Isn’t this all so exciting?

I can’t remember more exciting times! Every day brings such extraordinary treasures in the form of simply incredible news. It’s all so stimulating.
But Robert C. Fleming Jr. Sub-Sub-Basement and Utter Jackass Emporium, as they realized the incessant wave of ongoing disinformation, false terrorist warnings, and general sniveling alarmist fear tactics aimed at the US populace are working beautifully. About one-third of those polled favor making it easier for authorities to access private e-mail and phone conversations. More than 70 percent are in favor of requiring U.S. citizens to carry ID cards with fingerprints. 57 percent have pretty much given up hope and don’t really care anymore that GW Bush has the intellectual acumen of a garage door, 37 percent actually believe Carrot Top is “sorta funny,” and a very horrifying 19 percent actually think Celine Dion is charming and way talented.

pulling strings

Perfect example of the manipulation of the media in order to manipulate Congress in order to manipulate the public into thinking they are being made safe.

The White House dismissed as “outlandish” on Wednesday suggestions that it disclosed the capture [JAW—over a month ago] of a man suspected of planning a “dirty bomb” attack in order to help President Bush’s homeland security plan and to deflect criticism of U.S. intelligence agencies.
….
Ashcroft raised eyebrows at the White House and elsewhere by his decision to announce Padilla’s capture in a television appearance on Monday from Moscow, where he was on unrelated business, and his claim that U.S. officials had disrupted an “unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States.”

American imprisoned without charge or trial

But Bushie has assured us, “This guy Padilla is a bad guy.”
So there you are. No more questions.
Note that Mr. Padilla is an American citizen, that he was picked up as a material witness only, that he has not been charged with any crime, that he is not known to have gotten beyond the discussion stage of any alleged wrongdoing (no dirty bomb in his backpack or under his bed, in spite of the hysterical headlines), but the Administration needs him in it continuing war on the Constitution, and on the America that is not it.
Their real enemy is us.
I have a horrifically beautiful Sue Coe print, created just prior to our first Gulf war, which bears the text, “The enemy is here, not in Kuwait!” It’s sad, but in a more innocent time, I really thought the piece would quickly become dated.

why Johnny and jane must leave home

Forget the raw materials and the tax incentives and the interstates, the 21st century’s growth areas are those which appeal to talented people. This means:

High counts of gays and counterculture “Bohemians”? Lots of immigrants? Downtowns with lively music and arts scenes, even a tolerance for tattoo parlors?

Yup.

In general, strong high-tech growth has erupted in cities that not only tolerate, but seem to promote and indeed celebrate all manner of cultural diversity. Cities that ignore the new signal will likely be stragglers in the new century’s economic race.

We know where Johnny and Jane want to be, even if their names are Ivan and Janisha.

my Wagner, if not theirs

I have put off entering an item about an extraordinary production of Richard Wagner’s “The Rhinegold” [sic] two and a half weeks ago, by the EOS Orchestra, since I was waiting for the review which I asssumed would be coming from the NYTimes. The review never appeared, even though the paper had published the customary preview puff piece a week prior to the performances.
If we wish to see our experience as members of the audience confirmed it’s necessary to go online, to reviews in Andante or Classics Today.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have no familial relationship with the German songwriter, only a total adoration for his music. [Of at least a dozen uncles and 95 first cousins, not one was given the name, “Dick,” so far as I can recall. Very odd.] I am extremely fond of the full-size Patrice Chereau Bayreuth peformance and I have several recordings of most of the operas in traditional form, but I was totally blown away by Johathan Sheffer’s pocket production last month.
The performance was absolutely enchanting, immediate, dramatic, and gloriously musical, but ultimately its greatest virtue was probably the proof it offered that opera, even Wagner, can be made accessible and very sexy for any size audience, anywhere.
New York should insist that EOS bring the rest of “The Ring” to audiences which think the Met both too poor in its art and too rich in its fees, and we should be able to see the example of chamber Wagner followed elsewhere around the country.

Luster made real

The Great American movie? Not quite, but it’ll do for this week at least. Queer, yes, but not just for queers. We saw Luster last night at the New Festival and got much more than we expected.
Ok, it’s set in L.A., the actors are attractive (and not looking like Chelsea or Hollywood), it’s very cool, very sexy, very beautiful, with a great soundtrack (half the scenes are in love with the perfect little music store) and the plot is not predictable.
Most oddly, with its stealth morality and easy didacticism, it could serve as the best ever after-school special, but only in a more perfect, grown-up world where we don’t have the burden of our inherited prejudices.
Best line, from a very sexy guy-naif, “I’m a lesbian!”
Write your congressperson. Get it into your neighborhood. Don’t lose this film!

Eeegads!

The Bushies are at it again. They just can’t shut up, can they?

“The free societies we love face unprecedented threats,” Bush told the International Democrat Union, a worldwide association of moderate to conservative politicians. “We face cold-blooded killers that hate the freedoms we cherish.”
….
“Grave threats are accumulating against us, and inaction will only bring them closer,” Cheney said. “We will not wait until it is too late.”

The Govament’s up to something big, perhaps real soon. Grab the flintlock and stock the cellar, Mother!

overcoming small numbers, and history

It looks like Afghan women will not let themselves be shut out, in spite of the way the cards have been dealt for the Loya Jirga. The New York Daily News manages a report of its own today, scooping and shaming the more high brow “Grey Lady.”

“If there is any obstacle, we will definitely boycott the loya jirga,” threatened 47-year-old Zia Karkar of Laghman province.
She and five other women took center stage yesterday, warning their male counterparts that despite coming from different tribes, they are united in their demand for a greater role in government and society.
….
Topping the women’s list of demands is a seat on the panel that will write Afghanistan’s version of the Bill of Rights for its 30 million people.