« June 2003 | Main | August 2003 »
July 29, 2003
KICK-ASS DRAMA DEPARTMENT
Finally, NYC high schoolers will no longer have to endure the
lisps and gaits of fags, queers, gayboys, lesbos, and other socially
marginalizable fudge packers. That's right, if you're young and
different in NYC, you can now self segregate into your own gay-friendly
school, The
Harvey Milk High School. Harvey Milk was a gay San Francisco city
councilmember who was gunned down by a deranged lunatic back in the
'70s. Why he's getting an NYC school named after him is unclear.
Milk's murder is eerily similar to the recent killing of councilman
James Davis. Except that instead of being a gay martyr, Davis was
gunned down by a lunatic HIV-positive homosexual. Quite some progress
we've made these many years. Now homosexuals are placing themselves in
their own high school ghettos and pulling the trigger on politicians
themselves. Milk would be so proud I'm sure.
Posted by Lexiphane at 5:10 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
INTERESTING
Not unlike many New Jersey-to-NYC transplants, the Dalai Lama's
most salient
href="http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6829444%5E13762,00.ht
ml">lifestyle complaints involve a nostalgia for the shooting
sports and the difficult [involuntary] abstention from ass. Unlike the
Dalai Lama, these complaints tend to be centered on issues of legality
and NY women's frustratingly good sense regarding transplants than with
a commitment to nonviolence and chastity, but we still know where he's
coming from.
Posted by Lexiphane at 4:37 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
D'OH!
href="http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/210/metro/Napping_reactor_opera
tor_startles_MIT+.shtml">Release the hounds with the bees in their
mouths!
Posted by Lexiphane at 4:02 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NEXT!
Saddam
href="http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=31
79942">chimes in. I'm sorry, did you say "martyrs" or "bitches?"
Posted by Lexiphane at 3:30 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NOT A HUEY LEWIS ITEM, SPORTS
Not that I'm stalking Ms. Chung, but
href="http://www.gothamist.com">Gothamist notes an article on the
href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/sports/movie_list.htm
l">best sports movies of all time today. That's strange, because I
had a conversation with layabouts John and Tim about this Sunday
evening. In my opinion, The Natural with Robert Redford is the
best sports movie of all time, although it's ranked #16 in this list.
Hoosiers would seem appropriately placed at #4 and although I
love Caddyshack, its spot at #5 is a little ridiculous in the
pantheon of sports movies. Bull Durham at #3? Who let women
vote on sports movies? This could easily be replaced by Rudy.
Most underrated? Victory (#47), starring Sly Stallone and
Michael Caine. WWII prison camp breakout soccer movie? I don't think
you could jam more appealing elements into a movie without including a
Hitler-gets-ass-raped-by-Brazilian-soccer-star-Pele scene. One movie
not included anywhere on the list is On the Waterfront, even
though Marlon Brando "could've been a contender." Trivia question:
what connection do On the Waterfront and baseball classic
Eight Men Out (#17) share? The first to answer correctly gets
two bits for a licorice whip. Blatant provincialism and anti-NYC bias:
Pride of the Yankees at #27? Gary Cooper is Lou Gehrig
and he dies. Bryan's Song? Save that shit.
Posted by Lexiphane at 3:05 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
WHAT NEXT?
Uber-transgressive artist Madonna--who's made her entire career
on busting the chops of anything that could be remotely considered
prosaic--is going to be the new pitchwoman for The Gap. What to make
of this? The Gap has been deemed lame for so long, that not even
hyper-produced musical commercials set to then-cool Fat Boy Slim could
revive its reputation several years ago. I actually have no problem
with the chain, other than I wish they'd bring back their pocket tees--
I still wear a number I've owned for near 15 years--but Madonna? Even
David Spade took his hacks at The Gap more than a decade ago on SNL.
This is either the zenith or the nadir of irony. Was the Material Girl
the producer of Swept Away and now tapped? Will gay men and fag
hags start dumping Prada in favor of neutral-colored basics and kicky
spaghetti-strapped tops? Question: how many weeks until Madonna dumps
Guy Ritchie and starts showing up in People magazine with Topher
Grace?
Posted by Lexiphane at 2:27 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
BABYKILLERS
U.S. forces
href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030728/241/4t7b4.h
tml">terrorize the young and innocent while hunting down Saddam in
Tikrit, Iraq. In comparison, here's a flashback to Janet Ren's
href="http://home.pacbell.net/rsdotson/gov/govkills.htm">child
protection service.
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:52 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
"TELL HIM I'M COMING!"
If you recognize the above quote from
href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0165854">The Limey, you probably
recognize the sinking feeling that Saddam must be feeling right now.
When your sons are dead and your top security guys are being
href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-
Iraq.html?hp">dragged from their homes barefoot, bleeding, stripped
to their underwear, and no-doubt bitch slapped within an inch of tears,
you gotta know that you're down to injury time and the ref's about to
blow the whistle. When the South surrendered to Union forces at the
close of the Civil War, the respect accorded to its forces was an
important part of reconciliation and reconstruction. I think the
abject humiliation and lack of dignity granted to Saddam's people is
equally important in this war.
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:33 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
THIS IS GENIUS
Many people see financial markets as zero-sum games that produce
zero value. In actuality, markets' true benefits are communicating
information about the value of allocated capital in a market economy.
The value of funds at stake in learning near-perfect information about
the true state of companies and their enterprises is enough to fund an
entire industry centered around the market.
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/29/politics/29TERR.html">The New
York Times reports that a similar effort is being proposed to
bet on a terror futures market. While this initially might seem
grotesque, a market built around betting on the likelihood of
assassinations, attacks, and terror will create a profit-based
incentive for people to monitor terrorist organizations. Granted,
there are organizations like the CIA and the FBI to do such things, but
think of them as the U.S. Postal Services of intelligence
organizations. The only downside here is that such a speculative
market will create a profit motive for committing terror [it was
generally reported that bin Laden himself heavily shorted U.S. equities
before 9/11/01] but opposite actors will have an opportunity to profit
from foiling such plans as well. I doubt this will come to fruition.
Bureaucratic intransigence and anti-market bias will likely kill this
plan before it gets off the ground, but it's nice to see the Bush
administration thinking outside the box.
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:17 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
PROPS
I didn't make it to the Pernice Brothers shows Friday or Saturday
night, but Gothamist Jen Chung did and she rightfully notes the
href="http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2003/07/28/thoughts_on_pernice_
brothers_the_tyde_concert.php">kick-ass talent of
href="http://www.thebiggerlovers.com">Bigger Lovers' drummer Pat
Berkery. His mad skillz were duly forewarned of last week [see
href="http://lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1
86">PERNICE BROTHERS AT THE MERCURY LOUNGE, 7/25/03].
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:48 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 25, 2003
SHARPTON STAYS HOME
The sad truth is that I was actually relieved to see the front
page of today's New York
Post and learn that Othniel Askew, killer of City Coucilman
James Davis, was black. I was doubly relieved to see that the man who
halted his kill-crazy rampage, Police Officer Richard Burt, was also
black. That's because it saves us a visit from racial demagogue and
Democratic Presidential aspirant Al Sharpton. I can almost hear him
ranting about Davis being a racial martyr and Askew as another victim
of police violence against black men. Officer Burt would have seen his
entire career scrutinized for indications of bigotry rather than being
promoted to
Detective as he was yesterday. "Why did Burt have to shoot Askew
so many times?" "It was a summary execution."
The fact is that most black murder victims are killed at the
hands of other blacks, a fact that Sharpton and his ilk seem
comfortable to ignore in favor of incendiary harangues and racial
divisiveness. It's this mindset that somehow lays the blame for the
black-on-black
href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-
Liberia.html">horrors of Liberia at the feet of inaction by the
"white" U.S. The late James Davis knew better and thus started his
Love Yourselves, Stop the Violence campaign. It's ironic that
the campaign received its greatest amount of publicity via the death of
Davis, while Sharpton hogs the spotlight on a regular basis.
Posted by Lexiphane at 1:00 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
PERNICE BROTHERS AT THE MERCURY LOUNGE
Jen Chung of
href="http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2003/07/25/pernice_brothers_wit
h_the_tyde_at_mercury_lounge.php">Gothamist notes that the
hrefe="http://www.pernicebrothers.com">Pernice Brothers will be
playing the Mercury Lounge
both tonight and Saturday night with fellow band Tyde. I haven't heard
either of these bands' music before, but I do know that the Pernice
Brothers' touring drummer Pat Berkery is on loan from
href="http://www.thebiggerlovers.com">The Bigger Lovers for the
summer. Also the PB's bassist Thom Monahan produced the Lovers' last
album Honey in the Hive and
it's a damn fine piece of work. So if you find yourself with open
plans tonight or tomorrow and you're in NYC, head over to the Mercury
Lounge on Houston east of Ludlow and check out the Pernice Brothers
with Tyde.
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:28 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
THE FIRST RULE OF FIGHT CAMP . . .
Is to never tell anyone about fight camp. 4H summer camp or
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A42033-
2003Jul24?language=printer">gladiator school? You be the judge.
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:29 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 24, 2003
HOW MANY?
There is a paragraph in the New York Times
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/international/worldspecial/24IR
AQ.html">story about the reluctance of officials to release the
photos of Uday and Qusay Hussein that struck me as odd:
Even with the American assurances, ordinary Iraqis remained decidedly unconvinced that the two Hussein sons, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Iraqis, were themselves gone. Many were reluctant to accept the news until they had some visual proof. Some expressed disappointment that the sons had not been captured so they could suffer the same humiliation of captivity they had inflicted on others. [emphasis mine]Hundreds of Iraqis? I was under the impression that it was Qusay that was in charge of suppressing the Shi'ite rebellion in the south of Iraq following the Gulf War and liked to personally supervise the feeding of live prisoners into shredders. Hundreds of thousands seems like a more accurate figure. Maybe the Times is talking about the hundreds of people the two brothers killed personally. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 4:45 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
POST MORTEM
The New York Times today runs a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/international/worldspecial/24IR
AQ.html">front page story on reluctance to release photos of Uday
and Qusay Hussein, who were found and killed by coalition forces this
week. While the military was eager to prove to Iraqis that the two
brothers were indeed dead, they were wary that such a move might be
seen as gloating. Having read halfway through Daniel Pipes' book
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/0312176880/qid=1059064601/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_3/102-4900409-
7435311?v=glance&s=books&n=507846">The Hidden Hand: Middle East Fears
of Conspiracy, I think it's more important to release evidence
of their deaths. The book describes how Middle Eastern society is
profoundly influenced by fears of conspiracy at almost all levels and,
if true, I imagine many people in the region will not take coalition
forces at their word, but will need direct evidence before they believe
the Husseins are truly gone.
Interestingly, there is a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/international/worldspecial/24PR
EX.html">separate article in the Times describing how
coalition forces are having to defend themselves for killing rather
than capturing the brothers. For critics of the war that seem so
concerned about the welfare of ground troops in Iraq, it's curious that
they are now so eager for troops not to return fire when fired upon and
perhaps open themselves up to the risk of a Mogadishu-like attack once
word spread that U.S. forces were camped out in a stationary position
waiting for a surrender.
In the end, the photos were
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/international/worldspecial/24CN
D-PHOT.html?hp">released to the public. They can be viewed at the
Times' site front page or in the article linked to immediately
above.
Posted by Lexiphane at 1:04 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
RECALL, NYC STYLE
While Governor Gray Davis is fighting a recall movement to remove
him from office in California, Othniel Askew took a more expeditious
route to ousting his electoral rival, Councilman James Davis, when he
shot him several times in the balcony of the Council chamber. After
multiple revisions of the exact circumstances of the shooting [see
href="http://lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1
80">APPARENTLY, YOU CAN FIGHT CITY HALL, 7/23/03], the
New York
Post seems to get the story straight today.
Ironically, it was Davis himself who escorted his executioner
around City Hall's security checkpoints, allowing Askew to get his gun
into the building. Askew was apparently upset that after collecting
thousands of signatures to get on the ballot to challenge Davis for his
council seat, his efforts went unrewarded. The Post story seems
to indicate there may have been some chicanery between Davis and Askew
involving bribes and political graft. It also has some reasonable
quotes from Davis' brother about stopping violence and so on. I wonder
if this was the same brother I saw on NY1 yesterday afternoon ranting
that "the system" had killed his brother and equating him with Malcolm
X and Martin Luther King Jr. It was like an Oliver Stone pitch
meeting.
Mayor Bloomberg took the opportunity to reinforce his image as
that of a rich but not-very-smart man at a press conference immediately
after the shooting noting "I don't know why people carry guns. Guns
kill people." Perhaps he should ask officer Richard Burt, part of
Speaker Gifford Miller's security detail, who used his gun to stop
Askew from firing at Davis, hitting him with four of his five shots
fired from the chamber floor [nice shooting!]. I imagine that Mayor
Bloomberg also has a security detail that is armed. And the victim
himself--an ex-cop--was carrying his gun at the time of the shooting,
although he couldn't draw it before being killed by Askew. Best
question for the Mayor's next press conference: "Does your security
detail carry guns, and if so, why? Guns kill people."
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:43 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
ONE IN FIVE GERMANS A MORON
According to a
href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23109558.htm">random
poll of 1,000 Germans, nearly 20% thought that the terrorist
attacks against New York City and the Pentagon may have been sponsored
by the U.S. government. This belief is held by more than 30% of
Germans under the age of 30. I really don't know what to think about
this.
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:24 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 23, 2003
APPARENTLY YOU CAN FIGHT CITY HALL
Newswires are
href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=1&
u=/nm/20030723/ts_nm/crime_shooting_dc">reporting that within the
hour, shots were fired inside NYC's City Hall. Mayor Bloomberg was in
the building but is apparently unhurt.
UPDATE: Here are more
href="http://www.ny1.com/ny/TopStories/SubTopic/index.html?topicintid=1
&subtopicintid=1&contentintid=31935">details from NY1. It's front
page notes that three police officers were shot in the incident. The
link seemed extremely slow when I visited, so I'm including the article
below.
UPDATE II: As more details are
href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,92740,00.html">released,
we learn that Councilman James Davis is dead after being shot twice in
the chest by someone he had been talking to in the Council chamber's
balcony. Two other people have been taken to the hospital. The story
from NY1 I posted below earlier seems to have a few of the early
details wrong. The link in this update seems a little more accurate.
A man opened fire with a gun inside City Hall this afternoon, and sources tell NY1 three police officers have been injured.
According to NY1 reporter Michael Scotto, who was in City Hall?s Blue
Room at the time of the shooting, as many as 10 shots were heard coming
from the second floor of the building shortly after 2 p.m.The Associated Press is reporting that a man on a second floor balcony
pulled out a gun and began firing at a second man.City Hall was immediately evacuated, police have secured the area
outside the building, and the NYPD has initialized a Level One
mobilization, meaning they are treating the incident as a terrorist
attack. However, police stress there is no reason to believe this
incident is related to terrorism.Ambulances have also responded to the scene, and stretchers have been
brought into the building. Sources tell NY1 that some of the injured
are expected to be transported to Bellevue Hospital.Mayor Michael Bloomberg?s spokesman says the mayor, who was in his
office at the time of the shooting, is unharmed.It is unclear whether the gunman has been apprehended or not.
Posted by Lexiphane at 2:41 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NYTs TRAILS LEXIPHANE
Check out the
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/23/opinion/23WED1.html?8br">title<
/a> of an editorial in today's New York Times. Seem
href="http://lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1
77">familiar?
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:56 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 22, 2003
WIA
Anne Hull and Tamara Jones, staff writers for The Washington
Post, have a lengthy and moving two-part series in the paper this
week centered on the Walter Reed Army Medical Center's orthopedics
unit, Ward 57. It's filled with men that have lost limbs to land
mines, mortar rounds, and other horrors of the war in Iraq. One can
read the first installment here and the second
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20666-
2003Jul20.html">here. If you've never seen the 1946 William Wyler
classic The Best
Years of Our Lives, I highly recommend that also.
Posted by Lexiphane at 4:00 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
BROTHERS GRIM
MSNBC is
href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/default.asp?cp1=1">reporting
breaking news that "Saddam Hussein's sons Udai and Qusai Hussein were
'likely' captured or killed in a U.S. raid in northern Iraq Tuesday"
and that's all the news outlet is saying. I can't imagine those two
sick freaks would allow themselves to be captured alive, but this is
good news. MSNBC will follow with more information as the story
develops.
UPDATE: There's more
href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/870749.asp?0cv=CA01">info at
MSNBC's site now, including that there is a "high likelihood" the two
were killed or captured, but that confirmation is being
awaited.
CONCLUSION: U.S. officials in Iraq have
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/23/international/worldspecial/23IR
AQ.html">positively identified two of the dead in yesterday's
shootout as Uday and Qusay Hussein. There is talk of distributing
photos of their lifeless bodies to convince a skeptical public of their
deaths. I've got a better idea. Impale them on pikes in the center of
Baghdad and leave them to the birds; it better suits their tradition of
medieval rule. Here is a Washington Post
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31745-
2003Jul22.html?nav=hptop_tb">"obituary" of the men Iraqis referred
to as "the wolf" and "the snake".
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:35 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 17, 2003
DEMILITARIZED ZONE MILITARIZED
Things are getting
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/17/international/17CND-
KOREA.html?hp">antsy at the DMZ between North and South Korea:
SEOUL, July 17 - An exchange of machine-gun fire insideTagged:
the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea escalated tensions
today amid intensified efforts to bring about talks aimed at persuading
North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Although no one appeared to have been injured in the exchange of shots
between soldiers, the episode raised the question of whether the North
had precipitated the episode as a dramatic reminder of its military
presence within artillery range of this city's 10 million
inhabitants.
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:44 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
FRUITS OF WAR
Amir Taheri
href="http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/774.htm">reports
from Iraq in the New York Post that despite gloom-and-doom
picture painting by the Western media, life in Iraq is the best it's
been in decades. While there is a certain amount of instability in the
immediate post-war environment, food is cheaper and plentiful, local
governments are functioning, and people are celebrating their lives and
freedom. And no one wants Saddam and his regime of terror back in
power.
"We see our liberation as the start of a friendship
with the U.S. and the U.K. that should last a thousand years," says
Khalid Kishtaini, one of Iraq's leading novelists. "The U.S. and the
U.K. showed that a friend in need is a friend indeed. Nothing can
change that."
UPDATE: I wonder if anti-war protestors still think we should
have kept our "HANDS OFF IRAQ" after reading articles like href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&ncid=586&e=1&
u=/nm/20030717/wl_nm/iraq_baath_dc">this. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:34 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 16, 2003
SAFE PLACE
Pressure is supposedly mounting on President Bush as post-war
casualties mount in Iraq. This
href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030716/161/4p64j.h
tml">graphic shows that 33 U.S. troops and 6 British troops have
been killed since May 1. It incorrectly identifies that date as when
Bush declared hostilities in Iraq were over. I actually watched that
speech aboard that carrier and what I believe he said was that the
major combat operation phase of the war was over, but that danger
remained. Here are some
href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/iraq/20030501-
15.html">excerpts:
Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. (Applause.) And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.Tagged:
We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We're bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous.
And by all accounts, major combat operations have ceased.
In no way do I want to minimize the sacrifices that those killed or
injured since May 1 have made, but 39 combat deaths over 2 ? months
among a force that I believe numbers more than 140,000 is a miniscule
figure. That's approximately one third of one percent of all troops
killed in an occupied country populated with an unknown number of
suicidal fanatics. Has the U.S. ever been involved in a military
operation with such a low casualty rate? In a country the size of
California, hasn't this been the most successful and bloodless (for the
victors) capture and occupation of a nation in the history of
civilization? I certainly hope Bush isn't feeling too much pressure.
Posted by Lexiphane at 2:30 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
MILLER ON SPRINGER
Dennis Miller addresses Jerry Springer's run for the U.S. Senate
in today's Wall Street Journal op/ed page. It's not available
online, but here are some excerpts:
Now that's not to say I don't periodically find
the "The Jerry Springer Show" intellectually stimulating. Indeed, how
many times have I been walking through the parking lot of a Laundromat
and seen two obese women in halter tops slap fighting and thought, "Wow
. . . I wonder what the back story is on that?"
But is Jerry's pluck at the Grail really that aberrant a notion?
His talk-show experience will at least allow him to co-mingle easily
with his fellow Senators, yet another studio audience of preening
narcissists voracious for their 15 minutes but in truth needing an
intermission to fill the time.
There's also a geographical track record to consider here. The
good citizens of Ohio in the past have seen fit to elect Jim Traficant
to Congress and trust me, Traficant makes Springer look like
Hammurabi.
Posted by Lexiphane at 1:47 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 15, 2003
RAINES' REIGN OVER
Bill Keller
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/15/business/media/15PAPE.html">off
icially took the helm of The New York Times today after
former Executive Editor Howell Raines stepped down at the direction of
Arthur Sulzberger Jr. The credibility of the Times took some
hard hits under Raines' management with the Jayson Blair fabrication
scandal and as increasing evidence of gross bias in its news reporting
became obvious. Not that the bias in the Times is a new
phenomena. The New York Sun today has a story [not available
online] about how the Pulitzer board has convened a subcommittee to
review the work of the Times' first Pulitzer winner Walter Duranty and
is considering retracting his 1932 prize for foreign correspondence.
It's hardly a secret, but Duranty used his news outlet in the pages of
The New York Times to whitewash the murder of millions of Soviet
citizens under Stalin's forced agricultural collectivization schemes in
the 1930s, while Duranty himself lived the high life in Moscow.
Friendliness towards one's ideological allies over factual accuracy has
a long history in the pages of the Times. Andrew Sullivan, who
stopped appearing in the Times following consistent criticism of
Howell Raines, takes a few parting shots at his site
href="http://www.andrewsullivan.com/index.php?dish_inc=archives/2003_07
_13_dish_archive.html#105816424547037574">here.
Posted by Lexiphane at 4:11 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
FRIENDLY FIRE
Opinionjournal.com pointed out yesterday a glaring non sequitur
in the Washington state paper
href="http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030711/sportssection/49265
.shtml">The Olympian: "Shooters Practice Safety,
Civility. Despite presence of guns, friendliness abounds at state
championships." That's the headline to a story in which the
author is shocked to find people enjoying shooting sports without going
on kill-crazy rampages. This is a point that I've belaboring on this
site for its entire existence, i.e. recreational shooting is one of the
most civil and friendly sports one could hope to participate in.
The fact that the mere presence of guns does not turn people into anti-
social maniacs is confounding to many not familiar with them. But with
hundreds of millions of guns in the majority of U.S. homes, should it
come as a surprise that their presence is not the instigator of
violence? Guns are certainly misused to an appalling degree in the
U.S., but they are misused by anti-social criminals. That the vast
majority of gun owners are not criminals enforces the aphorism that
guns don't kill people, criminals do.
Posted by Lexiphane at 2:55 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
THE END
I got back from Montauk around 2:30 a.m. last night tired and
sunburned, but what a great time. We arrived Sunday morning to perfect
weather and the staff at the
href="http://www.montauksands.com/index.html">Sands Motel was nice
enough to let us check in early and get to the beach. If you check its
site, you'll get a reasonably similar view as to what we had from our
room's balcony. Directly across the street was a large dune that one
could easily see over and view the Atlantic and the beach.
The Sands has a nice barbecuing pit out front that we used to
cook up some steak marinated in sesame and ginger as well as a pair of
lobsters--all purchased at the grocery store two doors down. Later we
sampled some of Montauk's nightlife and were pleased to find that
almost everyone that works everywhere is Irish. The combination of the
sea and the accents made me feel like I was back in Galway. Nick's on
the Beach had a nice afternoon pre-dinner crowd out on its patio and
the view of the ocean from the upstairs dining room was
unbelievable.
Monday was a little cloudier and after another trip to the
grocery store to stock up on sandwich supplies as well as libations, we
threw our cooler into the back of a Pink Tuna Taxi that took us to the
marina. There we boarded
href="http://home.earthlink.net/~kt4nl/flying.html">The Flying
Cloud and set out for some fluke fishing. Capt. Bird took us and
about a dozen others around to a host of different spots as John and
Tim proceeded to catch more fish than the rest of the boat combined.
When first mate Connor wasn't helping me untangle my line, I was
working the net to bring in fish or talking to youngest crew member
Dave, who must have the best summer job of any 8-year-old kid in the
world. It was close, but one of John or Tim's fish won the boat pool
for biggest catch of the day, earning us a cash purse that paid for
dinner at Chinese restaurant Wok & Roll, where they cooked up our fish
for us. I did manage to catch one fluke that was mercifully above the
17" minimum for throwing back.
After dinner we took a last trip to the beach, where one can
build campfires up and down the stretch, and watched some guys fishing
into the surf. I was completely enervated at that point and had to
take the 10:36 p.m. train back to NYC. John and Tim stayed another
night and are playing the championship
href="http://www.longislandgolfnews.com/Course%20descriptions/montaukdo
wns.htm">Montauk Downs Golf Course this afternoon. It was a good
trip and I'd definitely head back to spend some more time at the end of
Long Island.
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:41 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 11, 2003
GONE FISHIN'
I'm heading out to Montauk first thing Sunday to enjoy the sea
and throw up into it from a fishing boat. I won't be back until late
Monday so don't expect any updates at the site until Tuesday at the
earliest. Hope everyone has a nice weekend. And pray for calm seas.
Posted by Lexiphane at 4:40 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NO GOOD DEED . . .
Those of you worried that Bush's current trip to Africa to survey
peacekeeping prospects in Liberia and apprise himself of that
continent's AIDS crisis was nice, but not exactly in the U.S.' national
interest can put your minds to rest. To some it's perfectly
href="http://www.ajc.com/friday/content/epaper/editions/friday/news_f3e
07524a1a9910d0036.html">clear that this trip is nothing but a
gambit to capture Africa's oil, oil, oil, oil, oil, oil, oil, oil.
Oops sorry, broken record.
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:23 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 10, 2003
CITY GOV'T SCREWS THE HOOCH II
In today's
href="http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/99574p-90068c.html">Daily
News, Mayor Mike addressed the discrepancies [see
href="http://lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1
63">CITY GOV'T SCREWS THE HOOCH, 7/9/03] in the enforcement of
the ban on drinking in city parks and he keeps digging himself a deeper
hole.
Bloomberg out-and-out proclaimed that the ban would be selectively
enforced, which would seem to be the definition of an unfair law.
Despite the fact that a party held to benefit the victims of 9/11 was
held on a private beach and firefighters and cops went to the trouble
of requesting a waiver from the law that was subsequently denied,
police confiscated coolers at the party. Days later in a public park
without benefit of a waiver that wasn't even requested Manhattanites
drank freely in full view of police with no repercussions. Ironically,
a protest yesterday at Rockaway Beach to complain about the unfair and
unequal treatment was disrupted when a fire erupted at a building
nearby and all the firefighters attending rushed off to put it out.
Here's a nice let-them-eat-cake quote from a young woman enjoying her
wine in the park:
"There is a double standard, but it doesn't bother
me."
Posted by Lexiphane at 3:15 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
WHAT PAPER AM I READING?
If anyone but The New York Times' Bob Herbert had written
this
piece, it would be called blaming the victim. I still expect a
backlash.
UPDATE: One should be able to watch any backlash develop in
real-time
href="http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?50@@.f2e328f">here.
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:35 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
MEANWHILE. . .
At the DC Iranian pro-freedom protest, two lone pro-oppression
activists attend and were not welcomed [this is from
href="chttp://www.instapundit.com/archives/010416.php">Instapundit]
:
Tagged:
"On the sidewalk outside the protest, two Americans were holding a
big banner stating "US Hands off Iran." Some Iranians then stationed
themselves in front of these counter-protesters with their own banners,
obscuring it. The counter-protesters then relocated across the
street."
And in
href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=8&
u=/nm/20030709/ts_nm/liberia_dc_149">Liberia, hundreds of its
downtrodden apparently equate U.S. intervention with an end to rape,
butchery, and misery:
Hundreds of Liberians chanting "We want peace, no more
war" burst onto an airport runway under pouring rain on Wednesday to
urge a U.S. military team to send peacekeepers as soon as possible.
Liberians hope he [Bush] will send soldiers to save them from
hardened fighters on all sides who casually kill, rape and loot. Rebels
control some 60 percent of the country of three million after nearly 14
years of violence.
"We want Bush," chanted some of the Liberians who surged out in
impromptu demonstrations wherever the U.S. team
stopped.
I'm not saying that we should insert ourselves into a bloody
civil war or interfere with Iran's internal political struggles, but I
find the silence from the usual Bush-sucks "pro-peace" movement on
these matters deafening. Would it be so hard for us to at least offer
support and encouragement to the good guys?
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:57 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
PRO-PROTESTING
Yesterday was supposed to be the day of massive student protests
in Iran against that country's oppressive theocracy. Student leaders
of the protest were abducted, however, and the mullahs promised any
gatherings would be met with a Tianamen-style ass whupping. Up the
block from my office on 2nd Ave., though, a large group of Iranian
exiles shouted for democracy and freedom in their homeland. Here is a
href="http://www.asparagirl.com/blog/2003_07_06_archives.html#105779933
448842334">site with a great description of the event and pictures.
I'm frankly embarrassed that I wasn't there given the proximity. Also
absent: the usual crowd of "human rights" protestors. The scare quotes
are intentional.
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:29 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 9, 2003
CITY GOV'T SCREWS THE HOOCH
The Daily News today points out the appalling
href="http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/99244p-
89774c.html">hypocrisy in the enforcement of the city's ban on
drinking in public. While blue collar cops and firefighters had their
coolers of beer confiscated at a 9/11 benefit party a few days ago,
more well-heeled New Yorkers felt free to drink wine, beer, and hard
alcohol in full view of hundreds of police just days later while
watching the Philharmonic perform on Central Park's Great Lawn.
Not that they should have been stopped. Concerts on the Great
Lawn enjoyed with a bottle of wine as part of one's picnic is a
hallmark of NYC summers. Why that is legally different from enjoying a
beer or two at a beach get-together seems less obvious. Cutting down
on drinking in public had the beneficial effect of reducing incidents
of public drunkenness. The current policy, however, is far too
draconian and apparently selectively enforced. There used to be
sensible exceptions that allowed public drinking at such events as
concerts in the park or the 9/11 benefit party, but killjoy Giuliani
disallowed even them when he outlawed drinking at block parties and
street fairs. One can no longer even enjoy a glass of vino while
strolling through Little Italy's San Genarro Festival. Add to this the
fact that Mayor Bloomberg recently increased the fine for drinking in
public to $150. Not that that would matter to him (wasn't) or his
friends (were) who drank openly at the Philharmonic Monday
though.
Most of the people in Central Park expressed disbelief that there
was a ban on public drinking, noting they'd been doing it for 30 years
or so without incident. Well, the opera and the symphony aren't for
everyone in NYC and maybe the rest of its residents deserve the same
consideration when they'd like to socialize in an orderly manner. I
can guarantee that if police started tip-toeing between blankets at the
next Central Park performance handing out $150 tickets to the denizens
of the Upper East and Upper West sides, the ban on civilized imbibing
would come to a quick end.
Posted by Lexiphane at 1:42 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
TITUS
Shakespeare has long been considered a master of both tragedy and
comedy. His play Titus Andronicus, however, is straight-up
Grand Guignol. Last night I stayed up too late watching the 1999 film
version titled
href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0120866">Titus and starring
Anthony Hopkins as the returning triumphant Roman general.
I'd seen the first ten minutes of it a few years ago, but found
the opening sequence so plodding I switched it off, but last night I
turned it on after the opening scene and got sucked in. Initially, it
was the resemblance to the 1995 film version of
href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0114279">Richard III starring
Ian McKellan, which was set in a fascist 1930s London. Titus is
not transported in time, however, but simply contains anachronistic
elements such as modern automobiles and firearms mixed with broadswords
and horsedrawn wagons.
Titus can't be considered a true Shakespearean tragedy--although
there's an awful lot of mourning and loss--because it's populated with
characters that are simply irredeemable. The dissolute Emperor
Saturninus, the cunning Goth Empress Tamora, her psychotic sons Chiron
and Demetrius, and the pathologically evil Moor Aaron ("If one good
deed in all my life I did, I repent it with my very soul.") With this
cast of characters no tragic turn is possible, just a march towards
entropy as Titus Andronicus' family is destroyed and he eventually
takes his brutal revenge.
This film version, directed by Julie Taymor, had excellent art
design, mixing the actual ruins of ancient Rome with a type of fascist-
modernist architecture. Dreamlike visual effects are occasionally
employed to heighten the dramatic elements of certain scenes. My
primary complaint would be that the sound levels were much too variant.
Shakespearean dialogue has to be listened to closely if you don't know
the lines already, otherwise a lot of its meaning will go over one's
head [mine anyway]. That had me turning up the volume on my tv in
almost every scene so I could hear what some characters were muttering
half under their breaths. To cut directly from such dialogue to
blaring trumpets or roaring motors had me working the volume buttons on
my remote so hard that I'll probably have to replace the batteries
today. Otherwise it was an enjoyable film. Check that, it was a very
impressive film that I'm glad I saw. Calling Shakespeare's
Titus Andronicus enjoyable would be like calling a field trip to
an abattoir delightful.
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:01 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 8, 2003
HAPPY KAMPER
There's nothing I love more than to read a story about communist
politics that's peppered with phrases like "political crisis",
"humiliating u-turn", "embarrassed his superiors", and "undermined his
authority." Read about the stunning success of pro-democracy citizens
in Hong Kong
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,993753,00.html">here
. I previously noted it in
href="http://www.lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?name=News&file=article&s
id=157&mode=&order=0&thold=0">SECOND FAVORITE CITY, 7/2/03.
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:58 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 7, 2003
INTERESTING STRATEGY
Here's a
href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030704/241/4l8bt.
html&e=17">picture of a Filipino farmer checking a Durian fruit in
an interesting story. Apparently, Indonesian activists are selling
Durian-flavored condoms in a bid to fight AIDS. If this is an effort
to make people eschew even the concept of being within 100 feet of a
guy's exposed genitals it might work. The Durian fruit is the most
foul smelling organism to be found in nature. Seriously. You can't be
on the same block as one of these delicacies without gagging.
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:01 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
SMALL WARS
Back in April [see
href="http://www.lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?name=News&file=article&s
id=98&mode=&order=0&thold=0">NOW IT'S TIME FOR VIETNAM
STRATEGIES, 4/25/03] I described the U.S.' history of fighting
insurgent guerilla forces in small wars of savage peace. That's the
title of a book by Max Boot, by the way, that is highly recommended.
He discussed how historical precedents apply to the current situation
in Iraq in
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/weekinreview/06BOOT.html">The
New York Times yesterday. Boot's been strangely in absentia in
the media lately, which I find strange since his book is so topical.
He either needs a new agent or tv bookers need to get off their asses.
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:11 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 2, 2003
SECOND FAVORITE CITY
Next to NYC, I don't think I've ever been to a greater metropolis
than Hong Kong. Unlike NYC, it's been a bastion of free-market
capitalism for the last hundred years or so and thus turned from
backwater to one of the wealthiest nation states in the world.
Unfortunately, the Brits handed it back to the Chi-coms in 1997 and
it's been downhill since then. But freedom is about the will of a
people not to submit to tyranny and the picture accompanying
href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/07/02/w
hong02.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/07/02/ixnewstop.html">this article
reminds me why I love HK so much. After seeing countless images [and
in person] of jackasses carrying around posters extolling Che, Stalin,
Lenin, Marx, Castro, and other mass murderers and agents of oppression
in recent years, it's great to see a mass demonstration of hundreds of
thousands of people where they burn the communist flags.
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:10 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
RING OF FIRE
Palestinian police recruits
href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030630/168/4jpjz.h
tml">here train to be members of that force's special elite
Siegfried & Roy Brigade.
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:37 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 1, 2003
THEY SET THEMSELVES UP FOR THIS ONE
Cornell University conducted a
href="http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/62049
61.htm">study that compared favored traits in potential mates with
perceived traits in one's own self-image. They concluded that
individuals were most likely to be attracted to marriage candidates
that were the most like themselves. Fans of Seinfeld will remember the
episode where Jerry reaches the opposite conclusion. Taking the
Cornell conclusion to its logical extreme, the Lexiphane can only say
that while he's more than happy to have sex with himself in cheap one-
night stands, he doubts anything long-term will ever come of it. Take
that Cornell.
Posted by Lexiphane at 5:02 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NETFLUX
href="http://www.gothamist.com/archive/002808.php">Gothamist notes
a story in
href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/home_video/brief_display.jsp
?vnu_content_id=1920923">The Hollywood Reporter today that
online dvd rental service Netflix has been granted a patent on its
business model and may pursue legal action against its competitors.
For those unfamiliar with the company, for $20 a month Netflix
customers can pick out up to three movies at a time online, have them
express shipped to your home, and keep them for as long as you want
without late fees. The only limit is that you can't have more than
three dvds in your possession at once. I' a big fan of patent
protection, but this business model seems a little obvious to have a
monopoly on. It's like getting a patent on the concept of auto-leasing
instead of auto-loans. Or the exclusive rights to the idea of a video
store itself: you show up at a store, show your membership card, and
for a small fee take home a movie, which must be returned in 2 days or
suffer draconian financial consequences. I hate Blockbuster with a
passion [and refuse to rent there], but this patent is something that
Netflix will use to bludgeon smaller competitors out of business while
extracting license fees from places like Blockbuster that will prevent
any price competition. This seems like a wrong-headed decision.
Posted by Lexiphane at 3:39 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
HEPBURN
Damn, first Gregory Peck a few weeks ago and now we lose
Katherine Hepburn. I suggest going out and renting
href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0029947">Bringing Up Baby
starring her and Cary Grant. No, it's not a baby picture; Baby is a
leopard and the movie's hilarious. In the meantime, The Washington
Post has a nice photo
gallery of Hepburn today. No word on whether Buddy Hackett will
also get the photo gallery treatment. Maybe some stills from
href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0064603">The Love Bug.
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:55 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
UNLIKELY
The early
href="http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/dennehy/0630den
nehy.html">accounts of the circumstances regarding the death of
Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy seem to fit the template of
gun controller arguments that the private ownership of guns leads to
commonplace arguments escalating into lethal encounters. According to
an unnamed source that told the story to the police, Dennehy, a
teammate named Carlton Dotson, and possibly another person were out
shooting in rural Maryland, an argument arose, Dennehy pointed his gun
at Dotson, and Dotson shot Dennehy in the head. My first impression is
that this is a highly unlikely scenario.
Target shooting is one of the more laid back pursuits I've ever
engaged in. The atmosphere can range from helpful encouragement to
friendly competition. It's not unusual for one to strike up
conversations with total strangers. I'm trying to imagine a scenario
that would involve friends pointing guns at each other and it just
seems very improbable. Imagine a situation where you're playing golf
in a foursome with your friends. Now picture getting into an argument
with one of the other players and bludgeoning him to death with your
sand wedge. Does this seem likely? What kind of person would engage
in such behavior in the first place?
If one takes into account other details from the early
description of Dennehy's death, further doubt is cast on its veracity.
The immediate disposal of the guns by Dotson. The fact that Dennehy's
body has not been found. The discovery of Dennehy's SUV in a Virginia
parking lot without its plates. This sounds more like a plot sketch
for an episode of Law & Order rather than an argument between teammates
that got tragically out of hand.
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:24 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
About
