Interesting Monstah

2003-07-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

INTERESTING.

MSNBC:
Iraq Flap Shakes Rice's Image
US News:
Insiders Suggest Condoleezza Rice Could Leave

Our Black girl in the White House is slowly but surely being made the most recent scapegoat for those sweet sixteen words, re: WMDs in Iraq. Monstah Wisdom predicts they'll be able to easily fall back on that old, threadbare canard of the underqualified, we-knew-it-was-too-good-to-be-true, non-white male person/6-degrees-of-separation-style impostor.

Watch for these tropes from the racists on the right, the (L)ibertarian and the left.

UPDATE:
Rice Resignation Watch
Condi Death Watch

2003-07-24T00:05:00.000-07:00

CLICHE WATCH 6
Courtesy, Google

Sexed up

16 words

Fell/Fall on sword

Bush lied, people died - As wholeheartedly as I agree with this sentiment, it is quickly become the stuff of bumpersticker sloganeering, in danger of reducing the lives of all those guys and Ms. Piewistewa to a cute rhyme. Sorry, but this just makes me even angrier at this whole Iraq mess.

Uday and Qusay/Odai and Qusai - why not Qusai and Uday?

2003-07-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

MURDERERS HAVE BEEN MURDERED BY MURDERERS

Yay. I guess.

2003-07-23T03:11:00.000-07:00

QUIRKYALONE. WHATEVER.

Via Jish: The ToDoList Quirk Quiz

I got a perfect 100:

Your score was 100. Very quirkyalone:
Relatives may give you quizzical looks, and so may friends, but you know in your heart of hearts that you are following your inner voice. Though you may not be romancing a single person, you are romancing the world. Celebrate your freedom on National Quirkyalone Day, February 14th!

Oh, honey, you don't know just how quirkyalone.

Celebrate? I don't even celebrate gay pride, and I shutter the windows for the dyke march. Feb 14 is but a distant abstraction. Last time it meant anything resembling reality was some time in 2000. I still have the card and heart-cut onyx stone I should have given him.

Celebrate, please. Who really cares.

2003-07-23T01:20:00.000-07:00

I'M PRO-REPARATIONS, AND PROUD
And I don't care if you don't like it

No, not reparations for slavery. Reparations for Jim Crow, the legacy of which ALL of our parents and grandparents -- white and nonwhite, immigrant and non-immigrant -- carry with them, and which is still quite alive and well.

Think about it.

2003-07-17T02:04:00.000-07:00

CLASSIC MUSICALS IN THE NEWS

(Well, almost. Anything Peter Merholz says is news! :-))

Love Me or Leave Me, with Cagney and Day

Peter over at Peterme.com put up a post about Love Me or Leave Me (MGM/Taurog, 1955). He liked it and was impressed, which makes me happy. LMOLM has one of my all-time favorites, my beautiful Cagney, as well as co-alum from Warner Brothers, Doris Day, playing Ruth Etting, a prohibition-era songstress. I really dug this film, and apparently I am not alone. The following is a response to Peter's post.

To start, some advice from an MGM musicals nut: please do not make the mistake of Auteurishen film students, and dismiss studio system flicks of the mid 50s!

A bit of context. This is directly out of the post-war and post-LB-Mayer MGM as headed by Dore Schary, which gave us such rarities as Adam's Rib (Cukor, 1949), Asphalt Jungle (Huston, 1950), An American in Paris (Minnelli, 1951), Singin' In the Rain (Donen 1952), and Bright Road (Mayer, 1953), a prim, socially-conscious Dorothy Dandridge vehicle.

Then again, it also blessed us with the likes of Duchess of Idaho (Leonard, 1950), Sombrero (Foster, 1952), and Joan-Crawford-does-darkface in Torch Song, (Walters, 1953), to which I can only say, "yikes". 1955 was MGM's year of Kismet (Minnelli/Donen), It's Always Fair Weather (Donen/Kelly), Guys and Dolls (Goldwyn/Mankiewicz, dist by MGM), Blackboard Jungle (Brooks), I'll Cry Tomorrow (Mann) and Interrupted Melody (Bernhardt). The latter two starred Glenn Ford, husband of song-and-dance girl Eleanor Powell, whose musicals would lay the foundations of the Freed Unit. Schary has story credits for two such movies, Broadway Melody of 1938 (Del Ruth, 1937) and early Taurog-directed film, Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940).

Schary was known throughout the business as the vocal liberal, lending name-brand support (if only that) to the Hollywood Ten and other left causes. The Anti-Defamation League currently offers scholarships carrying Schary's name to young filmmakers they feel carry on his own ideals, "in keeping with the Anti-Defamation League's mission to promote human rights, combat bigotry and prejudice against all groups and to secure justice and fair treatment for all people". From ADL's biography:

In his eight years in that position, he endeavored to strike a balance in the company's output between escapist entertainment and serious, issue-oriented films, while also attempting to resist the political witch-hunters and blacklisting of the McCarthy era

Film historian Thomas Cripps credits Schary with kicking off the "message movie cycle".

From spring through autumn of 1949 the studios brought forth Stanley Kramer's Home of the Brave, Louis DeRochmont's Lost Boundaries, Darryl Zanuck's Pinky, Clarence Brown's Intruder in the Dust, and Joseph Mankiewicz's No Way Out.

Smeared and gay-baited in rightwing tabloids as favoring "his Red Boy Friends", Schary's name was also linked with Dalton Trumbo, Dashiell Hammett and the outspoken John Howard Lawson. He was called to the stand as a "friendly witness" to the House Committe on Un-American Activities, brilliantly satirized in an early Mel Brooks sketch delivered by a very young Paul Lynde in Fox's New Faces (Fox/Horner,1954). Still, it was clear to all that he was far from it. From his own autobiography, Schary relates:

One newspaper, in Los Angeles, ran a banner headline printed in bright crimson that proclaimed: STUDIO HEAD SAYS HE WILL HIRE REDS.

Later, when I appeared at the Writers Guild and sated that I opposed the studio policy but supported the effort to form some sort of talent guild council to stave off reckless indicments, I was clobbered. The nicest name I was called was "thief." Those bold members who stood up to defend me were either booed or silently rejected.

Sounds to me a bit like the current direction of post-911 US politics and entertainment.

It is accepted in some circles that Schary was responsible for the some-time safe placement of MGM's liberals such as Gene Kelly and wife-at-the-time Betsy Blair, away from the pressures of HUAC and conservative blacklisting. Too bad Libertarian siren Raimondo has retreated from critique of war, returning to his red-baiting (and tacitly Jew-baiting) hovel, ever-vigilant against the latest Communist Menace, currently in the form of post-Trotskyist neocons. If we are to believe rightwing screechers like Ann Coulter and Raimondo, Senator Joe McCarthy -- although disgraced by his own lying yap -- has historically gotten a bad rap from those incorrigibly hegemonic libberelz, neocons, and other inauthentic conservatives, the poor thing. In one interview, Blair gives some insight as to working condititions for leftists in the entertainment industry at that time. Call me dense, but I happen to believe her, if only because I see it happening again.

I went through three auditions, and finally I read with Ernest Borgnine. [Writer] Paddy [Chayefsky] wanted me to be in it, and [director] Delbert [Mann] was very enthusiastic. The blacklist was never mentioned, although I hadn't worked in four and a half years [she had been "named" in Hollywood Reporter as a "red", actively involved with the controversial Actor's Lab. Blair says she was also listed in Red Channels, although my copy does not contain a separate entry for her name --IM]

Finally [prospective director and a HUAC witness who "named names" --IM] Harold Hecht said to me, "I'm sorry, Betsy, but anybody connected with me they look at very closely" -- meaning, "It's my fault, but . . ." --"so you're going to have to write a letter." I said, "Harold, you know I can't write such a letter, but I'll try. I'll write something." What I wrote was hopeless: that I believed in American democracy and I loved my country, et cetera. I wrolte likea twelve-year-old girl in civics class. Of course, it wasn't what they wanted, and it didn't pass.

[...] So Gene, who was shooting It's Always Fair Weather, I think, went in to Dore Schary ... and said, "Listen, Dore. Betsy says Marty is a great script, she's read for the director three times, she has all bug got the part. You know her. You've played charades with her. You know she's not going to overthrow the country. You have to do something about her being blacklisted, or I'm going to stop shooting."

Dore telephoned the American Legion in Washington in front of Gene and said he would vouch for me. So I was in Marty, because someone had vouched for me, and it was the same thing as before -- the blacklist was over, but only for one movie. I got an [Oscar] nomination, I won the [Best Actress] award at Cannes, I was hot for two hundred days, and I never got a single offer to do another Hollywood movie.

And I love this particular comment from her:

Of course there was a Communist conspiracy in Hollywood. There was a conspiracy to get a black character into a movie or to express a liberal idea in a movie. It's a joke that it was a Communist conspiracy to overthrow the country.

Yes, but -- as we all know -- we are dealing with people who think a man in a dress and a woman in pants somehow exemplify the imminent downfall of western culture (which, somehow, prides itself on individuation and presupposes non-conformity as ethical value and moral absolute). That new immigrants are best utilized as scapegoats for our own personal failings. That the presence of one non-white person anywhere for miles signifies absolute contamination and impurity. Such is the conspiratorial paranoia of the right. Not much has changed in this reagard, I've noticed.

~~~~~~

As is so often the case at Interesting Monstah, things will eventually end up at Nina Simone, and LMOLM is no exception. Ms. Simone did a few interpretations of "Love Me or Leave Me", the first as a 1957 Bethlehem single release, then on 1958'sJazz As Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club . No doubt it was on the heels of the success of the movie. She also cut her first version of "My Baby Just Cares For Me" on the same album. (Mp3 links to come soon).

Both these tunes are associated with Whoopie!, another Eddie Cantor vehicle for screen. The stage version (Ziegfeld, 1928) had starred Ms. Etting. Buddy Ebsen, which we covered in the last installment of "Classic Musicals in the News" also appeared in this stage version, which was made into the two-strip Technicolor movie (Goldwyn/Berkeley, 1930). That movie also doubles as Busby Berkeley's directorial debut.

Regarding Ms. Day, there isn't much to say about her that hasn't been said already, or that isn't automatically trite and cliche, so let's just cut to the flicks. If you'd like to see more of Ms. Day kicking butt, give some of her other movies a spin, particularly Tea for Two (1952) a screen remake of No No, Nanette (1925) and Lullaby of Broadway (1951), which capped on the earlier successes of Berkeley, and musical team Dubin and Warren. She bends gender quite well in Calamity Jane (1953). She really is quite badass, at times.

LMOLM was out of the Pasternak unit, which at that time was the B-level unit of such Technicolor wonders as 1955's Hit the Deck, precisely the type that film students love to sniff at, but in my experience have typically never seen. When Joe Pasternak wrote his 1956 autobio, it was apparently too early for him to say anything about LMOLM. He did have a few remarks, however, about his part in Deanna vs. Judy, circa 1937.

Over at Metro they've got two kids under contract. They both have remendous possibilites, I think. I'll get the film and run it for you. I'm pretty sure they're dropping one of them."

I could hardly wait until the next day when the film arrived. Everything Rufus said was right. The girl was warm, lovable, natural, charming. She sang in a way to win your heart.

"That's the girl," I shouted when the light went up in the projection room. "What do you say, Bobby?"

Bobby agreed. We turned, beaming huge smiles at Rufus. He kept swallowing, staring at us, unable to make a word come out of his mouth. "What's the mater, Rufus?" I said. "Don't you understand? We like her, she's terrific. You can sign her."

A thin stream of words finally camou out of Rufus. "Remeber I told you they had two girls and were dropping one? This is the one they decided to keep."

Bummer days, dude...

To make a long story longer, Joe and Bobby liked the other one even better. And this is how Deanna Durbin ended up at Universal, with Joe Pasternak, who would end up at MGM once again with his own prod unit. By that time, "the one they decided to keep," nee Frances Ethel Gumm, was making her way through the Freed unit, the A-musicals unit on the MGM campus.

Director and choreographer Stanley Donen directed Ms. Day's next musical after LMOLM, The Pajama Game, apparently tagged by o.g. Auteur Jean-Luc Godard as "the first left-wing operetta". Godard must have missed the several Warner Bros incarnations of The Desert Song (1929, 1943, 1953), the first of which kicked off the "all talking/all singing/all dancing" explosion of the sound era. Or Casbah (Republic/Berry, 1948), a remake of Algiers (itself the remake of Pepe Le Moko). Or the um...difficult-to-watch, but with one of the best soundtracks, ever...Green Pastures (Warner Bros/Connelly, 1936), with Edna Mae Harris!! (Connelly actually does have his own entry in Red Channels, for those interested.) Then also, despite the reliance of brilliantly silly Eddie Cantor on the problematic sight gag of blackface, there was Roman Scandals (Goldwyn/Tuttle, 1933). That last features none other than Ruth Etting as Cantor's costar and is highly recommended.

And now, our circles are more than complete.

Gotta love Hollywood musicals. Just. Gotta. Love 'em.

_________________

Eric Bentley, ed., Thirty Years of Treason: Excerpts From Hearings Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1938-1968, New York: Viking, 1971.

Counterattack: The Newsletter of Facts to Combat Communism, Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television, New York, 1950.

Thomas Cripps, The Green Pastures, Wisconsin/Warner Bros Screenplay Series, Madison: U of WI Press, 1979.

_______, Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie From orld War II to the Civil Rights Era, New York and Oxford,: OUP, 1993.

John Douglas Eames, The MGM Story, New York: Crown, 1982.

Internet Movie Database.

Patrick McGilligan and Paul Buhle, Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997.

Joe Pasternak, and David Chandler, Easy the Hard Way: The Autobiography of Joe Pasternak, New York: JP Putnam's Sons, 1956.

Rage. Mistrust. Hatred. Fear. Uncle Sam's enemies within, Sunday Herald, editorial, 29 June 2003.

Dore Schary, Heyday: An Autobiography, Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown, 1979.

Stephen Silverman, Dancing on the Ceiling: Stanley Donen and His Movies, New York: Knopf, 1996.

2003-07-16T22:28:00.000-07:00

HAS ANYONE ELSE SEEN THIS??

Via Google News: S.Korea Says Exchanged Fire With North

This cannot be good news.

2003-07-15T23:54:00.000-07:00

IF WE ALLOW IT TO PERSIST, WE ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM

Via Yahoo: Report: Anti-Muslim Violence on Rise in U.S.

The council said the Justice Department continued to act "in the name of combating terrorism when in fact they have targeted broadly Arabs and Muslims" in this country.

The Sept. 11 investigation dragnet in 2002 included special registration requirements that singled out students and visitors from Muslim-majority countries.

Citing examples, it said three Muslim charities had effectively been shut down since December 2001 and were now locked in legal battles against the government.

The report also highlighted FBI (news - web sites) hate crime statistics and said the agency's 2002 annual report said attacks on people, institutions and businesses identified with the Islamic faith increased from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001.

The report detailed "police profile incidents" where Muslims were questioned while doing mundane activities such as walking on public roads or shopping in malls.

Read about it. Do something about it.

CAIR.org - controversial but actively visible pro-Muslim group, which released the report in question

Bluetriangle.org - fight arbitrary detentions and deportations of immigrants, particularly from Middle Eastern countries or Muslim background

National Lawyer's Guild - see especially their "Know Your Rights" products

Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation - for those with interfaith interest

Alt.Muslim Progressive Muslim site

Interfaith Alliance - From the African Methodist Episcopals to the Zoroastrians and a bunch of folks in between, people from 65 traditions have united to prevent scapegoating and hate crimes

I don't know about y'allz, but I'm calling my local branch of Interfaith Alliance, tomorrow. I suppose I will really have to start going to church again, for reals, this time [sigh].

2003-07-15T01:41:00.000-07:00

NIGER-GATE

Ok, news kids. Be careful.

No, I'm serious.

Be extra-EXTRA careful.

2003-07-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

16 LITTLE WORDS

With apologies to Kalmar and Ruby...

CNN: Rice: 16 Words Dispute 'Enormously Overblown'

Sure, sure. Kinda like, I did not get overblown by that woman Miss Lewinsky.

Something like that.

Oh Condi, you are such a lying sack of s.....weetness.

You're so cute, especially when you make preacher-papa embarassed, by telling tall tales!

Keep it up, smart girl.

2003-07-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

I came very close last week to removing this link to IM @ Blogger. Glad I didnt, as I'm currently in DNS hell with the regular IM site.

For the next few days, I'll be here.

2003-02-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

INTERESTINGMONSTAH.COM DOMAIN IS BACK

2003-02-09T01:52:00.000-08:00

ORANGE AND ANTI-JEWISH/ANTI-SEMITISM

MSNBC just released a piece on "what's behind the upgrade" from yellow to orange.

They say it's because of threats to Jewish and Jewish-owned targets, down to the level of the mundane such as Jewish-owned hotels. I do not doubt Jewish business are being threatened, as this is not a new phenomenon. Unfortunately, MSNBC's main contact man is good old Abe Foxman, head of the ADL, who lost my respect when he started cozying up/turning out the light with known anti-Jewish/anti-Semitic groups in the Evangelical Christian camp, due to their current, toothy-grinned support of Zionist causes. This Tompaine.com article references the time when I was less ambivalent about ADL, and Foxman in turn was much more critical of these people. No doubt, there has been a shift in the past 5 years or so, as the article chronicles. "Zionism" now seems to be more anti-Palestinian/Muslim than pro-Israel.

The latter I can get with. The former in unacceptable.

So, it just makes me wonder about all of this orange business.

2003-02-07T23:26:00.000-08:00

NOT THIS AGAIN...

Another Pakistani on the loose in the US.

Sure.

UPDATE: From the wires

Reuters - FBI Seeking Pakistani for Questioning

UPI - FBI Hunts for Illegal Alien

2003-02-06T22:12:00.000-08:00

INTERESTING MONSTAH WILL BE PARTICIPATING

Via American Samizdat, of which I am a contributing member:

Web Blackout, Feb 15, 2003.

2003-02-06T01:38:00.000-08:00

I FEEL BAD FOR HIM

This "Living With Michael Jackson" thing has gotten really ugly. There is obviously something wrong there. Why make it worse? I know...because people like to see someone worse off than themselves. It's cute and funny to make fun of someone with mental problems, wagging fingers, "he's a 44 year old man" judgment-judgment, looking down our collective noses. Because we would be so much different and mature and conduct ourselves so much better, etc.etc. if it were us.

Because at this point, cruel jokes are what entertains. Because that's what sells, and makes record company suits a few extra pennies.

People are sick, and it's not just Michael.

I don't think I'll be watching it when it comes to the states. But I still love his music and his talent.

2003-02-06T01:18:00.000-08:00

POTS AND KETTLES v 4.0

Condi as amen-corner.

She's looking very stop-in-the-name-of-love, these days.

2003-02-05T23:48:00.000-08:00

THIS IS JUST...

Via Antiwar.com: N Korea Threatens US With First Strike

Great. Just effing great.

2003-02-04T23:15:00.000-08:00

PROTEST

Anil has some rational comments on the United for Peace rally flap.

2003-02-04T16:11:00.000-08:00

NOT EXACTLY SCHADENFREUDE, BUT...
Better them than me

Via Dangerousmeta:

The Atlantic does a doubletake on "the wifely duty".

Marriage used to provide access to sex. Now it provides access to celibacy.

Eew.

2003-02-03T02:12:00.000-08:00

SOME GOOD NEWS
I thought the US could do better - looks like we have

Via Dawn: Date Extension for Pakistanis Likely

Those still in the Labour Department will not be ordered to leave the country right away. Instead they will be given six months to a year to appear before a judge and fix their status.

Those who have already been certified by the Labour Department and their cases are now with the INS will not face deportation proceedings. When they appear for registration, they will be asked to reappear after some time for review of their 245-I amnesty applications.

INS officials will also be lenient in dealing with those on student, professional and work visas (J-1, F-1 and H-1).

Minor violations by students, such as on the campus jobs without authorization or missing a few classes, will be ignored. Similar concessions will also be given to those on work and professional exchange visas. "This will be a major concession because we were very worried about large-scale deportation of students," said an embassy official.

Now all that's needed is a consistent policy for all immigrants. Either register and track everyone, or no one. Sorry also to read that people are getting ripped off by immigration lawyers. That's pathetic.

2003-02-03T00:18:00.000-08:00

BUT...THIS IS AMERICA
Famous last words.

Via Yes.: Speaking for Justice

Devon Abdallah, an Arab-American, and Jasmit Singh, a Sikh, said they didn’t want a kum ba yah event. “We need to stand up and talk about what is really going on.” These words unleashed a fury of assent. This was what the group wanted: to speak out together. But how?

The answer came from Karen Yoshitomi, of the Japanese American Citizens League, who suggested we hold a hearing modeled on those held in the early 1980s on Japanese internment. Individuals from different communities would testify before a commission of high-level officials about their personal experiences of discrimination and profiling since September 11. “Let’s not wait 40 years this time,” Yoshitomi said passionately.

[...]

Bruce Miyake, assistant US attorney for western Washington (whose office is directly responsible for carrying out many of DOJ’s policies), told the crowd that “Part of me doesn’t want to be here because I don’t want to be identified with [the stories I have heard today]. But we have to be accountable. We have to hear the effects of the policies that are being enacted. ... I intend not only to brief the US attorney for western Washington but also to send a letter to President Bush and to Attorney General John Ashcroft about what we have heard today.” The crowd broke into a roar of applause.

New kind of fellowship, new kind of testifyin', happening here.

Call and response for a new kind of congregation.

2003-02-02T23:32:00.000-08:00

ORGCHART CITY!

Uggabugga got Buzzflashed.

2003-02-02T22:52:00.000-08:00

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK, v.5.0

Posted something similar at another forum yesterday.

From Orange County Register: 2 INS Filers Indicted

The destroyed documents, the indictment says, included foreign passports, birth and marriage certificates, and INS letters notifying applicants of their visa status. Officials couldn't say how many individuals were affected. The service center processes documents from California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam.

Yet, Middle Eastern and South Asian men are being detained or deported, even when their paperwork is held up in the INS's own system.

Nice goin'. This is our money that's being paid to these people, to foul up other's lives just because they happen to be immigrants. The US is capable of better than this.

2003-02-02T22:19:00.000-08:00

WEAK
Divisive, too

Some clown named Terry Anderson on immigration (Houston Chron):

According to the Census Bureau, nearby Watts is now 60 percent Hispanic, and it was previously the black community on the West Coast. No longer.

The immigration situation is really hard on our young people. A 17-year-old kid on my street couldn't get a job at McDonald's because he didn't speak Spanish. Another young neighbor boy was thrown into a bilingual classroom at age 8 and was forced to listen to Spanish all day long. His six-hour school day was turned into three hours. When his mother asked for an English-only class, she was told "there are none."

Would you believe that I, a black man, have been called a racist many times for speaking up against this invasion? I have a radio program on the subject and therefore hear from a lot of people, even some in Mexico.

When they call me a racist, I put this question to them: What if a hundred thousand Vietnamese were suddenly dropped into Guadalajara? And what if those newcomers didn't speak Spanish, and further insisted that their children be taught in Vietnamese? What would you think if they were happy to work for half the normal wages for any job they could get, thereby putting thousands of your local Guadalajarans out of work? Would it be racist to say there was a problem?

Ok, so...what about when they call you a f~(%ing idiot? If you are saying racist things, then no, it does not surprise me that people call you racist. Dont' race-bait and you won't have that problem.

American kids should learn at least one language during childhood, on principle. This fool would rather his kids grow up ignorant, on principle.

Also, that Vietnam comparison, and "invasion" rhetoric is weak. After all, this used to be Mexico. Mexico wasn't once Vietnam. The history and context of Mexican immigrants is completely different.

I'd do a take-apart of the rest of this person's argument, but the thought makes me even more tired than I already am.

Don't buy into divisive rhetoric, even (especially?) from people who look like you.

That's my new motto.

2003-02-02T16:51:00.000-08:00

IRAQI PAPERS PLACE COLUMBIA STORY BELOW THE FOLD!

Bombs away...

2003-02-02T01:00:00.000-08:00

WEIRD

Times of India: US Seeks Nod to Bomb Pak Villages

Hi, Mushy? USA, here. Say, do you mind if we come over and kill some of your people in Waziristan? Ok, be over in a minute. Bye.

Indian papers have picked this up, but not Pakistani ones, so we'll have to wait and see what comes of this weird request.

2003-02-02T00:42:00.000-08:00

LEARN MORE

About Drs. Chawla and Anderson.

2003-02-01T17:20:00.000-08:00

YEAH? WELL YOU CAN SIT ON MY FACE

Via Reuters: Iraqis Call Shuttle Disaster God's Vengeance

"God wants to show that his might is greater than the Americans. They have encroached on our country. God is avenging us," he said.

Sounds like this guy's god is at least as petty as Jerry Falwell's. Doubtful all "Iraqi's" feel the same. I sure as hell do not buy this propaganda that they do.

In any case, darn proud to be an athiest, right about now.

2003-02-01T14:01:00.000-08:00

COLUMBIA

I don't know what to say. I started crying when I read it. So terrible.

2003-01-30T23:21:00.000-08:00

I SAY YES TO BOTH

The Independent: Satire or Anti-Semitism: For and Against

As I said in an earlier post (inaccessible at the moment), I hate Sharon's policies. I do not like Likud, and I have no doubts the feeling is mutual. I could give a shit if some Likudnik calls me anti-Semitic for criticizing Sharon; sit on my face.

But what is the point of whipping up one of the nastiest and most obvious anti-Semitic stereotypes in the book?

There is a way to criticize Sharon/Likud without harnessing filthy stereotypes. This cartoon misses the mark, and its "satirical" bent gets lost in the anti-Semitism upon which it depends.

I'm glad people are talking about it.

2003-01-30T23:00:00.000-08:00

PLEASE TELL ME WE ARE NOT GOING TO WAR OVER SOME DAMN TUBES

Saw this today at Times Online (via Antiwar.com): US Says Aluminium Tubes Are Evidence of Iraq's Nuclear Goal.

Didn't they already pull this old gag?

'Sakes.

Too bad Vaudeville died and missed this.

2003-01-30T01:11:00.000-08:00

THANKS A LOT FOR THE MEMORIES

This post, and its ensuing comments at Aaron's, reminded me of why I delinked those murderbloggers months ago.

Three words: Can't. Be. Bothered.

2003-01-29T22:46:00.000-08:00

NOT GOOD

Via Privacy Digest: FBI Task Force Tracks Student Activity, Privacy Concerns Raised.

Prior to the USA PATRIOT Act, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 stated that, unless the school had been mandated by court order or subpoena, an academic institution was generally barred from releasing a student's education records without a student's consent.

"Now, students would never know what files federal agencies have or how it will be used," Saleh said. "Before the Patriot Act, students had consent."

And via Antiwar.com: FBI Forges Closer Ties To Campus Cops

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the FBI has strengthened or established working relationships with hundreds of campus police departments, in part to gain better access to insular communities of Middle Eastern students, the Post reports.

Since when is being "insular" a succeptable crime?

Police state is here.

2003-01-29T22:10:00.000-08:00

INSULT TO INJURY

Wa-Po: Brookings Scholar Is Detained by INS

Often derided as the government's most dysfunctional agency, the INS became infamous last March when it sent out student visa approvals to two of the dead Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists six months after they had slammed hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center.

Part of the reason for Kasuri's visit was to voice his government's alarm over a separate part of the program, which requires male visitors to the United States from 25 nations, most of them predominantly Muslim, to register with the INS.

After meeting with Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and others, Kasuri said yesterday that he felt confident that there would be no mass deportation of Pakistani nationals.

In Haider's case, the episode may have stemmed from confusion about rules for registering male visitors, said Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez. More than 1,200 men have been detained in recent months when they appeared at INS offices.

As if things weren't bad enough with the INS...Ti'm a weekly reader of Haider at The Friday Times (reg req'd). There is something dreadfully wrong with this program. I seriously hope it gets defunded.

UPDATE: Follow our thread at DialogNow

2003-01-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

BAD NEWS

More bad policy. Suspect Held in U.S. in Connection With Since Sept. 11 Tells of Torture During Incarceration

Bad news, all around.

2003-01-29T13:53:00.000-08:00

TEST

This is an alternate site for while I deal with a problem at my host. This will be the Interesting Monstah weblog for probably the next couple weeks. Some functionality may be impaired, but we'll work on this. Thanks.