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Archive for July, 2006

Sunday afternoon short fiction read

In the current issue of the New Yorker, a short story about the final days of the Spanish Civil War and a Francoist captain’s decision to surrender to the soon to be defeated Loyalists.

“When asked if the heroic deeds of the National Army were his reason for betraying the Fatherland, he replied that they were not, that the real reason was that our objective at that time was not to win the war against the Popular Front.

“When asked what our objective was, if not to win the Glorious Crusade, the accused replied, ‘To kill them.’ ”

After which he was found guilty of treason and collusion with the enemy, and sentenced to death.

Both the stamp and the signature are illegible.

The former Captain Alegría had, at last, spoken of the usury of war to his superior officers.

Read First Defeat (1939) by Alberto Méndez.

(Translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews.)

Remembrance of Ironies Past

Remember the good old days? Remember when we could enjoy the delicious ironies of Randy Newman songs like “Political Science” and part of our enjoyment was knowing that the song narrator’s hilariously psychotic worldview was recognizable –hey, we’ve all had thoughts like this!–but at the same time was a worldview that could never, never, ever, not in a million years, gain any traction here in the real world?
Ahh. The good old days…

Political Science

No one likes us-I don’t know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let’s drop the big one and see what happens

We give them money-but are they grateful?
No, they’re spiteful and they’re hateful
They don’t respect us-so let’s surprise them
We’ll drop the big one and pulverize them

Asia’s crowded and Europe’s too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada’s too cold
And South America stole our name
Let’s drop the big one
There’ll be no one left to blame us

We’ll save Australia
Don’t wanna hurt no kangaroo
We’ll build an All American amusement park there
They got surfin’, too

Boom goes London and boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh, how peaceful it will be
We’ll set everybody free
You’ll wear a Japanese kimono
And there’ll be Italian shoes for me

They all hate us anyhow
So let’s drop the big one now
Let’s drop the big one now

link to the lyrics and to the Randy Newman discography and to the rest of his exhaustively thorough (but it’s heaven to me) website.

A personal note (not for the squeamish):

Randy Newman has always been up at the top (where it’s lonely, as he first told us so long ago) of my short list of singer/songwriters/and a few others to whom I would give myself as an eternal love slave.   What a deal!
Alas, there’s never been any takers.

Randy Newman is top of the list because he frequently uses the device of the unreliable narrator in his songs, and if there’s anybody who’s a pushover for that, it’s me.

~~~

UPDATE:  Unreliable narrators are everywhere!  Look at ‘em, all over the place, in many of my favorite songs, literature, movies, and even blogs.

BTW…   I’m yours, Giblets. Command me!

~~~

Sail Away album cover

Moyers in ‘08

Molly Ivins is always coming up with  great ideas:

AUSTIN, Texas —

Dear desperate Democrats:

 Here’s what we do. We run Bill Moyers for president. I am serious as a stroke about this. It’s simple, cheap and effective, and it will move the entire spectrum of political discussion in this country. Moyers is the only public figure who can take the entire discussion and shove it toward moral clarity just by being there.The poor man who is currently our president has reached such a point of befuddlement that he thinks stem cell research is the same as taking human lives, but that 40,000 dead Iraqi civilians are progress toward democracy.

Bill Moyers has been grappling with how to fit moral issues to political issues ever since he left Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and went to work for Lyndon Johnson in the teeth of the Vietnam War. Moyers worked for years in television, seriously addressing the most difficult issues of our day. He has studied all different kinds of religions and different approaches to spirituality. He’s no Holy Joe, but he is a serious man. He opens minds — he doesn’t scare people. He includes people in, not out. And he sees through the dark search for a temporary political advantage to the clear ground of the Founders. He listens and he respects others.  

Read the rest here.    

How about Moyers/Ivins in ‘08? 

 

Spong on Atheism

More Spong, too interesting to pass up. To sign up for weekly new content from the Bishop, go here.

Shades of Dear Abby: In this recent Q&A, Spong advises a poor schmuck whose wife of 25 years wants to leave him because he told her he doesn’t believe in God any more..

B. from the Internet writes:
“I first encountered your religious philosophy and/or beliefs watching your lecture on University of California Television about one year ago. I have read several of your books and find your thoughts to be the best and most sensible in understanding the Christian faith. However, about three to four years ago I made the decision to become an atheist based on reading two books by John A. Henderson, “God.com” and “Fear, Faith, Fact and Fantasy.”

I kept this secret from my wife and even told her that your views made the most sense to me and your religious philosophy gave me hope that there might even be a Higher Power. However, about three months ago, I read Sam Harris - “The End of Faith” and since that time have felt very comfortable with being an atheist. Moreover, I have taken several college level audio CD courses in religion and philosophy, read several books by Elaine Pagels, studied the findings of the Jesus Seminar, studied several essays and books by Thomas Sheehan, Rudolph Bultmann and Robert Funk. None of which has changed my mind.

The point I am trying to get to is: My wife has always been a Born Again Christian and early in our marriage of 25 years, we attended the churches of her faith and those of my original faith - Lutheran. Both of my parents are Lutheran. The other night after a very pleasant evening out, we got into a discussion about going to church again and I told her I was an atheist. She almost made me stop the car and let her get out because she would not be yoked to a non-believer. We are still together and have tried to talk through this but she is having great difficulty in accepting my decision. We are scheduled to see a marriage counselor that we both liked when we had some problems in our marriage about 10-15 years ago at her suggestion and my total agreement.

Is there any insight or advice you might provide to help us work through this situation? I do not want to be divorced much less separated. Fortunately, we do not have any children. But I am deeply alarmed that she might consider separation because I am not a Christian. I did ask her what if I had chosen Islam, Jewish or even a Taoist belief what would she have done. She said, ‘Well, at least you would believe in something.’ ” Dear B.,

You did not sign your name so I have used the first initial of your email address to preserve your anonymity. Thank you for sharing your personal story with me. First let me say that I consider atheism a profound religious point of view that ought to be honored. The atheist is not saying there is no God for nobody can finally make that statement. What the atheist is saying is that there is no God like the one I have grown up with - that God is not capable of being God for me. The word atheist means literally “no theist.” Theism is the overwhelmingly human definition of God perpetrated largely in the western world by the Judeo-Christian faith tradition. Theism defines God as a being, sometimes called the Supreme Being, supernatural in power, dwelling somewhere external to the world and periodically invading the world to split the Red Sea, to impose the divine will, to bless or to punish or to answer prayers. This definition of God has been largely destroyed by the intellectual revolution that began in the 16th century with Copernicus and continues in our day with discoveries of DNA, the dimensions of space and so many other things. The theistic God is now largely unemployed for everything that we once thought God did, is now explained with no reference to God at all - Tsunamis, hurricanes, sickness, death, etc. So if atheism means, “I do not believe in a theistic God,” it is a religious statement and you have much company in the modern world. Some in this company are conscious that is who they are, while others are largely unconscious of the fact that they have made that decision. They simply act it out.

If your claim of atheism means that you know all there is to know about God and the world and have decided that there is no room in the universe for God understood in any manner, then you are as closed-minded as the most rabid fundamentalist.

In regard to your wife and your marriage, other issues are clearly operating and seeing a counselor is a wise thing to do. Be aware of and sensitive to the fact that for many people religion is a major part of their security system. They cannot function without it. To disturb that security system becomes an intolerable threat to the person hiding behind its walls. Only when you understand that will you understand how it is possible that your wife might leave a 25-year marriage because you can no longer live inside the boundaries of what you perceive the belief in God requires. So much of what we human beings are is beneath the level of the conscious. Most of our fears are there. When you disturb that level you get surprising and most often irrational responses. They are symptoms not causes. A 25-year marriage is worth working to save. I hope you both will do that. I send you my hopes and best wishes.

– John Shelby Spong

How Do You Like Your Puddy Tat Now?

I tawt I taw a qwanky Tweety.

kwanky tweety (by driftglass)

(photo by driftglass)

I did! I did!
The twuth can make you vewy vewy qwanky.

There’s a light over at the Wegenstein place

A few nights ago at the entrance to the vast, deserted, crumbling blog that was once Norwegianity

wege_ette.PNG

SECURITY GUARD: No ma’am. I don’t see “itinerant band of Norwegian lutefisk wranglers” anywhere on my Approved Visitors list.

wege_ette_sure.png

SECURITY GUARD: Oh yes, ma’am. Very sure. I don’t see anything about a “lady bloggers night” either. Are you sure Mr. G gave you permission
to stay here?

uh huh

SECURITY GUARD: I ask because unfortunately we’ve had to tighten up security quite a bit lately. There have been… incidents.

incidents?

SECURITY GUARD: Yes. Incidents. Somebody’s gotten in several times and vandalized the property while Mr. G has been away.

that's terrible

SECURITY GUARD: Yes. For example, according to the latest damage estimate, several very valuable music files containing hundreds of hours of Lithuanian broken-beat Mantovani have been completely destroyed.
shocking
SECURITY GUARD: There’s also a large stain on the rug in the den. It looks like somebody spilled an entire bottle of Rhubarb wine in there.
wege_ette_gasp!.png

SECURITY GUARD: As if that wasn’t bad enough, someone was apparently eating Cheetos in the library and didn’t wash their hands before rifling through the priceless goatse collection.

gasp 2
Security Guard: Yes. Mr. G is quite upset.

excuse me

SECURITY GUARD: Certainly.

wege_ette_makeover.png

tell Manolo

no cheetos

ok i'm back

SECURITY GUARD: Yes, well. Look, I’m sorry but you’re all going to have to leave now.

ok then

stupid wege

 

Welcome back, stupid Wege.

~~~ 

UPDATE:  Well, that was certainly an ugly little fiasco. I should have just gone with my original idea; I went digging in my old back pages and found something suitable for the occasion:

1returnwege.jpg  

 

Channeling KvM

Over at the Power Liberal, Smartie is blogging like KvM today.   He’s clocked 9 posts so far.  Hang on for every breathless detail!

What do bloggers get in lieu of hazard pay when they go so far above and beyond?    

…Smartie, on Thursday I’m buying you a beer.  And the OTC analgesic pain reliever of your choice. 

 

       

 

Spong: Mr. Bush is a Public Embarrassment

A recent column from retired Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong,  one of this godless heathen’s favorite people of faith. 

Shill moment:  I am glad to pay for content when it’s consistently this thoughtful and full of insight.  If  you appreciate Spong and want to read more and think you might even be willing to pay to do that, go here. First month is free. 

Ok, over to Spong:

June 21, 2006 

Mr. Bush: A Public Embarrassment  

I find myself deeply embarrassed today by the President of the United States. It is a new feeling. I do not pretend to be a Bush fan. I have many disagreements with him on many issues. I do not share or appreciate his political philosophy. I count myself as part of the loyal opposition, and believe that this country is always at its best where there is rigorous public debate. Mr. Bush ran as a “conservative” and he has governed as a conservative. That is a legitimate position even if it is not my position. In other periods of history, such as 1932-1952 liberals have won and have governed from a liberal perspective with conservatives in the opposition. That is not the cause of my present embarrassment. It is also not the first time that I have been embarrassed by my president. I had similar feelings when I had to observe the tawdry behavior of President Clinton misusing the Oval Office with his compliant intern, Monica Lewinsky. I expect better behavior than that from the one into whose hands we, the voters, place the destiny of our nation.  Mr. Bush is now the recipient of that sense of embarrassment that almost reaches the level of being sickening. I do not mean to suggest that Mr. Bush has been guilty of some similar sexual indiscretion. Non-sexual behavior, however, can be equally embarrassing and in most cases far more destructive. I now recoil at this president’s blatant and overt act of seeking to rally his political base by turning the wrath of prejudice and fear, always latent in the human psyche, toward a designated victim, in this case the gay and lesbian population of the country.  His motivation is overt and obvious. His ratings in the polls have plummeted to the lowest point of a president in decades. The war in Iraq is going poorly. The casualties continue to mount. The attempt to form a government made up of those who will cooperate with the American military presence is delusional since every poll shows that a vast majority of Iraqis want the Americans out. His words, “mission accomplished,” spoken on the aircraft carrier only a few months after the successful sweep into Baghdad in 2003, have proved to be disastrously empty. His claim to be strong on national security went down the drain when this administration proved to be woefully unprepared to deal with a natural disaster called Hurricane Katrina about which there had been weeks of warning as that storm journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean and into the Caribbean. When an administration is that inept in dealing with a natural disaster, its claim to be ready to deal with another terrorist attack, for which there will be no warning, sounds empty. Again the words of an administration badly out of touch with reality haunt this president: “You did a helluva job, Brownie.”    

Next there was the sudden passion to fix the long term immigration problem ignored by this administration for six full years. Mr. Bush’s reluctance to address this issue came because it is splitting his party in two. His southern right wing religious base is made up of the old George Wallace vote where tribal feelings and racial prejudices run deep. They see a tide of brown-skinned Mexicans threatening their economic security and they respond viscerally. They want a fence built along the line between the United States and Mexico. They perfume their racism by saying that this is a ‘national security issue.’ It is noteworthy, however, that no one is proposing a fence across the United States border with Canada, which is equally as porous for those who want access to this nation. The other side of the Republican Party is made up of American business corporations who have long encouraged the illegal hiring of thousands of undocumented laborers, who work for low wages and receive no benefits. These businesses do not want this source of cheap labor either publicized or stopped. It is a battle between prejudice and greed. This administration is now caught in a lose-lose situation and its wiggle room has been greatly diminished.

Read more »

Get it? Got it. Good.

get_it_got_it_good.png

Michael Brodkorb of MDE and other conservative henchmen stooges sycophants bloggers met with the President’s favorite turd blossom Karl Rove on Friday during the Überweasel’s visit to Minnesota.
By all accounts the hourlong blogger briefing was a hot ‘n’ heavy session of high level GOP strategy. Brodkorb was heard to murmur “Pinch me! I can’t believe this is really happening. He is just so totally bitchin’!” as he crouched in passion-drenched delirium at Rove’s side.

UPDATE:

later that day

Meanwhile, Moses caught the action from a different angle

favorite YouTube video of the week

...and smell the coffee