Juxtaposition

Who'd a thunk?

Some marriages were meant to be.

All together now: "Fox and ClearChannel sittin' in a tree..."

He has no more dreams

Dahr Jamail is an unimbedded freelance journalist reporting from Iraq. This is from his blog. I am trying to imagine the horror of eating rice soaked in dirty water, and of course imagining the inevitable gastro-intestinal consequences.

“There were families with nothing. I met a family with three daughters and two sons. One of their sons, Mustafa who was 16 years old, was killed by American snipers. Then their house was burned. They had nothing to eat. Just rice and cold water-dirty water…they put the rice in the dirty water, let it sit for one or two hours, then they ate the rice. Fatma, the 17 year-old daughter, said she was praying for God to take her soul because she couldn’t bear the horrors anymore.”

The families’ 12 year old boy told Suthir he used to want to be a doctor or a journalist. She paused then added, “He said that now he has no more dreams. He could no longer even sleep.”

One of the most disturbing things that Jamail is reporting is that refugees have reported seeing U.S. tanks with dead Iraqis strapped to the front like trophies. I wonder if one of those photos would be reported in the mainstream press?

Lest We Forget

This is what hatred looks like.
This is what happens when hate-mongers in our culture are successful in their mission to dehumanize their brothers and sisters.
This is what happens when ordinary people allow themselves to get caught up in that hatred.
This is what happens when the Bible is quoted to justify the separation of the races, the subjugation of women, the denial of civil rights to gays and lesbians, holy war.
This is why we must not be silent.

On S'Amuse

Sub Pop has put out a whole new line of tee-shirts. My favorite? This one: Jesus Hates You .

Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure

Discovering that you don't want to teach high school
English .

Cracker Jackboots

Well, Alabama made it a two-fer this week. First, it voted to uphold segregated schools and rejected free public education; now, another of its legislative dim bulbs, afraid that young Alabamans would decide that if anal sex was good enough for Plato, it was good enough for them, has proposed banning all books from libraries in which homosexuality is shown in a positive light.

Allen said that if his bill passes, novels with gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural would have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed.

"I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he said.

Hehhehheh. Hey Beavis, he said "big hole."

The legislator, who appeared on the courthouse steps in jack boots and a trench coat, reported that the trauma caused by his erections in public libraries, as he read Evelyn Waugh novels and The Phaedo, was something he wanted to spare other young men. "I mean, my wife caught me beating off to a picture of Tennessee Williams and she's made me sleep on the couch ever since," he offered. "I'm doing this as a public service. No one should ever have to go through the trauma of getting turned on by reading about boys kissing each other. I thought that maybe I was a fag, until my pastor convinced me that it was the book's fault. Books are evil."

HumVee Heaven

Barbie is doing just fine. It's the rest of us who are in trouble...

I had to travel to Costa Rica on business in June. One day, I found myself sat next to a young college woman from Texas. During the course of our conversation, she casually mentioned that she and her boyfriend (a businessman in his mid-50s who was doing some "consulting" work in San Jose) were big fans of Bush. "In fact," she said, "We just bought a HumVee because we got an enormous tax credit for it."
What do you say to that?
Jo's juxtaposition of the two articles is perfect. Please take a look.

George W. Narcissus

He has now surrounded himself, of course, with a multitude of Echoes.

Cowardly Broadcasting System

An open letter to diversity@cbs.com

Dear CBS,

The irony of juxtaposing your statement on diversity with your decision not to air the advertisement from the United Church of Christ is staggering. You seem to have no problem with giving hate-mongering Christians--those who misquote the Bible to condemn gays--plenty of airtime through inviting them to speak on your news programs, and selling their PACs advertising during the election season, but a simple advertisement that argues that perhaps Jesus wasn't a bigot is too controversial for you to air. How do you sleep at night?

I have wrestled with myself today as to the type of letter I should write to you. I wanted to make it respectful, to tactfully suggest to you that you reconsider your opinion, but I'm tired. I'm tired of hate being promoted as a moral value in this country while loving one's neighbor is depicted as a perversion. You have clearly cast your lot with the hateful bigots in this country. May you enjoy their company.

You can inform your other advertisers that there will be one less viewer for "CSI." My hope is that I'm not alone, and there will be economic consequences for you in refusing to run the ad.

You are cowards. Plain and simple. There is no diplomatic way to say it; there are no euphemisms. You are the Cowardly Broadcasting System. At least you don't need to change your call letters.

Sincerely,
Lorraine Berry

To see the ad .

CBS statement on diversity .

Letter will be sent to NBC later today. nbcshows@nbc.com

The faces never change

This is my great-grandfather. He died in the trenches of World War I, while my great-grandmother was pregnant with my grandmother. My grandmother, of course, never met her father. World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars.

The Parable of The Old Man and The Young
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife. 
And as they sojourned, both of them together, 
Isaac the first-born spake, and said, My Father, 
Behold the preparations, fire and iron, 
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering? 
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps, 
And builded parapets the trenches there, 
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son. 
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven, 
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, 
Neither do anything to him. Behold, 
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns; 
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him. 

But the old man would not so, but slew his son, 
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.