The Perils of Blogging
What stinks about this exercise is that my links keep changing. Half the links in an earlier post about the Departed have moved or have been deleted, which really undermines my (albeit) lame attempts at humor. My Bob Dylan post ended up being completely meaningless because the reader (that's you, [which most of the time is just me]) cannot link to an article which ranks Bob in the top ten of celebrity golfers. Now my post from earlier this week has a link that is supposed to take you to the news item about a couple of sex crimes but instead you end up at an article about George Pataki opening up an office in Peekskill, NY. Now, this is funny in its own way but not intentionally so. I can't find a link to the old article in the archives of the North County News so...whatever.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
And another thing....
There's this article about what Saddam did in the first days of his reign of terror that is illuminating and meaningful in the context of arguing that he is not worthy of any pity. Ultimately, to hell with Saddam, literally and figuratively. But another thing about the article, though, is the bit about him taping executions and sending them around the country as a warning to all who would oppose him. Quite effective, I imagine. I find it funny, then, that we're not watching Saddam's hanging on TV or on mainstream internet sites. Even Drudge is shying away. I don't want to see it, don't get me wrong. I find those real death videos - you know Faces of Death et al - deeply disturbing and soul-crushing. But it just seems somehow hypocritical of us - the tough-guy, John Wayne type Americans - to be so squeamish about the realities of the world. We want to preside over the world as the moral authority and the ones that the world should model themselves after and yet we can't even take the images of our own American soldiers coming home in body bags. Have you seen even one funeral of an American soldier? There have been 3,000 of them, why aren't we allowed to know about them? Because we need to be protected. Maybe we would be less apt to shop with reckless abandon if we felt a little more uncertain about life and more certain about death.
There's this article about what Saddam did in the first days of his reign of terror that is illuminating and meaningful in the context of arguing that he is not worthy of any pity. Ultimately, to hell with Saddam, literally and figuratively. But another thing about the article, though, is the bit about him taping executions and sending them around the country as a warning to all who would oppose him. Quite effective, I imagine. I find it funny, then, that we're not watching Saddam's hanging on TV or on mainstream internet sites. Even Drudge is shying away. I don't want to see it, don't get me wrong. I find those real death videos - you know Faces of Death et al - deeply disturbing and soul-crushing. But it just seems somehow hypocritical of us - the tough-guy, John Wayne type Americans - to be so squeamish about the realities of the world. We want to preside over the world as the moral authority and the ones that the world should model themselves after and yet we can't even take the images of our own American soldiers coming home in body bags. Have you seen even one funeral of an American soldier? There have been 3,000 of them, why aren't we allowed to know about them? Because we need to be protected. Maybe we would be less apt to shop with reckless abandon if we felt a little more uncertain about life and more certain about death.
The Noose
Perhaps it is crass somehow to view the execution of Saddam Hussein as a time to speculate on the morality of capital punishment. It's probably more a combination of my Jesuit education, my (weak) knee-jerk liberalism and the relative distance we have in this country from the true brutality of Saddam the dictator (brought on by his belittlement as a man and as a leader by the Bush administration in concert with the American media, despite their need at times, and ironically, to portray him as a dangerous menace.)
Nevertheless, it is startling to see Saddam at one moment a slightly unhinged, and clearly disturbed but no less a vital living person and then to see him and what we know as moments later wrapped dead in a shroud. And perhaps even more disturbing, at least to me, is that it is we who made it happen. We are complicit, along with the government we elected, in all the events in Iraq. We have brought about the fall of Hussein's "government", we have ushered in a deadly civil war and we have sent more than 3,000 of our country men and women to a battlefield death. And now we have executed a death sentence on Saddam Hussein.
In the days following 9/11, in the face of images of fellow NY'ers leaping from the Twin Towers, I wished for the same for Osama Bin Laden. I think what I said was that, if we catch him, we should take him to the top of the Empire State Building, set him on fire and throw him off. So who am I to talk? I don't know nearly enough about Middle East politics to have a meaningful opinion about what all this is doing to our safety and to the stability of the world. There are those that would say we have no business in Iraq and we're just making them hate us more. Others would say that they got what was coming to them--they attacked us and now they're facing the consequences. So Saddam is dead. He sent thousands to a similar fate so what's wrong with him facing it himself. And he at least got a fair trial.
I just hate that our country has become one that causes chaos. One that tortures and then even says torture is OK. One that executes. I know, I'm soft. I'm easily disturbed. I'm unrealistic. But where do we go from here? What happens when another horrible thing happens in an American city? When 50,000 Americans die in some bombing or mass poisoning? You know the things they've been predicting since 9/11. Where do we go? Who do we kill then?
Perhaps it is crass somehow to view the execution of Saddam Hussein as a time to speculate on the morality of capital punishment. It's probably more a combination of my Jesuit education, my (weak) knee-jerk liberalism and the relative distance we have in this country from the true brutality of Saddam the dictator (brought on by his belittlement as a man and as a leader by the Bush administration in concert with the American media, despite their need at times, and ironically, to portray him as a dangerous menace.)
Nevertheless, it is startling to see Saddam at one moment a slightly unhinged, and clearly disturbed but no less a vital living person and then to see him and what we know as moments later wrapped dead in a shroud. And perhaps even more disturbing, at least to me, is that it is we who made it happen. We are complicit, along with the government we elected, in all the events in Iraq. We have brought about the fall of Hussein's "government", we have ushered in a deadly civil war and we have sent more than 3,000 of our country men and women to a battlefield death. And now we have executed a death sentence on Saddam Hussein.
In the days following 9/11, in the face of images of fellow NY'ers leaping from the Twin Towers, I wished for the same for Osama Bin Laden. I think what I said was that, if we catch him, we should take him to the top of the Empire State Building, set him on fire and throw him off. So who am I to talk? I don't know nearly enough about Middle East politics to have a meaningful opinion about what all this is doing to our safety and to the stability of the world. There are those that would say we have no business in Iraq and we're just making them hate us more. Others would say that they got what was coming to them--they attacked us and now they're facing the consequences. So Saddam is dead. He sent thousands to a similar fate so what's wrong with him facing it himself. And he at least got a fair trial.
I just hate that our country has become one that causes chaos. One that tortures and then even says torture is OK. One that executes. I know, I'm soft. I'm easily disturbed. I'm unrealistic. But where do we go from here? What happens when another horrible thing happens in an American city? When 50,000 Americans die in some bombing or mass poisoning? You know the things they've been predicting since 9/11. Where do we go? Who do we kill then?
41 and 43
What do you think the two presidents Bush are saying about the executon of Saddam (pronounced SAD-em)? Do you think it's like a conversation the Dons Corleone might have had about the elimination of enemies and consolidation of power? After all Saddam did threaten the life of 41 and Don George Jr. (the one who never wanted to run the family, who wanted to go his own way) did vow to get revenge. And get it he did. Never takes sides against the family. Ever.
What do you think the two presidents Bush are saying about the executon of Saddam (pronounced SAD-em)? Do you think it's like a conversation the Dons Corleone might have had about the elimination of enemies and consolidation of power? After all Saddam did threaten the life of 41 and Don George Jr. (the one who never wanted to run the family, who wanted to go his own way) did vow to get revenge. And get it he did. Never takes sides against the family. Ever.
Dubya
The president commented on the death of Gerald Ford but it was hard to find the official text of his speech outside of the White House website (which is, incidentally, WhiteHouse.GOV and not WhiteHouse.ORG [which is definitely worth checking out] and not WhiteHouse.COM either [which is not]). Anyway, what I HEARD about what he said on the radio (WCBS-AM) was this:
The president commented on the death of Gerald Ford but it was hard to find the official text of his speech outside of the White House website (which is, incidentally, WhiteHouse.GOV and not WhiteHouse.ORG [which is definitely worth checking out] and not WhiteHouse.COM either [which is not]). Anyway, what I HEARD about what he said on the radio (WCBS-AM) was this:
...which seemed to me to be awfully self-serving. He might have been talking about his own vision of himself and Iraq. The strange thing is that this bit doesn't appear in the official comments on the White House site. I don't know when he said them but I'm wondering if the radio and newspapers are picking this quote because it is so ironic. I know I'm defending Dubya but what are you going to do?Gerald Ford distinguished himself as a man of integrity and selfless
dedication. He always put the needs of his country before his own, and did
what he thought was right, even when those decisions were unpopular. Only years
later would Americans come to fully appreciate the foresight and wisdom of this
good man.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Nina contined...
Another thing about Nina - I recently discovered Nina Simone via the Before Sunrise sequel Before Sunset which is shamelessly romantic and thus right up my proverbial alley. I downloaded, via iTunes, the song "I Put A Spell on You" by Nina S. which, if you've ever spent a day in your life you would know, sums it all up. Ah, Nina...you know what it's all about.
Another thing about Nina - I recently discovered Nina Simone via the Before Sunrise sequel Before Sunset which is shamelessly romantic and thus right up my proverbial alley. I downloaded, via iTunes, the song "I Put A Spell on You" by Nina S. which, if you've ever spent a day in your life you would know, sums it all up. Ah, Nina...you know what it's all about.
Local News
OK - this is a little twisted content-wise but anyway. I was reading my local-local newspaper and noticed this story. It's actually a two-part'er. Two unrelated stories - one about a father who beat and molested his 4-year old daughter and the other about the arrest of a prostitute. The first one is obviously so distasteful I don't even want to go into it. The second I will only comment that the 25-year old woman, the prostitute, looks a little more like 45 but that's probably because she's turning tricks to pay for a heroin habit. Anyway, of all the people in these two stories who most deserves to be humiliated by having his/her picture in the paper? I say first the molester and then the guy soliciting sex. That's just me.
OK - this is a little twisted content-wise but anyway. I was reading my local-local newspaper and noticed this story. It's actually a two-part'er. Two unrelated stories - one about a father who beat and molested his 4-year old daughter and the other about the arrest of a prostitute. The first one is obviously so distasteful I don't even want to go into it. The second I will only comment that the 25-year old woman, the prostitute, looks a little more like 45 but that's probably because she's turning tricks to pay for a heroin habit. Anyway, of all the people in these two stories who most deserves to be humiliated by having his/her picture in the paper? I say first the molester and then the guy soliciting sex. That's just me.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Speaking of Cartoons...
Anyone remember the drawings of Al Hirschfeld? He used to do drawings that would be published in the Arts & Leisure section of the Sunday NY Times. Whatever the new/hot play/actor of the moment was, Hirschfeld would caricature it/him/her. This was back when I used to "read" the Sunday NY Times as a kid living under the left-wing thumb(s) of my parents. Perhaps they were proud of their son, reading the pinko editorials, getting indoctrinated in the family religion. But I mostly liked finding the underwears ads in the magazine section. That and the Hirschfeld cartoon, the best part of which was finding the "Nina"'s. If you don't know, he would hide his daughter's name in his drawings noting the number of "Nina"'s hidden in the puzzle next his signature. That was cool. Something to pass the time before a hearty cheese sandwich lunch and six hours of one-on-one baseball with Dennis D'Alessio.
Anyone remember the drawings of Al Hirschfeld? He used to do drawings that would be published in the Arts & Leisure section of the Sunday NY Times. Whatever the new/hot play/actor of the moment was, Hirschfeld would caricature it/him/her. This was back when I used to "read" the Sunday NY Times as a kid living under the left-wing thumb(s) of my parents. Perhaps they were proud of their son, reading the pinko editorials, getting indoctrinated in the family religion. But I mostly liked finding the underwears ads in the magazine section. That and the Hirschfeld cartoon, the best part of which was finding the "Nina"'s. If you don't know, he would hide his daughter's name in his drawings noting the number of "Nina"'s hidden in the puzzle next his signature. That was cool. Something to pass the time before a hearty cheese sandwich lunch and six hours of one-on-one baseball with Dennis D'Alessio.
Back again...for a minute...
Check out the new link to the right-------> It takes you to a build-your-own-comic site. Pick a couple of characters and write some amusing lines within the limits of three panels. My daughter and I wrote this one. It's a little bit of an inside joke, of course, but we like. At least I like it. She's back to watching High School Musical. It's totally an open forum so the other comics on there are just as personal as yours will likely be. Often they can be crude too so beware.
The site is based on the comic by Max Cannon which is a little bit of an acquired taste.
Check out the new link to the right-------> It takes you to a build-your-own-comic site. Pick a couple of characters and write some amusing lines within the limits of three panels. My daughter and I wrote this one. It's a little bit of an inside joke, of course, but we like. At least I like it. She's back to watching High School Musical. It's totally an open forum so the other comics on there are just as personal as yours will likely be. Often they can be crude too so beware.
The site is based on the comic by Max Cannon which is a little bit of an acquired taste.
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