March 2003 Archives

So tomorrow is supposed to be a "national day of prayer." We're supposed to pray for our troops to win the war, and for President Bush, and all that jazz.

Or, if you like your directed group prayer a little less martial, we can join together in prayer for Bush and send him peaceful messages of love. This was suggested by Psychic Children in Hawaii, or something like that.

Well, what the flipping hell? I really, really dislike this concept of God as vending machine, or prayer as a way to get what you want. Sure, I've prayed for a given outcome. We all do. It's human. But to encourage it en masse like this seems frankly icky to me.

I've got company, at least. Roger Ebert doesn't just write movie reviews; he set forth the different between private prayer and Prayer That's Designed To Make An Impression in this beautifully written column. He calls them "vertical prayer" and "horizontal prayer" respectively. The latter "serves one of two purposes: to encourage me to join them, or to make me feel excluded."

I'm sure that the peace-praying crowd have the best of intentions. They're trying to counter the Jerry Fallwell - Angry God stuff. But people are going to do this thinking that it makes a difference somehow, when that energy would be better spent elsewhere. Want to influence the government? Vote, write letters, make phone calls, lobby. Want to strengthen your spirit? Do it the way that feels right to you. That may very well involve prayer, but use it carefully — and not cynically, and not because you think the Psychic Children are going to send a message to President Bush.

My dad's side of the family is from Diemeringen, a town in the Alsace region of France. They mostly left in the 19th century; some of them were still there during World War II (and were hidden in Paris by kindly Christians). My grandparents went on a trip to Alsace in the early 1980s and met an elderly pair of sisters who only spoke French; they hired a translator and had a nice chat. Diemeringen was mentioned in the Jewish Bulletin, yesterday — the historical synagogues are endangered.

"How did so many synagogues end up in Alsace? Most French Jews lived in the province when, in 1791, France became the first country in Europe to grant Jews citizenship. Between then and 1914, some 176 synagogues were built in the province out of 256 for all France."

Synagogues aren't the only thing in trouble in France, apparently. According to the NY Times, antiwar rallies are turning their attention to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and are taking on a troubling tone. They aren't just criticising Sharon or the settlements. There's stuff like this happening: "Another French Arab pointed to a group of protesters from a Jewish student association, and said: 'They are targets. They are not welcome here because of what they did to our Palestinian brothers.'"

The general climate for Jews in France seems to be getting rather chilly...

Listening to a rebroadcast of Forum from earlier today, an hour on "patriotism"...

Where did they find the gentleman on the phone? Such a troglodyte-like throwback to the bad old days, I rarely have the pleasure of hearing.

One fine moment was when he made the assertion that criticizing the president or his policies is unpatriotic, apparently with the proviso that it occur in a foreign country. At one point, someone called in and inquired whether the Republican party's years of public mud-slinging at Clinton was unpatriotic. "Well, they didn't do it abroad. I mean, I've been a critic of Clinton..." You don't say. Gosh.

And let's just hope he never criticized Clinton in the Bay Area, because according to him, "San Francisco is just like a foreign country to me."

Ah. The troglodyte is Gil Ferguson, retired Lt. Col. United States Marine Corps, former State Assemblyman and Chairman of the California Republican Assembly Publications Committee.

(And the counterweights were: Cecilia Elizabeth O'Leary , associate professor of history at CSU Monterey, is the author of "To Die For: The Paradox of American Patriotism"; Helal Omeria, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, Northern California Chapter; Eva Jefferson Paterson, executive director of the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area)

Today's edition of Salon.com has an interesting article by Michelle Goldberg, "Rage or reason / Antiwar activists debate: Should they take over the streets or work to defeat Bush in 2004?" I suppose it reflects my viewpoint: the war has already started and probably can't be halted, but that it's crucially important to prevent another four years under the current nightmare we call an administration.

"Moderate groups like MoveOn.org and the National Council of Churches don't wholly disagree [with the direct action movement's ideas], but their emphasis is on long-term goals and expansion. They see the war as resulting from a breakdown in education and democracy, and their aim is to spread the word about the Bush administration's foreign policy agenda through teach-ins, Web sites and church meetings. They also plan a parallel effort to work to elect progressive candidates who they hope will return a measure of accountability to government and start mending international institutions like the U.N. "

--> www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/03/27/ antiwar_movement/index.html

A student disappears along with his family, and a teacher wonders what happened to him, and worries that she knows the answer

Five Postwar Suggestions for George Bush
From Alternet, an article suggesting that since we've gone to war, we might as well do things right from this point on and really actually try to make Iraq a real-live democracy and then get out.

And on the information management front, the FBI no longer has to try to make sure its database is accurate before sharing the information. Oh boy...

--> Evasion! Scroll down to the part about Haliburton.

Wow. Was this guy evesdropping on the conversations I've been having with Michael?

When do you know when things have gotten irretrievably bad in your country; what are the signs, how do you decide? Is it possible to just gradually get used to conditions you really should be taking as loud and clear warning signs?

-------------------

--> www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/03/25/no_return/index.html

Edith got us tickets to the Alice Private Concert!

And here's a picture of us with the band and two other audience members (one of whom brought her vinyl record from the 1980s for them to sign. That's a true fan.)

I am in total awe. Until this morning, I had an extremely ugly wall of built-in closets in my living room. They were moldy and rickety (the doors would never stay shut).

At 9 am, Curtis Wong showed up to change all this.

At 10:30 am, he called to me from the living room. I walked in, and saw a room transformed! He's not done yet — he's still got to patch the wall, and I've got to do something about getting rid of the carpet, which now has odd gaps in it where the closet walls once stood — but still, it's so nice to see those windows which have been concealed all this time...

Check out the pictures!

So I've had this idea for a while of documenting my searches... when I find something online, actually recording the process, so I can explain to other people how I look things up and what my thought process is. I dunno. Maybe it's valuable, maybe it's just a vanity exercise. But it will help me remember how I do this.

So tonight somebody on my mailing list was looking for the font that they use on the cover of the Harry Potter books.

I fired up Google, naturally, and tried:

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" artwork

No luck. Too many pages about nothing in particular. Thank you for playing. Try again.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" font

Netted me poorly coded web pages in which the font tag was showing up.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" typeface

Better, but not quite right.

"Harry Potter cover" typeface

Shoot, no results whatsoever.

"Harry Potter" typeface

Aha! Eighth item down the page is:

www.dj-root.com/fonts.shtml

So my friend Edith wangled tickets to the Alice Lounge concert featuring Erasure. I had already been thinking about trying to see them; my English-but-now-Canadian friend Richard had talked excitedly about seeing them in Toronto; he's a long-time fan from his teenage years. "Be sure to ask Andy Bell if he remembers the balding bloke in the front row with the pregnant wife. Oh, and tell him that I went and saw Erasure in concert in 1987. I used to change my hairstyle each time to match the band's; now I can't do it anymore because I don't have any hair." Well, perhaps he'll be comforted to know that Andy Bell now also sports a close-cropped 'do with the slightest suggestion of a receding hairline. He also apparently has a preference for flowery Hawaiian shirts (though at the tasteful end of the spectrum). Anyway, the show was terrific, though brief (the band did "Alien", "Solisbury Hill", "Oh L'Amour", "Love's Young Dream", "A Little Respect", and... I forget the other one. Darn. Anyway, afterwards, I went up to the band and delivered Richard's message; I think they were taking the piss, but they did ask if the baby was born and "will they call the baby Andy?" Heh. Oh, and we all got to line up with the band in small groups and get our photos taken with them; I asked Andy Bell if his smile was worn out yet. ("Almost.") Anyway, it was a good distraction from the events of the day, though from the W hotel, we did get a good view of Howard Street and the many police motorcycles racing up the street.

Which leads me to how my boyfriend spent the evening: he joined one of the street action protests and helped block traffic. Unfortunately, he got to witness a woman doing a hit-and-run. Luckily, it sounds like the man she hit will be all right, but he did bleed a lot. She picked the wrong group to mess with; several of them got her license plate number. Maybe he was foolish to try to prevent her from getting through the intersection — frankly, I think he was foolish — but that's no excuse to run someone down. Pretty appalling.

On another note, Michael had a conversation with an older woman there (in her fifties, I think) who exclaimed at one point, "I never should have voted for Bush." Think about it. In the span of two years, this woman went from voting for Dubya to participating in civil disobedience on a street corner.

That's truly surreal.

By the way, all Erasure lyrics can be found here:

--> expiredmilk.com/twelfth/lyrics.htm

Two articles tonight.

One, from Alternet, by Barbara O'Brian, "Is It Too Late to Save America?" My boyfriend Michael thinks it is. I'm not sure yet.

--> www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15425

Two, a posting by my friend Kimberly on her blog. This one really hits home somehow.

--> www.livejournal.com/users/kimberly_a/151310.html

Salon's March 19 edition features an article called "See No Evil" by Edward W. Lempinen. "Progressives have lots of arguments against the war on Iraq -- some of them compelling. But why aren't they burning to free Saddam's oppressed masses?"

And I have to say... it's a good question. Dubya and his administration frame everything with such simplistic arguments, and have behaved so poorly, that it obscures the legitimate issues with Iraq. But it is true that Dubya behaving badly doesn't make Saddam a saint.

I remain very torn, yet I take some comfort and direction from this concluding statement:

"For those leftists who have supported the war, and for those who have loudly opposed it, now is the time for a shift in strategy. Bush and his inner circle have repeatedly gone on the record describing the war on Iraq as a war on liberation. Even if we do not believe them, we must work relentlessly to hold them accountable. We must insist that the U.S. and its allies implement, as quickly as possible, a constructive post-war plan. They must protect the Kurds from Saddam and from Turkey. Aided by the U.N., they must provide for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people, no matter the cost. If they truly want to detoxify the Middle East, Bush and his inner circle must commit to seeking a practical solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. They must be reminded constantly, and forcefully, that it is urgent to repair trust, and to stop the corrosion that comes with chronic hypocrisy. By insisting on these values, by returning to the street in a tide of millions, the left might hijack the meaning of this tragedy and salvage from it something constructive. In doing so, we would stand for something that would resonate well into the political center; in doing so, we might create energy that could be channeled into the 2004 presidential campaign."

Other relevant excerpts follow.

--> www.salon.com/opinion/feature/ 2003/03/19/left/index.html

The March 17 edition of the New York Times has an analysis piece by David E. Sanger called "Bush's Doctrine for War". Bush's justification for the impending war on Iraq is a whole new national security strategy, as advocated by hawks like Paul Wolfowitz. Where will it lead? Nobody knows (but it sure doesn't look good.)

And in today's (March 18) Chronicle, Jon Carroll has a column called "The paranoia of the left". The title will likely piss many people off, but he has sensible things to say... namely that despite Fox News and other programs and publications masquerading as news, it is possible to get good information. In fact, there's a lot of it. Maybe too much.

--> www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/ international/middleeast/18ASSE.html?pagewanted=1

--> www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/03/18/DD34710.DTL

This is what we did in my 'hood last night. I think there were a couple of hundred people there, at least! At one point, a group of people marching up and down Piedmont Avenue passed by, and they just kept coming and coming.. it took 10 or 15 minutes for all of them to pass us. Some of us just stayed in front of the school the whole time.

Fish about to be butchered in kosher shop starts shouting apocalyptic prophecy? Now, that's fresh fish!

--> www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,915125,00.html

This week's New Yorker (March 17 issue) has an interesting column on 1) how many of us are deeply conflicted about going to war on Iraq, and 2) how this administration's Utter Certainty that they are Doing the Right Thing has caused a lot of harm, even before the shooting starts (and it seems inevitable that it will start.)

--> www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?030317ta_talk_hertzberg

And in today's Chronicle, a report that anarchists will be joining tomorrow's peace march. Oh joy. "'I don't encourage the violence at all, but the breakaway protests are about changing the way things are going,' said Steve Comstock, a 21-year-old Santa Cruz resident who was arrested after participating in the last splinter march." Er, how, exactly?

I'm not saying there isn't a place for civil disobedience — but this ain't no civil rights movement sit-in we're talking about. It's one thing to say, "If we can't all have access to our shared institutions, than NOBODY gets access." It's another thing to say, "Destroy the system!" without even proposing an alternative.

That's not peace, it's not a solution, and it's not even a coherent message. I want no part of it.

"Anarchists to take part in S.F. march; They say they're demonstrating against evils of capitalism"

--> sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/03/14/BA66439.DTL

On Alternet's website on March 13, this ominously titled article appeared. The author brings up good points, and he doesn't hesitate to criticize the peace movement for sins of omission, but he also has some excellent suggestions for a way forward.

"'Bush Wins': The Left's Nightmare Scenario" by Mark LeVine

--> www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15379

Just read — hell, devoured — two books by one Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow and Children of God. More on my thoughts later, but I found this review of the latter, along with an exchange with the author. From a Mormon site, interestingly enough...

--> www.aml-online.org/reviews/b/B199840.html

House cafeterias change names for 'french fries' and 'french toast'

OK, many stupid things are being done right now, and in the grand scheme of things, maybe this isn't the stupidest... but it's hard to see that right now. How much precious time did these stupid lawmakers spend on this issue, and do they have no sense of how moronic they look?

I mean, "freedom fries"?

In this country, freedom certainly does fry...

(Anyone for freedom kissing?)

---------

Move reflects anger over France's stance on Iraq

By Sean Loughlin
CNN Washington Bureau
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 Posted: 5:45 PM EST (2245 GMT)

Restaurant serves 'freedom fries'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The cafeteria menus in the three House office buildings changed the name of "french fries" to "freedom fries," in a culinary rebuke of France stemming from anger over the country's refusal to support the U.S. position on Iraq.

Ditto for "french toast," which will be known as "freedom toast."

The name changes were spearheaded by two Republican lawmakers who held a news conference Tuesday to make the name changes official on the menus.

--> www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/ 03/11/sprj.irq.fries/index.html

Harley Sorensen writes on SFGate today that in his opinion, peace marches are a big old waste of time, and that peace activists could learn a great deal from, of all people, anti-abortion activists. Yikes!

As disturbing as this column is, he raises some good points. So much of the arguments I've seen and heard seem to 1) preach to the converted, 2) over-simplify, or 3) come across as arrogant. If this is driving people away from the peace camp... well, what's the point?

I'll still march again, though. I just need to remember not to stop there and think I've done everything I need to do.

And why the heck don't more people vote in this country!?!? If more of us had been paying attention, and made a more informed choice at the ballot box... we wouldn't have this present lovely situation.

See relevant quotes below.

--> March Madness: Protests Don't Work: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? file=/gate/archive/2003/03/10/hsorensen.DTL

By way of Mena Trott's blog comes this fine site. Every day, the guy who runs it posts a new song from his collection of weirdities and oddnesses. Yes, William Shatner is there. There's a lot of songs with Jesus in the title. And what's a Cambodian Funk Yodeler when he's at home?, Yes, I Like Cheese too.

--> www.otisfodder.com/365days.html

Mysteriously buried on Money.CNN.com...

Halliburton theft ups terror fears
Fears of a 'dirty bomb' arise with theft of oil services firm's radioactive device in Africa.
March 6, 2003: 1:57 PM EST
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Halliburton Co., the world's No. 2 oil field services firm, said Thursday it has started a probe involving U.S. and Nigerian government officials over theft of a radioactive device used at its Nigerian operations.

---
Yep. That Halliburton. Cheney's old company.

Great. Just great.

--> money.cnn.com/2003/03/06/ news/companies/halliburton.reut/index.htm

Well, that could be the title of this editorial (it's actually called "The Worst-Case Scenario Arrives") in the March 6 issue of the New York Times. The UN Security Council seems to be at a complete impasse. Even though Iraq was starting to give in, war now seems inevitable, as France, Germany, and Russia declare that they will not back the war, and the U.S. has announced that they will go ahead even without UN backing.

"The rupture in the Security Council is not just another bump in the road in the showdown with Iraq. It could lead to a serious, possibly fatal, breakdown in the system of collective security that was fashioned in the waning days of World War II, a system that finally seemed to be reaching its potential in the years since the end of the cold war. Whatever comes of the conflict with Iraq, the world will have lost before any fighting begins if the Security Council is ruined as a mechanism for unified international action."

----

"The French and the Russians are not the only ones who brought us to this point. Mr. Bush and his team laid the groundwork for this mess with their arrogant handling of other nations and dismissive attitude toward international accords. Though they mended their ways to some extent after Sept. 11, and initially tried to work through the Security Council on Iraq, the White House's obvious intention to go to war undermined that effort."

--> www.nytimes.com/2003/03/06/opinion/06THU1.html

Downloaded this album from Emusic after hearing lots of buzz about it.

So far, I am finding myself listening to it a lot. Oddly enough, she reminds me of other singers that I'm not so fond of, like Sarah McLaughlin and Sinead O'Connor, but for some reason, this one works for me. It's got an interesting edge and textures — there's hints of Beth Gibbons, and Beth Orton, and it's dark rather than sickly-sweet. I gather from reading reviews that it's not considered her best work — Moon Pix has that honor, so I'll be checking that out next.

An article by Howard Fineman in the March 10 issue of Newsweek. "A higher calling: It is his defining journey—from reveler to revelation. A biography of his faith, and how he wields it as he leads a nation on the brink of war."

Wow. This is a man who gave a speach at a National Prayer Breakfast and said "Behind all of life and all history there is a dedication and purpose, set by the hand of a just and faithful God."

And...

"America had to see that it is 'encountering evil' in the form of Saddam Hussein. The country had no choice but to confront it, by war if necessary. 'If anyone can be at peace,' Bush said, “I am at peace about this.'"

--> www.msnbc.com/news/878520.asp?0cv=KA01

Thomas Friedman's column in the March 2 issue of the New York Times says what a lot of people are probably thinking — even if going to war in Iraq is a good thing, the Bush administration can be counted on to screw it up, based on their track record of alienating just about everybody around them.

"My dilemma is that while I believe in such a bold project, I fear that Mr. Bush has failed to create a context for his boldness to succeed, a context that could maximize support for his vision — support vital to seeing it through. He and his team are the only people who would ever have conceived this project, but they may be the worst people to implement it. The only place they've been bold is in their military preparations (which have at least gotten Saddam to begin disarming)."

...

"I mean that if taking out Saddam and rebuilding Iraq had been my goal from the minute I took office (as it was for the Bush team), I would not have angered all of Europe by trashing the Kyoto global warming treaty without offering an alternative. I would not have alienated the entire Russian national security elite by telling the Russians that we were ripping up the ABM treaty and that they would just have to get used to it. (You're now seeing their revenge.) I would not have proposed one radical tax cut on top of another on the eve of a huge, costly nation-building marathon abroad.

I would, though, have rallied the nation for real energy conservation and initiated a Manhattan Project for alternative energies so I would not find myself with $2.25-per-gallon gasoline on the eve of this war — because OPEC capacity is nearly tapped out. I would have told the Palestinians that until they stop suicide bombing and get a more serious leadership, we're not dealing with them, but I would also have told the Israelis that every new or expanded settlement they built would cost them $100 million in U.S. aid. And I would have told the Arabs: 'While we'll deal with the Iraqi threat, we have no imperial designs on your countries. We are not on a crusade — but we will not sit idle if you tolerate extremists in your midst who imperil our democracy.'"

--> www.nytimes.com/2003/03/02/opinion/02FRIE.html