Crowd-Pleaser From Illinois Considers White House Run

The Post: Obama Says He'll Consider A 2008 Bid for The Presidency

Good commentary from the Post: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/ which shows just how much of the Democratic establishment is behind Obama. Although it must be said, the list of backers hardly warms the heart and screams of impending victory. Tom Daschle! Al Gore! And, Jim Jordan, who ran Kerry's primary run that resulted in the nomination.

Why now? Is it a signal to Hillary that there is enough party apparatus out there to really rock her ship of state on its presumed smooth cruise to the nomination.

Or is something slightly more clever going on?

One thing that was largely glossed over in the post-Meet-the-Press Obama frenzy is the candidate's blatant abandonment of his pledge to voters to stay out the term. Real people HATE it when politicans do that kind of thing. Its especially jarring vs. Hillary's kept promise to stay a full term, and her vague "but-who-are-we-kidding" non-acknowledgment acknowledgment that she's running in this weekend's NY Senate debate.

Obama's draw, his mini-narrative of the moment, is that he's just not like everybody else. And his answer to Russert's "but you said you'd stick out your entire senate term," is the most boringly politics-as-usual, real voter turn-off imaginable: that's the way I felt then, but now I feel different.

Its his first flip-flop, and he may think its smart to get it out of the way now, and give the public and voters two years to get used to his aspirations and forget his ditching a pledge to the voters who elected him.

In any case, his Meet the Press interview is safely in the files of Republican and Mrs. Clinton's ad consultants, and they'll use that to paint him as just another politician, just wait two years and see.

Abused Art Update! Socialites Squeal!

Too page six no less. Well not really socialites...Nora Ephron mostly. Here it is on Today's Page Six

Baby Steps: Dems Trying to Develop Christian Creds

They had it, they lost it, they're going to get it back.

This article in The Post covers the creepily named, but we think well intentioned, House Democrats Faith Working Group, trying in a sincere and non-confrontational way to reconcile Christian activism and Democratic principles.

Its a rare article about religion and politics that is informative and intriguing, as opposed to polemic and infuriating. Nice.

Hell House Brings Iowa to DUMBO!

Lots of attention has been going to Les Freres Corbusier's production of the Evangelical Halloween "play" Hell House. Times' review is here. (Its funny, because reading between the lines I think Ben Brantley was scared straight into the arms of Jesus, who, apparently, is HOT!).

Check out this article at Gothamist. Anybody want to go?

From the New Destiny Christian Center, here's a description of the optional Gay Wedding Scene (you pay for it, of course, but how does one put a price on "air of evil background music"?):

"This energetic scene will give you another powerful weapon in your arsenal against the homosexual stronghold and the born-gay deception. The demon tour guide conducts the ceremony that actually involves a young married couple. (The wife dons masculine make-up for the necessary male look.) The tour guide pronounces them “husband and husband”. Then the scene utilizes a time warp to move several years into the future with one of the partners dying of AIDS as demon imps swarm into a hospital room. This package comes with the originally produced rock-n-roll wedding march CD, the air of evil background music CD and the death drum track also on compact disc. $45 (USD)"

Morning News

As of last night, its still stay the course at the White House. Bush: I Won't Change Strategy in Iraq

Here's the problem Republican candidates are restling with in these final 2 + week, crystalized with George Allen. Allen Faces Questions on Iraq War Stance

Video Games Aim to Hook Children on Better Health Interesting, and if true, cool!

Auto-Flambe avec Huile de Moto. They're burning cars again in Paris! Why 112 cars are burning every day

George Michael loves his spliffs! George Michael's Faith in Marijuana

And this, from Pravda: Sharon Stone visits Moscow and puts warm underwear on

Barry Goldwater: Sensible Moderate

Andrews Sullivan pulled out this quote from Barry Goldwater. He said it 25 years ago.

Washington Post, Following Rumsfeld Lead, Moves Pentagon Bureau to Mars

More from the Post

Given the news over the last several days, Rumsfeld denies reality in a way that is stunning even for him.

"Rumsfeld rejected the suggestion that this means the U.S. strategy of "clear, hold and build" is failing."

Is he aware that the Mahdi army took over a town today? And that only Maqtada al Sadar -- the head of the militia that had just taken over the town -- could call it off? I'm missing the "A" volume of my OED, and so can't find the authoritative definition of "anarchy", but surely someone at the Pentagon has one.

And get this:

"The biggest mistake would be not to pass things over to the Iraqis," Rumsfeld said. "It's their country. They're going to have to govern it. They're going to have to provide security for it. And they're going to have to do it sooner rather than later."

What Iraqis is he talking about!?! The Maliki "government"? Al-Sistani? The army? Sadr?

Cocktails with Bessie Smith

Long, weird and wonderful. Bessie!

Dobson to "The Base": Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are

Will conservative voters really stay home this election day? The Republicans are worrying about it, the Democrats appear to be counting on it, and the media is making it the big question.

I'm not so sure. Here's James Dobson doing his best to rally the troops; he's playing up the gay marriage amendments on the ballot in several key stay to get value voters out.

While there is clearly considerable discontent among Christian Conservative leaders, the big guns like Dobson will push hard to keep Republicans in. No matter how disgusted or angry they may be, they need the Republicans as much as the Republicans need them, since Republican power is (at least in their perception if not in total fact) their power.

So, maybe conservative intellectuals, limited government conservatives, libertarians and fiscal conservative will stay home; does it matter? They lost control of the conservative movement years ago.

But the Christian zealots will do what zealots do...they'll turn out. They have to, and they love power too much to be swayed by principal. If they ever have been.

How Many Pink Elephants Can You Fit Into A Congressional Cloakroom?

Around 200 according to this article in today's Washington Post.

If only the conservative/religious right knew! Well, this is only the 10,000th article on this topic, so they do know...at least their leaders do. But hypocrisy is a funny thing; as long as gay staffers stay in the closet, there's an eerie politesse as work. Its discussed, its touched on in the hearings currently underway, but nobody picks it up any more than in this article.

Imagine if all 200 of those republicans staffers came out? At once. Before the mid-terms.

Closeted queers working for Republican lawmakers can talk all they want about "change from the inside" and their fundamental adherence to basic Republican principles...but does an ethical person really think its o.k. to be gay and work for Rick Santorum? Other than Rick Santorum, I mean.

Coming out would be an act of atonement for these people. Outing them -- those out there who have "the list" -- would hardly be outing as usual.

Here's The REAL Republican Scare the Children Ad

You'll find it here, but for heavens sake, don't donate!

While this is appalling, its terribly clever.

This ad is so strongly over the top that its already a dominant story on CNN, and it hasn't aired yet. They will turn some people off, probably not turn anybody on...but will capture a lot of media coverage to accomplish just what Karl Rove wants:

Terrorism and the discussion of who will be better protect American's is right back on top of cable news, anyhow, and probably will be everywhere. Result...Howard Dean saying don't be afraid, Republicans calling Howard and Dems weak, and the conversation skillfully directed to the GOP's presumed advantage.

Remember, the ad itself isn't what is important here, its the discussion of the ad that the RNC is expecting to work to their advatange.

These Are The Stakes: New GOP Ad

Whoops, wrong one! But it really is exactly the same ad, including "These are The Stakes" --just what LBJ said

On A Lighter Note: Armani Comes Out of Retirement to Syle TomKat Wedding/Stunt

Super-private wedding plans for super-duper-private parents Tom Cruise and Katie Holm are being leaked! Can you imagine...heads will roll!!

And That's the Way It Is

"Fighting broke out in Amara on Thursday after the head of police intelligence in the surrounding province, a member of the rival Shiite Badr Brigade militia, was killed by a roadside bomb, prompting his family to kidnap the teenage brother of the local head of the a-Madhi Army.

The Mahdi Army seized several police stations and clamped a curfew on the city in retaliation."

-- From AP's Article on Mahdi Army take over of Amara, Iraq, this morning.

This is not the kind of violence that is being controlled by Sadr, Al-Queda or organzied insurgents. This is violent anarchy and colapse, worsening daily.

How It Looks to Them

Seriously slanted and sligtly cockamamie, this article from Al Jazeerah's web site is a crystal clear window into how US policy looks to the Arab world. And it looks very very bad.

How Do You Define Government in Iraq?

The Washington Post story referenced below contains a very standard Bush Administration statement to the effect that "the Iraqi Government must take responsibility," and includes the spin of the past couple of weeks that President is getting "frustrated."

Our question, and the question at the heart of the rapidly converging opinions that the situation is now totally out-of-control, is this: by who's definition is there a government in Iraq at all?

Sadr's Army just took the city of Amarah this morning. From whom? The Iraqi "government"?

Governments provide security for their people. Enough said.

Governments assure the provision of essential services. Andrew Sullivan helps us keep track of electricity supply in Baghdad...its down to about 2 hours a day.

And we could, of course, go on and on.

What is abundantly clear is that the is no Maliki government; no government at all in any meaningful way. Does it matter that Maliki played "Shuffle the Shiites" at the top of the police and security forces. Of course not.

And yet the administration continues to talk about the elected government as if it meaningfully existed. And as if its part of a solution, when its perfectly clear that any kind of solution at all is, minute by minute, not just remote, but soon a total fantasy.

Foley Pedophila-Coach: It Was Only Fondling

No comment needed on this one.

Republicans Cutting and Running from Adminstration Status Quo

Excellent article in the Washington Post this morning.

Just look at the growing list of Republicans facing reality, from reliable moderate like Olympia Snow (no big suprise) to Kay Bailey Hutchinson (et tu, Kay?). Toss in Richard Hass, John Sununu and an army of "off the record-ers" and Karl Rove's "Embrace Iraq" strategy from the beginning of the campaign is clearly in tatters.

RNC to Public: BOO!

Well, this was inevitable. Has anyone found this ad on YouTube yet?

One hopes that the more blatant Republican fear mongering becomes, the more it will turn-off voters.

Republican "Pre-Mortems" Order of the Day

Yesterday, we predicted a House loss would prompt momentary Republican sanity and a short-lived intra-party surge against the hard Christian right.

Some "prediction" since it happening right now. Well, we're new at this. (By the way, Dick Armey vs. James Dobson is the right wing celebrity death match to watch...it is getting more fun by the minute)

The word "Pre-Mortem" has been popping up, with a fun variation at the National Review: "Pre-criminations." It's all arising from Republican self-schadenfrude as they glumly look ahead to what increasingly looks like a significant loss on November 7th.

This word has been around for quite awhile, and has been being used in regard to this race in the blogosphere for a couple of weeks. Prominent example from Instapundit here.

Strange that this is happening so prominently so early; but we're not sure that Democrats should take much succor. The more sure a loss looks, the more party disarray reported in the "liberal" media, the more fuel the Republican machine and talk radio can throw on the base to get out there and save the day.

I'd rather see post-mortems than pre-mortems, lest they prompt extraordinary efforts to revive the corpse.

Spring '07 Collections Go All Science On Us With CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY!

COOL!

To End the Day: LENA!

That figure! That face! That Voice! Still, she's just a little...scary, no?

If You Want To Be Scared By Crazy People, Have Dinner With Your Family

Actually, they have a point.

(Free registration may be required)

A Friend Sends Along...

...a not new, but quite inspiring piece from last week's Chicago Tribune Op-Ed page. It is here.

Thanks, Michael M.

Jonah Goldberg Admits Mistake, Loses Mind.

So one of the must smug of neo-con National Review war cheerleaders now says that the Iraq war was a mistake.

Read the myriad justifications and instantaneous back-tracking and weep. These are the voices that hold (held?) sway over crucial opinion-formulation in main stream media during the run-up and first phase of the war. Editor and Publisher provides solid perspective here.

The most head shaking, mind bending conclusion Jonah reaches is that we should have a referendum in Iraq and let the Iraqis decide if we should go. Quoth Jonah:

If Iraqis voted "stay," we'd have a mandate to do what's necessary to win, and our ideals would be reaffirmed. If they voted "go," our values would also be reaffirmed, and we could leave with honor. And pretty much everyone would have to accept democracy as the only legitimate expression of national will.

What?

If the people we invaded thrust us out as an occupying power because they hate us for destroying their country and allowing a vicious, bloody civil war to fill a power vacuum created by us -- our values are reaffirmed? What values in particular are reaffirmed by failure and humiliation?

And..."pretty much everyone would have to accept democracy as the only legitimate expression of national will." Who exactly is everyone? Kim Jung-Il? The Iranians? Dick Cheney?

Karl Rove Hates Christians and Nobody Cares!!!!

Amy Sullivan's erractic but overall interesting TNR piece on the lack of left-wing exploitation of David Kuo's Tempting Fate can be found here. (Subscription required, I think).

Two solid quotes:

The problem is that Kuo's book creates cognitive dissonance for liberals. Conspiracy theories about theocracy have haunted liberals for the last few years, and, if you believe that religious conservatives lead Bush around by the nose, evidence to the contrary is impossible to absorb. Everyone on the left "knows" that the faith-based initiative is a slush-fund, a jackpot for religious conservatives. If it turns out instead to be a political sham that produced only 1 percent of the new funds it promised for faith-based organizations, liberals need rethink their theocracy-phobia.

And this:

Tempting Faith is unlikely to be the cause of disillusionment for evangelicals--they were already disenchanted enough--but it does confirm the worry and anger that has been festering. By ignoring that fact, liberals are serving the GOP by letting these emotions subside.

Quote of the Day

From AP on Mark Foley's personal Catholic Priest pedophilia coach:

"Father Mercieca said he was in a drug-induced stupor one night and cannot clearly remember what happened but that it may also have been inappropriate."

And Toto, Too? Kansas Republicans Ditch Party in Teeny-Tiny Drove

Hmmmmm....

Prediction: if the Republicans lose the House, the requisite soul-searching will result in a sudden focus on disenchanted moderates and not-for-attribution vows to repudiate the hyper-dominant social conservative/fundamentalist wing of the party.

Further Prediction: this move toward sensibility will last for about 20 minutes, and then it's back to Jesus and James Dobson.

Every Vote Counts...If You Are a Blind Vietnamese Person

A BIG surprise! Errosion of voting safeguards and deliberately confusing new regulations promise to choke polling sites and disenfranchise voters...yet again. Of course, its mere coincidence that the states and districts expected to have the most voting challenges are also those home to the closest races.

Lead from the above hyperlink to the Times:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 — New electronic voting machines have arrived in Yolo County, Calif., but there is one hitch: the audio program for the visually impaired in some of them works only in Vietnamese.

And that's the good news.

This is the United States of America in the year 2006, and we are asked to belive that voting is hard to get right. We must not have the technology, know-how and dedication to democratic principals that folks have in, oh, say...Chad.

Pick Your Albatross: Foley or Iraq

Adam Nagourney's excellent Times lead piece this morning is full of interesting insight, but our favorite is this quote from a Republican strategist:

“As the Iraq war gets more unpopular, the environment for Republican
candidates erodes,” said Mark Campbell, a Republican strategist who
represents several Congressional candidates, including Representative Jim
Gerlach of Pennsylvania, who is fighting for re-election in one of the
toughest races.

“Only in an election year this complicated can Republicans be happy
thatMark Foley knocked the Iraq war off the front page,”
Mr. Campbell said.

Miss Peggy Lee.

Because its important!

Tom Friedmand Smells...PROPAGANDA!

Iraq-invasion-supporter and flat-worlder Tom Friedman is amazed to discover that jihaddis have a thing for PR!

In today's column, he discovers that jihadist web-sites are extolling the virtues of propaganda to the killers in Iraqi streets and movement leaders. I was pretty sure we were facing a sophisticated propaganda operation when OBL launched the 9/11 attacks during the second hour of the Today Show, and was convinced when they beheaded a Wall Street Journal reporter on broadcast quality beta tape.

But Tom apparently is just catching on now, which aside from being silly, also shows the ongoing blindness of main stream media to the real challenges faced in Iraq and the "GWOT."

Now, in all fairness, Friedman seems to be pointing out the propaganda uses of violence as a means for Islamists to expedite their ends and influence public opinion in the US and other western countries. However, he seems to overstate the importance of such "strategy."

If his point is that the violence is being perpetrated primarily to influence opinion, he's just plain wrong, at least with regard to Iraqi violence. It's clearly vicious, profound sectarian hatred with a strong insurgent overall. They are doing it to advance a specific agenda, which of course includes getting US troops to withdraw, but so much more.

If his point is that the violence is providing a strong propaganda platform for Jihaddis to shape opinion...well, duh! Has there ever been a conflict that didn't use violence as a propaganda tool?

Mostly though, why does it still shock the brains of 43rd Street that this enemy is smart, sophisticated and profoundly good at impacting public opinion. They got the Republicans elected twice, after all. Much more efficacious in meeting their ends than a pitch call to Tom Friedman.

PR Firm Convincingly Presents Client As Orwellian Monolith

Guess what? There is outrage in the Blogosphere about Wal-Mart!

In an shockingly dumb and clearly doomed effort to buff the retail giant's image, PR Powerhouse Edelman used one of its front groups (Working Families for Wal-Mart) to financially underwrite an RV trip "visting Wal-Marts Across America" by two basically anonymous bloggers, who, shockingly, found nothing but positive things to say about their corporate benefactors.

Blogger's are angry...dismayed...getting to the bottom of it. Best article in several cited in this post is the Business Week entry. Bottom line, seems as though Wal-Mart itself was paying the bill for this adventure by at most four degrees of separation (bloogers to Working Families to Edelman to WalMart-- the actual chain much shorter, as it is likely the bill stops at WalMar and the buck stops at Edelman).

My question: who would think that two people RV-ing across American with nothing but nice things to say about WalMart were anything but flacks or, at best, profoundly boring?

In any case, our credibility-free culture evolves apace!

Tom Friedman: Flack for Jihadis?

You need TimesSelect to read this. More later.

Whip Calls Pol Slavish: Pot Calling Kettle Black?

In a wacky confluence of separate meanings, the house minority whip started a furor yesterday by characterizing a black senate candidate of "slavishy" following GOP orthodoxy.

I thought Slavish was the term of origin for people from Slavia, only to discover there is no such place.

The fact that the offending word was delivered by the minoirty "whip" is simply a cherry on top, but how many people will reflect on the derivation of this standard political title, which of course refers from the so-designated member's job of keeping party reps in line and voting as directed -- and derived, of course, from the vocabulary of slavery.

This reminds one of the contretemp created when a DC councilman lost his post for characterizing funding of some particular program as "niggardly." Whatever happened to him?

Interesting how words with perfectly distinct meanings (my OED says "slavish" means ..."with blind dedication" among other obvious things) can in certain contexts be pemitted to have only one meaning or conotation.

Code words are, of course, a staple of the politics of division. However, can anyone seriously believe that a Democrat running for office deliberately sought to enflame racial sensititivites with this choice of word? George Allen, call your office!

Or is the charge against Hoyer that he is stupid and insensitive? What's unique about these types of conflicts is that that question never really gets asked or answered. The fact that the word was used at all is the central fact. The requisite appology is delivered, the "offended" politician doesn't accept it; the "offender" feigns mystification.

Racist, stupid, insensitive -- all three? What exactly is the charge that floats to the top and becomes dominant in discussion? Or does discourse dictate that the shock of a politican saying a black man is slavish -- indepndet of meaning or intent -- remain both headline and substance? With the result that the acceptable vocabulary of political discourse is chipped away slowly, meanings narrowed, and political language increasing less, well, colorful.

This is a wonderful exhibition I caught in Sant Monica this past weekend.

They are NOT Gay! They Are Just Boys With Make-up Kissing Each Other. Ask Your Daughter.

Now this is interesting.

I dare you to pop over to youtube and do a search for "emo boys kissing."

Apparently, and don't make too much fun of me if I am the last person on earth to be aware of this, skinny goth straight boys think they can get chicks by kissing...each other.

It all springs from a teen trend toward Emo Boys Kissing, helpfully defined by the Urban Dictionary here.

As the music industry keeps promoting Emo (short for "emotional" natch) music to teens, the angsty little devils have started kissing each other, with apparent abandon, and frequently in front of cameras persumably operated by titilated girlfriends.

In my day, what is called emo was called queer, girls who liked "emo boys" were fag hags, and boys who cried and kissed each other were called all sort of things. It genrally ended badly for the girls.

The really weird thing about the current Emo is that the kissing itself almost seems as/more important than the music, and apparently an important aspect of an Emo identity for boys. And we are farily constantly told that the boys kissing are NOT GAY! They just love each other.

There are litterally dozens of sites with picture, videos, slideshows, etc. of young men like the low rider pictured above kissing, to the squeals of delighted (persumably) girl fans and friends.

Like slash novels and homo-erotic Abercrombie catalogs, the objectification of men as (same) sex turn-ons for heterosexual women continues, much as lesbian sex continues to be a mainstay of traditional straight male porn. And the word, Emo, I think is a word worth following.

Someone Free the Abused Art!!

You can't make this up. What's left off is what's best. How did Barbara, Nora and Nick react? What do you say when you see something like that? Pretend it didn't happen? Look for a safety pin?

Someone has to take the rest of this man's art away from him before he burns a hole in a Warhol or lights his "Stary Night" on fire. Where's the outrage??

Depressing, but obvious note: the only value attached to the painting is financial. One of the great works of the 20th C. has been damaged, possibly badly, and what's newsworthy is that its an epxensive painting.

And You Thought All Disassociative-First-Person-Accounts-of-Psychotic-Episode Web Sites Were the Same...

Not so!

Stop Saying Nothing!

Senator Lahey tries to get a DOJ official to stop saying nothing at all, while using many words to not say it. The one definitive statement in the delicious one:

"The President is always right."

Blair Says Nix Niqabs!

According to this Tony Blair has jumped on the creepy and growing European anti-multi-culturalism band wagon.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

What I find jarring is the speed with which traditonally liberal Euro-democracies are questioning the validity of dogmatic multi-culturalism when confronted with stuanchly separatist Muslim communities (SSMC's as we call them in these parts.)

SSMCs you ask? Who says European Muslim communities are staunchly separatist? And what's with the generalization?

The interesting issue here is that the basics tenents of multi-culturalism was always somewhat stymied by the issue of separatism, be it black, queer or religious. But here we are 2006 with the the labour PM of one of the most tolerant of European democracies saying that signs of separation are not acceptable, or at least questionable, in the case of a specific group.

This used to be the job of the French. If these attitudes continue to erode with this speed across Western Europe, one wonders how quickly 40 years of social norm will vanish, and what type of turmoil it will cause.

It Only Seems Complex.

The President says:

Over the past few months the debate over this bill has been heated, and the questions raised can seem complex.

Meaning, of course, that they are not really complex at all, and implying that the "complexifiers" (unlike self-proclaimed "deciders") are those who debated the provision of a bill likely to become the Alien Sedition Act of our day.

Here's just one very simple and transparent example of Bush using langauge that erodes the validity of debate. The fact is the debate around this bill is complex (or rather was, for a minute, before the gang of four figured they'd gotten enough air-time and backed off), but how fast we can reasuringly reduce it to something that only seems that way.

Speech after speech, sentence after sentence, how beautifully the sound bites get rid of pesky gray areas, and define domination down.

Torture Test!

Listen Carefully!

The President (of the United States) just had a signing ceremony for the torture bill. What exactly did he say?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061017-1.html

Swimming With Harold Bloom

Welcome to The Life Raft! Dry off and stake a claim to some rations.

Just when you thought semiotics was getting a little dry, here's a spot that puts the "fun" back in "funtionalism" and seeks to find the "id" in "ideology."

In other words, what on earth are people talking about?

We'll take a look at politics, criticism, pornography, journalism and anything else that strikes our fancy, all with an eye to understanding how, when and why people say what they mean, and what its means that they say it.

Break out your decoder rings -- it is stormy out here!