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June 28, 2004
THE WaPo GETS THE HARD NEWS
Back in May, The Washington Post's Laura Sessions Stepp hit the
campus of a D.C. university and discovered that college girls get drunk
and sleep around [see
href="http://www.lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?name=News&file=article&s
id=506&mode=&order=0&thold=0">REASONS TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL,
5/24/04]. Today she weighs in with a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10771-
2004Jun27.html">thousand-plus-word article detailing the lives of
high school bad boy jocks and the girls who love them, no matter how
badly they're treated. Readers are hereby invited to take a crack at
what the next completely obvious piece of cultural anthropology
Sessions Stepp intends to expose. I'm going to go out on a limb and
guess "Chess Club Nerds Who Graduate From High School With Their
Virginity Intact" or "Blondes With Huge Breasts Garner Inordinate
Levels of Attention from Male Bartenders." Can we just hand her the
Pulitzer right now?
Posted by Lexiphane at 12:14 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
PATRICIA NEAL
Tom Shales of The Washington Post
reviews a Turner Classic Movies interview with
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/name/nm0623658/">Patricia Neal today.
Although an Oscar winner, Neal is one of the lesser-acclaimed
actresseses of her time and I have to say that I was surprised to read
she was still alive. One of Neal's first roles was that of the steely
female counterpart to Gary Cooper's Howard Roark in
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0041386/">The
Fountainhead. She would later go on to star opposite Paul
Newman in
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0057163/">Hud, John Wayne
in In Harm's
Way, and George Peppard in
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0054698/">Breakfast at
Tiffany's. Shales notes that Neal was the wife of writer
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-
url/index=stripbooks&field-keywords=roald%252520dahl&search-
type=ss&bq=1&store-name=books/ref=xs_ap_l_xgl14/104-9885429-
0503939">Roald Dahl, author of
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141301155/qid=1088436706/
sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-9885429-0503939">Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory,
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140374248/qid=1088436737/
sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-9885429-0503939">James and the Giant
Peach, and many other classic stories. I certainly didn't know
that. Robert Osborne's interview airs tonight on TCM at 8 p.m. and 11
p.m.
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:33 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
STEINBERG GETS OUT
Long-time New York residents will remember the name of
href="http://www.wnbc.com/news/3465738/detail.html">Joel Steinberg,
responsible for the death of his daughter Lisa through abuse and
neglect. Steinberg was a staple of the late-80s media when it came to
light that his wife Hedda Nussbaum was regularly beaten by her husband
and therefore not partially responsible for the mistreatment of their
children. Basically, Steinberg was a complete monster, but he's
getting out of jail this week. Maybe he and
href="http://www.80s.com/Icons/Bios/tawana_brawley.html">Tawana
Brawley can co-host an '87 nostalgia variety show. Steinberg has
been offered an apartment on Central Park West by his lawyer, which I
guess makes beating children to death a pretty sweet deal.
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:30 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 25, 2004
NYT: OH, THOSE LINKS!
The New York Times is a large news organization and I imagine
that there are some blind spots when it comes to knowing who knows what
at all times. Still, the paper's sheer mendacity when it comes to its
editorial page is a little stunning. An editorial
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/opinion/17THU1.html?ex=14028048
00&en=0b45e48ca117bd37&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND">a week ago slams
President Bush for falsely asserting links between Iraq and al Qaeda.
It beings thusly:
It's hard to imagine how the commission investigating
the 2001 terrorist attacks could have put it more clearly yesterday:
there was never any evidence of a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda,
between Saddam Hussein and Sept. 11.
Pretty unambiguous stuff. Eight days later, the Times runs this
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/25/politics/25TERR.html?hp">news
story:
Contacts between Iraqi intelligence agents and Osama
bin Laden when he was in Sudan in the mid-1990's were part of a broad
effort by Baghdad to work with organizations opposing the Saudi ruling
family, according to a newly disclosed document obtained by the
Americans in Iraq.
Startling that these documents came to light just days after the
Times denounced Bush as a liar and fabricator. Maybe they'll
issue a retraction. Wait, this is interesting:
The new document, which appears to have circulated only
since April, was provided to The New York Times several weeks ago,
before the commission's report was released. Since obtaining the
document, The Times has interviewed several military, intelligence and
United States government officials in Washington and Baghdad to
determine that the government considered it authentic.
So the Times had documents detailing a link between Iraq and
Osama bin Laden that they had authenticated, but still went ahead and
printed that first quote above? There's a lot of hemming and hawing
and hedging in today's piece in an effort to minimize this revelation,
but the Times is working pretty hard to establish itself as the
least credible newsgathering organization and opinion purveyor in the
land. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 5:00 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NOT A JUMPER
A guy I know works in a building directly next to the Brooklyn Bridge. He saw this entire incident take place out of his office window.
After firing a few shots into the air while standing on the bridge's
pedestrian walkway, the man pictured above quickly found himself
surrounded by heavily armed police. He then quickly sat down on the
walkway with his legs folded and shot himself in the chest. My friend
was impressed with the extreme speed that cops responded to any threat
on the bridge, but the incident unnerved him and completely freaked out
some of his co-workers. Between the woman getting cut in half by a
subway train Wednesday [see href="http://lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5
79">SUBWAY SAFETY, 6/24,04] and this incident yesterday, it's
been a pretty grim week for the City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge neighborhood. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 4:31 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 24, 2004
CONEY ISLAND MERMAIDS
Moby is King Neptune and Theo from the Lunachicks is Queen Mermaid this Saturday at the annual Coney
Island Mermaid Parade, from 2:00-6:00 p.m.
The Mermaid Parade is a completely original creation
that is that nation's largest art parade and one of New York City's
greatest summer events. Founded in 1983 by Coney Island USA, the not-
for-profit arts organization that also produces the Coney island Circus
Sideshow, the Mermaid Parade pays homage to Coney Island's forgotten
Mardi Gras which lasted from 1903 to 1954, and draws from a host of
other sources resulting in a wonderful and wacky event that is unique
to Coney Island.
The Mermaid Parade celebrates the sand, the sea, the salt air and the
beginning of summer, as well as the history and mythology of Coney
Island, Coney Island pride, and artistic self-expression. The Parade is
characterized by participants dressed in hand-made costumes as
Mermaids, Neptunes, various sea creatures, the occasional wandering
lighthouse, Coney Island post card or amusement ride, as well as
antique cars, marching bands, drill teams, and the odd yacht pulled on
flatbed.
Head to Astroland after the
parade to ride historic rides like the Cyclone roller coaster. Have a
hot dog at Nathan's. I hear there's a game around there called Shoot
the Freak, where you can nail a weirdo with a paintball gun as he runs
around acting like, well, a freak. Or just soak up some genuine New
York history. It's hard to say how long places like Coney Island, the
boardwalk, and it's unique spirit will survive. [via href="http://www.gothamist.com">Gothamist] Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 5:11 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NAUTICAL BERLIN WALL
Yankees pitcher
href="http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/player.jsp?player_
id=425747">Jose Contreras defected to Mexico from Cuba in 2002
before eventually making his way to New York to fulfill his dream of
becoming a major league pitcher--and a free man. His decision came at
a high price, however, as he was forced to leave his wife and two
children behind. They applied for three exit visas from Cuba that were
punitively denied by the Castro regime, unhappy at losing its star
pitcher. So this week, they and 18 other Cubans gathered in the dark
on a beach to clamber aboard a 31-foot speedboat in a bid to escape
their island prison. Soon they were detected by a naval patrol which
pursued them by sea and air for three hours across the ocean. But the
speedboat managed to outrace them through the night. Near dawn, the
boat ran aground on one of the Floridas Keys and the group's exodus to
freedom was successful.
The most disturbing aspect of this joyful but
href="http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/23666.htm">frightening
story is that their pursuers, who sought to return them to their
captivity under aging dictator Castro, were not Cubans. It was the
U.S. Coast Guard and all part of the U.S.'s schizophrenic asylum policy
towards Cuban refugees. Under this policy, those detected and captured
at sea are delivered back into the arms of the Cuban government they
were attempting to escape. They are only granted asylum if they can
set foot on dry land in the U.S. This sometimes results in the
pathetic spectacle of refugees standing ankle deep in water off a
Florida beach attempting to outmaneuver a phalanx of law enforcement
officers determined to keep them from reaching the beach and freedom.
This is an absolute disgrace.
Cuba under Fidel Castro and his regime is an abomination. Political
opponents and protestors are jailed in gulags. There is no freedom of
expression, religion, or opportunity. It is one of the last vestiges
of world Communism that largely crumbled a decade ago. Why then are
the brave men, women, materiel, and resources of the U.S. Coast Guard
being employed to serve as a nautical Berlin Wall preventing Cubans
from escaping tyranny? This week was a proud one for Jose Contreras'
family and the other brave men, women, and children that successfully
arrived in America. It was a bitter defeat, however, for a U.S. policy
that seeks to deny freedom to those that risk their lives to attain it.
Posted by Lexiphane at 1:09 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAW = CENSORSHIP
For those that had any doubt that restricting political speech as a
means to minimize the influence of money in politics was a road to pure
and simple censorship, here is incontravertible proof. The Federal
Election Commission (FEC) is considering a proposal that would
href="http://www.thehill.com/news/062404/moore.aspx">ban
advertisements for Michael Moore's new crockumentary
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0361596/">Farenheit 9/11
after July 30th, due to the fact that ads would be construed as
political advertisements paid for by a corporation, the film's
distributor. Moore has openly stated that he made the film as an
effort to affect the upcoming Presidential elections. Current election
law prohibits corporations or organizations from funding ads that
mention candidates or their likenesses within 30 days of a primary
election or 90 days of a general election. This doesn't smack of
fascism, it is fascism when the state uses its power to squelch
open political discussion or the crticism of elected leaders. The FEC
may not be attempting to ban Moore's film outright, but it is trying to
prevent its advertisement, which is an essential factor in film
distribution. If companies are not permitted to advertise
documentaries or entertainment with political content, that will result
in a de facto silencing of that speech. Enormously wealthy
individuals like George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, or John Kerry could
continue to fund projects out of their own pockets, but this will
eventually result in governance-by-plutocrat. Readers of this site
will know that I am not a fan of the obese, ham-fisted, congenitally
dishonest, propagandist Michael Moore, but the FEC's recent moves bring
to light how dangerous campaign finance "reform" actually is to a free
society.
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:49 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
SUBWAY SAFETY
Terrible news from the underground last night: a Brooklyn woman was
waiting for the 4 train down at City Hall after work yesterday when she
fainted and fell to the tracks. Quickly regaining consciousness, the
woman attempted to climb back to the platform. But a train was
entering the station and unable to stop in time
href="http://www.wnbc.com/traffic/3452899/detail.html">crushed the
woman between a car and the platform. This has to be every subway
rider's worst case nightmare. A rule that should apply always, but
especially during the summer when it is hellishly hot on subway
platforms: riders should take care to stay away from the platform edge.
Not only would this have prevented a fainting passenger from falling
onto the tracks, it guards against pychotics pushing you down there or
just getting jostled off the platform in a crowd.
Another important safety tip is to refrain from making eye contact with
other passengers. This is a rule that has seemed to go by the wayside
in recent years in a safer friendlier subway system, but it still
applies. A man was
href="http://www.wnbc.com/news/3449929/detail.html">shot twice Tuesday
evening and killed after apparently engaging in a staredown with
two other men at the opposite end of a 1/9 train car. So it's not just
good etiquette not to stare, it's good sense as well.
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:16 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 23, 2004
THE SAD TRUTH
Speaking of The Black Table,
today Aileen Gallagher
href="http://www.blacktable.com/gallagher040623.htm">painfully points
out why people my age really can't handle tours like Lollapalooza
anymore, no matter how many great acts they book. The tour she
discusses is the one in the summer of 1994 with bands like the Beastie
Boys and A Tribe Called Quest. I saw that show at Randall's Island on
a wet miserable day in NYC and it was definitely the end of the multi-
act mega-festivals for me. I don't think my younger brother can even
listen to the Smashing Pumpkins ten years later without slipping into a
nostalgia-induced fit of hypothermia. Truth be told, I was not that
impressed with even the second Lollapalooza tour headlined by The Red
Hot Chili Peppers. I saw that show at the Saratoga Performing Arts
Center the summer after I graduated high school and between the
crushing surly crowds, drenching rain, and overpriced merchandise, I'd
seen about enough. Come to think of it, my friend Mike's wallet got
stolen at the original Lollapalooza in 1990 headlined by Jane's
Addiction. Don't even get me started on Woodstock '94 in Saugerties.
Those people were animals. This summer's Lollapalooza tour
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62545-
2004Jun22.html">was cancelled for lack of ticket sales. Damn, I
could have walked to Randall's Island this time.
Posted by Lexiphane at 3:16 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
JAWS REDUX
The Washington Post takes an
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58978-
2004Jun21.html">interesting look back at the summer movie season of
1975, at the dawn of the age of the summer blockbuster. One movie in
particular caused a sensation in those hot D.C. months--and nationwide-
-when people were confronted with Steven Spielberg's first big hit
Jaws.
The WaPo helpfully includes
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52041-
2004Jun18.html">the original review of the movie and it's almost
amusing to hear its writer foretell great things for the promising new
director Spielberg.
Spielberg, 27, made a stunning feature film debut last
year with the chase melodrama "The Sugarland Express." His new picture
should make him the most sought-after American director since Francis
Ford Coppola, who achieved his breakthrough with "The Godfather" at 32.
I don't think there's a more exciting talent at work right now than
Spielberg, an authentic moviemaking prodigy, and perhaps his worst
problem from June 20, 1975, on will be preventing success from making a
nervous or artistic wreck of him.
It's interesting to see that Spielberg did yeoman's work directing
episodes of "Marcus Welby, M.D." and "Rod Serling's Night Gallery" as
well as the made-for-tv movie Columbo: Murder By The Book before
getting into feature films. Still, his href="http://www.us.imdb.com/name/nm0000229/">list of credits as
director, producer, and executive producer is simply staggering. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 2:49 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
AMY BLAIR REVEALED!
Anyone who's ever read Amy Blair's Friday roundups of
href="http://blacktable.com/archive/craigarchive.htm">The Week in
Craig over at The Black
Table has secretly [or openly!] hoped that she's as cute as she is
funny while skewering the dregs of
href="http://www.craigslist.org/">Craigslist entries. A recent
favorite has Amy delving into the little-known Craigslist subculture of
people that equate the Easter holiday with
href="http://blacktable.com/blair040409.htm">substance abuse and cheap
no-strings sexual encounters. Somehow she makes it precious. Now,
thanks to the invaluable
href="http://www.gothamist.com">Gothamist, we not only have a
flattering shot of Ms. Blair, but an
href="http://www.gothamist.com/interview/archives/2004/06/23/amy_blair_
the_black_table.php">interview as well.
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:08 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
METROCARDS AND LACK OF PRIVACY
I was extremely impressed with the debut of the new ABC News series
href="http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/abcnewsspecials/nypd_main_
040601.html">NYPD 24/7. It's a documentary series that follows
NYPD officers on the job. Last night's show followed detectives from
the Manhattan South Homicide Bureau as they tracked a man who stabbed a
woman and left her or dead. If you've ever thought of killing someone,
this show will make you think twice. These detectives were thorough,
resourceful, and plucked a man out of millions with enough witnesses to
make his eventual confession to the crime superfluous.
What bothered me a little was the detectives' ease in using the MTA's
Metrocard system in tracking their suspect. The criminal who stole his
victim's purse, used her ATM card to purchase a metrocard, which he
then sold to an unsuspecting janitor looking to save some money. Not
only were the cops able to track the card users' movements around the
city and patterns of travel enabling an effective stakeout, they were
able to trigger an alarm right at the turnstyle when the card in
question was swiped allowing transit cops to swoop and in grab its
user. The janitor later aided in identifying the man who sold him the
card, but it was still a little spooky to see how easily the police can
track one's movements around the city, including effecting just-in-time
surveillance.
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:40 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
WHAT HAPPENS IN A COST-FREE ENVIRONMENT
Health insurance is expensive, so the people that have it tend to want
no limits on the medical care it provides. This often leads them to
made demands on medical practitioners that are completely unreasonable;
and doctors afraid of losing patients or getting sued, often go alone
with these demands. A case in point is highlighted in The New York
Times today. A recent study found that ten million women annually
are given Pap smears to screen for cervical cancer, despite the fact
that they
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/23/health/23PAP.final.html?hp">no
longer have cervixes following a hysterectomy that involves the
removal of the uterus and cervix.
The women in question do not include the 1.1 million
who had a hysterectomy and still have a cervix, which is at the base of
the uterus, nor the 2.2 million who had their uteruses and cervices
removed because they had cancer or precancerous cells in their cervix.
(Doctors occasionally leave the cervix behind in hysterectomies,
although a large study found no particular advantage to doing so.) In
both of these groups, Pap tests are warranted. But most women who have
their uteruses and cervices removed do so for reasons other than
cancer, like noncancerous fibroid tumors, Dr. Sirovich
said.
These test tend to range in cost from $20-$40, which may seem like a
drop in the bucket in comparison to overall medical spending, but is
indicative of a sense of unlimited entitlement when it comes to
insurance coverage. Now, one could argue that given the price of
insurance, customers should feel entitled to pretty much any damn test
they please, but this ignores the fact that when insurance companies
are mandated or bullied into providing not just expensive, but
completely worthless tests, they are forced to price more and more
customers out of the insurance market. People that have insurance tend
to be wealthier, better educated, and more politically motivated than
those that do not. When these people demand unlimited coverage,
they're doing it on the backs of the unemployed and working poor that
cannot even afford basic insurance. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:23 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 21, 2004
A BELOVED FAMILY MEMBER DIES . . . !
No, no one died, but the cinematically challenged will not get the
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0091042/">above reference.
It's tangential to my friend Peterson, who is a textbook case of the
young person trying to make her way in Gotham. Just a step above
homelessness, here is where
href="http://www.lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?set_albumName=album04&id
=img_1364&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">Pe
terson sleeps. I think I owned that couch in college and I'm
pretty sure I urinated on it. Fortunately, what one saves in rent one
can splurge on
href="http://www.lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?set_albumName=album04&id
=img_1363&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">hi
gh-end clothing. Also fortunately, you sometimes get
href="http://www.lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?set_albumName=album04&id
=img_1360&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">de
cent closet space to store all that stuff in. Unfortunately,
sometimes that closet space equals your
href="http://www.lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?set_albumName=album04&id
=img_1361&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">li
ving room.
href="http://www.lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?set_albumName=album04&id
=img_1359&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">Pe
terson's moving in a few weeks. I think she's gonna make it after
all.
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:26 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 18, 2004
LOOK AT ME!
Bill Clinton will be down at the
href=http://www.bordersstores.com/stores/store_pg.jsp?storeID=566">Wall
Street Borders bookstore next Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. to hawk his
onanistic memoir, My Life. Pretty ballsy bringing it downtown
Bill, considering your lack of visit back in 1993. But I understand
that you had other things on your mind. Borders bookstore was the
largest tenant at the WTC's retail mall before it was destroyed.
Posted by Lexiphane at 2:46 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
MUCH ADO ABOUT SOMETHING
One of the best reasons to stay in the city over the summer [other than
penury] is the Shakespeare in the Park season at
href="http://www.centralparknyc.org/virtualpark/thegreatlawn/delacortet
heater">The Delacorte Theater. Next Tuesday is the debut of this
summer's performance of
href="http://www.publictheater.org/uploads/sicp/home.cfm">Much Ado
About Nothing, pitting the hilarious Beatrice and Benedick
against each other in a sharp-witted countdown to love. I though the
1993 film version
was superb, except for the consistently wooden acting of
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/name/nm0000206/">Keanu Reeves as Don
John.
Featured performers in this summer's stage production are
href="">Dominic Chianese from The Sopranos,
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/name/nm0859503/">Sean Patrick Thomas
from the Barbershop movies,
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/name/nm0001832/">Sam Waterston from
Law & Order, and
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/name/nm0001751/">Jimmy Smits from
NYPD Blue, who returns from his lead as Duke Orsino in 2002's
Twelfth Night.
Tikets for
href="http://www.publictheater.org/uploads/sicp/schedule_04.cfm">schedu
led performances can be picked up at the Delacorte's box office
beginning at 1 p.m. the day of each show. Expect to line up early
because all of the free shows are sellouts. The Delacorte is located
next to the Turtle Pond, just north of Belvedere Castle, at the
southwest corner of the Great Lawn.
Shakespeare in the Park is associated with
href="http://www.publictheater.org/">The Public Theater, which I am
excited to see is producing a version of Richard III starring
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/name/nm0227759/">Peter Dinklage of
The Station
Agent. That is going to kick some serious ass. Of course, I
expect Dinklage will receive criticism from the little-people community
for accepting the role of evil Richard III. Shakespeare's villain was
a hunchback with a twisted soul. If Dinklage's small stature is seen
as a subsitute for Richard III's physical affliction, he will almost
certainly be hounded for it.
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:12 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
RUHLMANN AT THE MET
I was interested in seeing the special exhibition
href="http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={72DC7B82-0409-4D91-B648-45425058F88D}">Ruhlmann: Genius of Art Deco at
The Met. Architecture critic
Herbert Muschamp has href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/arts/design/18MUSC.html">high
praise for the show in the Times today.
"Ruhlmann: Genius of Art Deco," moored at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, surveys the work of France's leading
furniture designer of the 1920's. It is the first full Ruhlmann
retrospective in 70 years. That means a lot of luxury. Not to mention a
lot of ebony. And gilt. All of it polished to a high Parisian
gloss.
The show has been organized by J. Stewart Johnson and Jared Goss of the
Metropolitan, along with Rosalind Pepall of the Montreal Museum of Fine
Arts, where the show will later travel. It is displayed in the Met's
special exhibitions gallery on the ground floor, and to get there, you
must pass through classical sculptures by the yard. This is a fortunate
circumstance. ?mile-Jacques Ruhlmann (1879-1933) epitomized the neo-
classical wave that crashed upon French art in the years after World
War I.
A companion exhibition, "Art Deco Paris", showcases work by Ruhlmann's
contemporaries. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:33 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
THIS SOUNDS BETTER THAN KWANZAA
While Kwanzaa is essentially a
href="http://www.textbookleague.org/114kwanz.htm">hoax holiday,
cobbled together in the early 1970s from a multicultural mix of
conflicting facts and infused with a collectivist sensibility, The
New York Times
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/national/18june.html?hp">sheds
light on a holiday with legitimate historical roots that is gaining
increasing attention across the nation. I have never heard of
Juneteenth, but it is a holiday that originated in Texas , is
traditionally held on the third Saturday in June, and celebrated by
African-Americans to commemorate the end of slavery in the U.S.
With events including a small rap contest in Anchorage
and a huge festival of African-American heritage in Baltimore, hundreds
of thousands of Americans will celebrate Juneteenth, the day slavery in
the United States effectively ended. With the arrival of an Army ship
in Galveston on June 19, 1865, Texas was the last state to learn that
the South had surrendered two months earlier. More than two years after
the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, the
250,000 slaves in Texas were finally freed.
The effective end of slavery in the U.S. is certainly something worth
celebrating and remembering and would certainly seem to merit as much
national attention as Christopher Columbus discovering Hispaniola. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:00 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 17, 2004
I HAVE AN ENTICING PROPOSITION FOR YOU
The New York Times has an interesting article today on
individuals devoted to
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/technology/circuits/17hoax.html
?pagewanted=1&8dpc">battling Internet scammers. Almost everyone
has received the advance-fee scam ostensibly from Nigeria that entails
sending a bank transfer fee to someone in exchange for a half share in
millions of dollars that need to be moved out of the country.
Confounding these scammers can be a source of personal amusement or a
sense that one is making the Internet safe for unsuspecting dupes, but
real dividends are paid when information about scammers is fowarded to
law enforcement agencies and arrests are made.
In one escapade recounted at Scamorama, a fraud baiter
posing as one Pierpont Emanuel Weaver, a wealthy businessman, appeared
to persuade a con man in Ghana in 2002 to send almost $100 worth of
gold to Indiana - for "testing purposes as my chemist requires" - after
being asked to put up $1.8 million for a share in a gold fortune. In
other cases, swindlers are tricked into posing for pictures holding
self-mocking signs, pictures then posted online. Or they are led to
travel hundreds of miles to pick up a payment, only to come up empty-
handed.
There's lots of funny stuff at the anti-fraud site href="http://www.scamorama.com/">Scamorama. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 2:07 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 16, 2004
THE COOKIES CRUMBLE
The Wall Street Journal has a front-page story today on a
decline in cookie sales in recent years. The reporter sits in on a
taste-test of snacks held by New York City's department of education.
Chistopher, 11 years old, tasted four different
smoothies and announced: "I'd pick strawberry instead of a cookie."
His classmate Carin Solis said cookies are boring. "They should make
better ones in flavors like pineapple," he declared.
Raymond Crowell, 11, who snacks on Doritos most days after school and
before chess practice, says cookies are "too starchy" and prefers a
mocha smoothie. Added Richard McCants, 12: "Cookies are for
babies."
I'm not generally a supporter of child abuse, but these kids need to be
severely beaten. Tagged:
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MAKING UP FOR A BUM TIP
I sent Gothamist the tip [see href="http://lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5
60">BEASTIE BOYS ON 53RD, 6/15/04] that initiated href="http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2004/06/15/beastie_boys_at_53rd
_and_broadway_today_5pm.php">this entry yesterday, I decided to
forward Jen some of my pictures of the event. They were in turn
featured in href="http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2004/06/16/the_anticlimactic_be
astie_boys_appearance_in_midtown.php">a story today about the anti-
climactic nature of the non-event. One commentor succinctly noted
"that was the weakest sh*t." Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 1:02 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
HOW TO CATCH A BUTTERFLY IN THE PARK
The Metropolitan Opera
is performing Madame Butterfly in Central Park this evening on the
href="http://www.centralparknyc.org/virtualpark/thegreatlawn/greatlawn"
>Great Lawn. The performance begins at 8 p.m., but one would be
well advised to stake out a spot well (at least 2 hours) in
advance. Some people go well beyond wine and cheese, busting out
picnic spreads that defy imagination.
href="http://www.metopera.org/synopses/madama.html">Madame
Butterfly is a Puccini opera that tells the story of a U.S. naval
officer and his tragic marriage to a Japanese woman in the early 20th
century.
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:43 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
BEASTIES AND BBQ
St. yesterday was more an appearance than a performance. Anyone who watched the Letterman show last night could see that the trio emerged
from a subway station across Broadway and then quickly entered the
stage door while rapping to inaudible backing tracks. Given the heat,
it was a little disappointing. Here's href="http://lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?set_albumName=album17&op=mod
load&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php">a gallery of
stuff I saw while waiting.
The 2nd Annual Big Apple BBQ Block Party was also a little
underwhelming, due to interminable lines for food. The ribs from Blue
Smoke were great though, as was the incredible aroma of grill smoke and
cooking meat. href="http://lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?set_albumName=album16&op=mod
load&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php">Check it out. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:27 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
SHOOTERS
New York Press recently
href="http://www.nypress.com/17/23/books/JudyJackson.cfm">took a
look at Caitlin Kelly's new book
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/0743464184/qid=1087398085/sr=8-2/ref=pd_ka_2/104-9885429-
0503939?v=glance&s=books&n=507846">BLOWN AWAY, American Women and
Guns and found it to be a reasonably unbiased survey of women
that aren't knee-jerk gun controllers.
Separately, Instapundit
mentioned the book
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/0195150511/qid%3D1087228877/sr%3D1-1/104-9885429-0503939">Shooters:
Myths and Realities of America's Gun Cultures the other day.
It's an open-minded examination of the large and diverse segment of
American society that chooses to exercise its 2nd Amendment rights,
when allowed.
Posted by Lexiphane at 11:07 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
REDUCTIO AIRTIME ABSURDUM
Because so-called campaign finance reforms have whittled down the First
Amendment freedoms of discussing politics to a narrow niche limited to
"media companies," the National Rifle
Association has figured that it must
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/national/16nra.html">become a
media outlet in order to express its views. The NRA will be
airing a radio show called NRANews from now until the November
elections, highlighting topics associated with gun control, its
opponents, and proponents. NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre
notes--without a hint of irony:
"The great thing about America is there is no test about
the right to provide information to the American public," the executive
vice president of the association, Wayne LaPierre, said in an interview
this week. "There is no government licensing of journalists. Tom Paine
was free to pamphlet. So are we."
While I am almost full-force in agreement with the political goals of
the NRA, this line of reasoning is so specious that it makes a mockery
of the Constitution that organization is committed to defending. Why
do deep-pocketed organizations or individuals like Rush Limbaugh, Al
Franken, George Soros, the NRA, or href="http://www.nytimes.com">The New York Times get free rein
to criticize, advocate, and espouse political opinions, while normal
citizens are prevented from contributing resources to getting their
voices heard? I half think the NRA is doing this just to generate
outrage at the mockery that campaign finance reform has made of the
freedom of expression. And under the current laws, Thomas Paine would
have most likely been prevented from or jailed for distributing his
pamphlets if he had any sponsor footing the bill for printing Common
Sense. Tagged:
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A NEW APPROACH TO CARING FOR THE HOMELESS
Mayor Bloomberg is
href="http://www.wnbc.com/politics/3424073/detail.html">proposing to
shift emphasis on care for the homeless away from emergency shelter
housing to an approach that provides permanent housing. Growing up in
the '80s, I was indoctrinated with the view that homeless people were
like everyone else, but had just fallen a paycheck short of regular
housing. The political point of this propaganda was to get people to
view homeless people as just like you and me, and to therefore care for
them. A large emphasis was put on showing homeless nuclear families,
as if we were living in some sort of John Steinbeck, Tom Joad,
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/0142000663/qid=1087394424/sr=8-2/ref=pd_ka_2/104-9885429-
0503939?v=glance&s=books&n=507846">Grapes of Wrath era of
itinerant clans staggering from one Hooverville to the next. This is,
of course, ridiculous. As anyone who regularly sees the homeless,
passed out on the street with their pants half-way pulled down or
raving about some conspiracy, one can see that they tend to troubled
people. These highly visible homeless tend to be the ones that consume
the most resources.
The Atlantic Monthly had an article recently about Bush's
homelessness czar Philip Mangano, who is deeply committed to
href="http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2004/06/mcgray.htm">ending
homelessness by focusing on the most troubled cases and freeing up
resources for the more transitional homeless.
Homelessness is one of the few corners of public policy
in which traditional liberal ideas have gone largely unchallenged. But
Mangano believes that many professional activists, though well
intentioned, have given up on ending homelessness. They have accepted
the problem as intractable and fallen back on social work and handouts
as a way to make broken lives more bearable. In doing so, he says, they
have allowed "a certain amount of institutionalism" to take root. The
Bush Administration proposes to solve the problem by beginning with the
hardest cases: the 10 percent who are severe addicts or mentally ill,
and consume half of all resources devoted to homeless shelters. Mangano
believes that by moving these chronic cases into "supportive housing"--
a private room or apartment where they would receive support services
and psychotropic medications--the government could actually save money,
and free up tens of thousands of shelter beds. The Bush Administration,
spotting an opportunity to increase the return on its investment, is
seeking to end chronic homelessness within ten years. Not only is this
possible, Mangano insists, but it is common sense.
Mangano's efforts aren't listed in the article about Bloomberg's newest
initiative, but his fingerprints are all over them. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:14 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 15, 2004
BEASTIE BOYS ON 53RD
Hawk-eyed Beastie Boys fan John in Boston just e-mailed to alert that according to the href="http://www.beastieboys.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=20537">administra
tor at the band's official site, the Beastie Boys will be staging
their performance this evening on href="http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/">The Late Show with David
Letterman outdoors on 53rd St. and Broadway.
Apparently, the BBs are going to perform in five different locations
around the city today to mark the release of their new album href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/B00021LRWM/qid=1087317849/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-9885429-
0503939?v=glance&s=music&n=507846">To the Five Boroughs. I
currently don't know the times or places of the other shows. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 12:45 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
BEWARE OF NEW NEIGHBORS
The New York Sun reports today that state-appointed lawyers are
trying to spring "The Butcher of Tompkins Square" Daniel Rakowitz from
the
href="http://lexiphane.com/lex/modules.php?set_albumName=album13&id=img
_1085&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">psychi
atric hospital on Wards Island [pic]. About 15 years ago, Rakowitz
took police to a locker in the Port Authority Bus Terminal containing
some remains of his girlfriend. Daniel Rakowitz was a cultist drug
addict who identified himself as Jesus Christ. Monika Beerle was a
Swiss girl who came to New York to study dance and wound up at
href="http://www.forgotten-
ny.com/SIGNS/The%20Corner/corner.html">Billy's Topless [historical
reference, SFW]. When she told Rakowitz she was leaving him, he killed
her. He then boiled her remains, some of which he flushed down the
toilet, the rest of which he served in a soup to the homeless in
href="http://www.humanistic-
photography.com/gallery2_HT/gal_bk_tomp_tn.htm">Tompkins Square.
The scene of the crime was a tenament on the 700 block of East 9th St.
Rakowitz also once lived at the Sunshine Hotel at 241 Bowery, just
below Stanton on the east side of the street. Rakowitz was found not
guilty by way of insanity and sentenced to Wards Island. His lawyers
now claim that after 13 years of treatment he is cured and should be
transferred to a less secure facility or released. And anyway, they
argue, he didn't actually kill her. Right.
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:25 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
THE BIGGER REMINDER
The
Bigger Lovers will be appearing this Sunday at the relatively new
Lower East Side club Sin-E, on
Attorney St. between Houston and Stanton. I stopped in there a few
weeks ago on a flyer-distributing jaunt and the place looks pretty
good. They're following Austin natives Grand Champeen and should go on
around 10:30 p.m., so call in sick several days ahead of time.NOTE: The new Beastie Boys album To the Five Boroughs is released today. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 12:47 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 14, 2004
EDITOR PLEASE!
The New York Times ran a piece on
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/nyregion/thecity/13movi.html">T
imes Square and the movies yesterday that contained an error so
glaringly obvious in its second paragraph, one has to wonder if it was
read at all before making it to print. Ken Tucker writes:
Dangling actors from Times Square theaters, hotels and
billboards is the most fundamental way the movies have used the
neighborhood. From Anthony Mann's first thriller, "Dr. Broadway"
(1942), to "True Lies" (1994), in which Arnold Schwarzenegger slips
over the edge of the Marriott Marquis but is pulled up by a horse he
has improbably ridden on its roof, countless movies have used the
square for spectacular action climaxes.
Tucker misremembers here, because that scene with the horse and the
hotel roof was set in Washington, D.C. I don't think at any time in
True
Lies does its plot bring its characters to New York City or
Times Square. It's possible that the Marriot Marquis was used as a
stand-in for a D.C. hotel, but other cities usually substitute for New
York scenes, not the other way around. In addition, there is no
mention of any New York location shooting, as listed on the movie's
entry on the IMBD.
[NYT article via href="http://www.gothamist.com">Gothamist] Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 3:32 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
WHAT DOES TIMES SQUARE TASTE LIKE?
Taste of Times Square
2004 event at 46th St. and Broadway. More than 50 local
restaurants will be offering tasting menus with items priced at $1 and
up. Think of it as tourist tapas. Here is the list of partic
ipating restaurants. I have to say, a lot of these look to be
tourist-trap chain-type restaurants, but it can't hurt to walk around
and graze for some hidden delicacies. I went to Turkish Dervish last year
with a friend in from out of town and it was pretty good.
Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 2:45 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CAN A DOCUMENTARY BE PLAGIARISM?
This weekend I read a review for a new documentary of the competitive
SCRABBLE tournament circuit called
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0390632/maindetails">Word
Wars. The filmmakers follow four of the game's top players--
Matt Graham, Joe Edley, Marlon Hill, and G.I. Joel--to San Diego for
the national SCRABBLE champsionships. If this sounds similar in theme
to last year's popular spelling bee documentary,
href="http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0334405/">Spellbound,
it is even more similar to Stefan Fatsis' New York Times
bestseller Word Freaks, which has the same exact
primary characters as Word Wars. As far as I could tell, Fatsis
was not credited anywhere on the IMDB site for the seeming film version
of his book.
Posted by Lexiphane at 1:06 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 12, 2004
INTO THE WEST
If you didn't see it, Ronald Reagan's funeral at his presidential
library in Simi Valley, California was extremely beautiful. One can
see why the man wanted to be laid to rest there. Better still was the
lack of political subtext. Former Presidents did their thing at the
D.C. service in the National Cathedral. The California burial was
reserved for family speakers--many of whom told amusing anecdotes of
Reagan's life--and California-centric figures. Much will be made of
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sitting next to Margaret Thatcher.
The Washington Post can't help running down G.W. Bush in
comparison to his father today, when comparing their respective
eulogies at the National Cathedral. One was filled with illuminating
little-known anecdotes, the other historical biography. Note to the
Post: One man served eight years in the same building with
Reagan. The other probably did not know him, but was attempting to
honor his legacy. Also, the WaPo loathed H.W. Bush when he was
President.
The Washington Post otherwise has an excellent
section devoted to the late President's funeral and services. The
un-matchable C-SPAN has an archive
of the funeral procession from Andrews Air Force Base to the Capitol
and the service at the National Cathedral.
Posted by Lexiphane at 7:34 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 11, 2004
CARNIVORES' CARNIVAL
2nd Annual
Big Apple Barbecue Block Party on 26th St. between 5th and 6th
Aves.
Bringing America's finest barbecue to the heart of NYC, the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party (BABBP) features mouthwatering barbecue from seven of the country's top pitmasters, live jazz and blues, scrumptious desserts, ice-cold beverages, an All-Star Barbecue Sauce Tasting, barbecue merchandise, educational seminars with leading barbecue experts, author book signings and more.The weather Saturday and Sunday is supposed to be divine--sunny and in the 70s. You know you're going to be there. You know you have to be there. See you on 26th St. I'll be the guy with BBQ sauce slathered all over his face. Jen over at Gothamist has a much more link-rich piece on this at her site. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 3:49 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CUBAN CUISINE
R.W. Apple
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/09/dining/09HOBO.html?pagewanted=1
">profiles Maricel Presilla in The New York Times today,
along with her two Cuban/Pan-Latin restaurants Zafra and Cucharamama,
both located in Hoboken. I haven't lived on that side of the river in
several years, but I still have Zafra's phone number programmed into my
cell phone. And I've met Ms. Presilla, a lovely woman who fled Cuba in
1970. I used to call her restaurant as soon as I would get off the
PATH train in the evenings so I could pick up my food--usually a
pressed pork sandwich called a Cubano--as I made my way home from work.
Zafra is a great restaurant with the walls painted in a bright
depiction of a sugar cane harvest. Everyone that works there couldn't
be nicer and there is a warm family atmosphere. And given the quality
of the fare, the prices are extremely reasonable.
Presilla and her partner have now opened a new, more formal,
establishment right around the corner from Zafra called Cucharamama
that Apple reports as highly praiseworthy.
At Cucharamama, whose name means "big spoon" in much of
South America, many of the most tantalizing items are displayed on the
bar -- jugs of Catalan olives, a jar of pineapple peel fermenting with
rum, glass cylinders full of fat green limes and perfectly ripe
cherries, batons of sugar cane and pyramids of passion fruit.
But it is the oven, lovingly tended by Cucharamama's Argentine sous-
chef, Natalia Machado, that makes the new restaurant so distinctive.
Fired with hickory, apple and cherry wood, it reaches a temperature of
750 degrees before starting to cool down. The "shock of heat," Ms.
Machado told us, generates steam from the empanadas' filling, which
produces delectable casings that are as light and airy as puff
pastry.
The only thing irritating about Apple's article is his tone of
discovery in finding a quality restaurant in Hoboken, which he
elaborates by giving a short account of the town's transformation from
its blue collar roots. The Times is certainly coming a little
late to this story, as Hoboken has been a destination town for NY
professionals for the last 10-15 years at least.
Zafra is located on the corner of Willow and 3rd St., across from St.
Mary's Hospital. Cucharamama is one block further west on Clinton St.,
between 2nd and 3rd. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 3:02 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
LIENENT AND THEN SOME
Supreme Court Judge Laura Blackburne is being criticized for helping a
man
href="http://www.ny1.com/ny/TopStories/SubTopic/index.html?topicintid=1
&subtopicintid=1&contentintid=40660">sneak out of her Queens
courtroom to avoid arrest by an NYPD detective.
href="http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/coyote/frame_milt/frame_milt.htm">Ju
dge Hardcastle spins in his grave.
Posted by Lexiphane at 12:59 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
MOURNING IN AMERICA
MTV aired a surprisingly positive
recap of Ronald Reagan's presidency this morning. Surprising because
the channel's lock-step aversion to anything not Democratic lately
would equate anything Republican with a social disease, only worse.
Perhaps someone at the channel remembered that Reagan's presidency
coincided with the inauguration of Music Television and the latter
would not have succeeded without the presence of the former. What the
early days of MTV lacked in slickness and production values, it made up
for in enthusiasm, optimism, and music that energized, rather than
calling for black lights, bong hits, and zoning out in the basement rec
room. This is not an editorial comment on the artistic merit of either
genre of popular music, but rather an indicative barometer of public
sentiment in the 80s.Former editor of Reason magazine Virginia Postrel has some thoughts on youth and Reagan today.
The Washington Post has some great coverage of D.C.'s memorial events in the Capitol rotunda, including multi-media slideshows. Vice President Dick Cheney delivered a moving eulogy to Reagan yesterday that's worth reading. Andrew Sullivan points out how embarrassingly wrong Reagan's supposed intellectual betters were in their own words. In his own words, here is President Reagan's farewell address to the nation, delivered from the Oval Office. With his characteristic optimism, he announced his diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease, and wrote of a journey to the "sunset of [his] life." Ronald W. Reagan will be buried in California this evening, at sunset. All in all, not bad, not bad at all. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 10:44 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
THE PITCH IS ALWAYS GREENER
English soccer hooligans' trouble-making reputation precedes them.
That's why cops in Lisbon at this weekend's Euro 2004 tournament will
be cracking down on drunken attendees. They will be turning a
href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004270693,00.html">blind
eye, however, to fans openly smoking marijuana, figuring that the
more stoned and sedate English fans the better. Come-----on----- Eng--
---land!-----Man.
Posted by Lexiphane at 9:18 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 10, 2004
HE'S RICK JAMES BITCH!
early talks to portray the funky ex-con in the
film version of his memoirs. We can only pray that their will be many
scenes with the real-life Charlie Murphy. Official site of Chapelle's Show.
Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 5:02 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
TELLING US WHAT WE DON'T KNOW
Someone named Chris Bowers addresses (presumably) those that like to
express their opinions about the war in Iraq and against terrorism (he
seems to conflate the two) and points out that our ignorance is vast
and unending. Here's an excerpt:
Third, you probably know fuck all about Islam. You
don't know what the word means in Arabic. You don't know the difference
between Sunni and Shiite Islam. You don't know which type of Islam is
more common in the region or in the world. you don't known when Ramadan
is. You don't know when Muslims pray. You don't know where Mecca and
Medina are. you don't know why those two cities are so important in the
religion. You don't know when Mohammad lived. You have never read the
Koran. You probably have even read part of it. You don't know what is
forbidden by Islam, or what is permitted. You have maybe one Muslim
friend.
He goes on and on and on in this vein for quite a while. If you don't
care to read the whole thing, here's the executive summary: You are
an ignorant simpleton incapable of grasping the complicated nuances of
the world in which you exist, so shut your fucking pie-hole 'cause no
one asked you for your opinion anyway. [That's me paraphrasing.]
That pretty much sums it up.
It's an interesting rant, however, because it predicates that human
action can only proceed with empirical omniscience. Experience,
judgement, foresight, and a degree of critical rationalism offer little
value in decision-making to Mr. Bowers. This is ironic coming from a
probable liberal, since most broad government programs are enacted only
with hopes and goals and vague notions of what preferable outcomes
might be, damn the actual consequences. Actually, if a lack of perfect
knowledge would prevent one from action, couldn't the same logically be
a justification for any action? If there are any philosophy or logic
experts out there, let me know if that makes sense.
For the record, it was amusing to read Bowers' piece, because I
actually know more of that stuff than I don't. He must be hanging out
with some real dumbasses. Tagged:
Posted by Lexiphane at 4:25 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack
ROUGH TRADE
On Tuesday The Wall Street Journal ran on article on the big
profits retailers are making on the sale of fair-trade goods. These
are products like bananas and coffee that are purchased from farmers at
above-market prices to prevent third-world "exploitation."
Unsurprisingly, the people making the most money off this growing
movement are supermarkets and other retailers. British supermarket
chain Sainsbury PLC charges four times the price of regular bananas for
fair-trade bananas, 1/16 of which goes to farmers. Another chain Tesco
PLC charges a $3.46 per pound premium for its fair-trade coffee, of
which growers are given $.44 a pound above the market price. To which
I say fine. If companies can make an extra buck off of making
customers feel like they're helping poor farmers by paying exorbitant
prices for their food, go for it.
I do begin to have a problem when they start to distort the market and
thus hurt farmers. Beginning in 1988, a Dutch foundation has been
granting a fair-trade label to any company that would guarantee to pay
Indonesian coffee growers a minimum price that guaranteed a profit.
Sounds like a nice idea, right? But a guaranteed profit regardless of
outside considerations chokes an economy of its lifeblood: information.
Prices are the most efficient way of conveying economic information to
buyers and sellers. Guaranteeing a profit to farmers of something like
coffee makes them deaf to other information that might be trying to
tell them something important. If there is an oversupply of coffee and
the price falls, that will signal that less people should be growing
coffee or switch to a different crop that can garner a higher price.