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Welcome to the musings and notes of a Cadillac, Michigan based writer named Micah Holmquist, who is bothered by his own sarcasm. Please send him email at micahth@chartermi.net. Holmquist's full archives are listed here.
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Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution) Aljazeera.Net English Blogs that for one reason or another Holmquist would like to read on at least something of a regular basis (always in development) Thivai Abhor |
Saturday, January 17, 2004
Notes on talk radio and perhaps other things I listened to way too much talk radio yesterday. Bill O'Reilly told me that the Showtime series The L Word will encourage lesbianism and lead to similar evil such as parents abandoning their children. O'Reilly added that he will watch the program because he is a "guy." Rush Limbaugh informed me that it takes someone as "experienced" as him to follow the inconsistencies of someone like Wesley Clark. Apparently he isn't "experienced" enough to take on the inconsistencies of the Bush Administration. Sean Hannity said that we were less than 300 days away from the re-election of George W. Bush and "ensuring the liberation" of the United States of America. Michael Reagan told me that Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson and Martha Stewart are manipulating the public via money and acting ability and that the reason ?people don?t like the Islam religion? is because of the Nation of Islam. (Have you forgotten, Michael?) UPDATE: "World War III is Avoidable" *** Andy Kaufman 10:39 a.m. 01/17/04 UPDATE #2: My President and his glorious war because it is right no matter what actually happened, says Lawrence B. Lindsey. It is one thing to say the prez and friends should be able to lie "about sex" but when it comes to lying about one of the primary justifications for a war, there ought to be a different standard. Then again, As I said yesterday, probably nobody cares unless they are already convinced. *** Rummy says Uncle Sam controls reality. *** "An attempt by Iran's hardline Council of Guardians to ban many pro-democracy candidates from next month's parliamentary elections has caused a storm of protest. Will it all end in victory for the reformists, or repression?" writes The Economist. *** "In a ground-breaking article to be published soon, hip-hop legend Russell Simmons will urge African-Americans to join forces with Jews, to fight anti-Semitism in Europe and the U.S." Shlomo Shamir writes in Wednesday's Haaretz. " co-written with Rabbi Marc Simmons article was co-written with Rabbi Marc Schneier to mark this year's observances of Martin Luther King Day in America... The new article is ground-breaking for being the first The new article is ground-breaking for being the first time an African American figure of Simmons' stature in popular culture has issued a denunciation of resurgent anti-Semitism. The article will be published this weekend in newspapers which reach Jewish and The new article is ground-breaking for being the first time an African American figure of Simmons' stature in popular culture has issued a denunciation of resurgent anti-Semitism. The article will be published this weekend in newspapers which reach Jewish and black readers across the U.S." *** *** "Saudi Arabia will not allow anybody to attack the Islamic faith in the name of freedom of expression, Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, declared yesterday," P.K. Abdul Ghafour in a January 15 Arab News story. Remember they are an ally in the "war on terror." *** riverbend on "Shari'a and Family Law..." *** John Laughland apparently doesn't understand the concept of asymetrical warfare. *** *** Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers (2003) will be distributed by 20th Century Fox with an NC-17 rating in the land that is hated "because we are free.". This move will result in the film not making any of the hundreds of millions it no doubt otherwise would have made. (The official site of the picture is here.) The Dreamers opens in "select cities" on February 6. Upon hearing this news, Bill O'Reilly said, "This piece of garbage will destroy America by teaching young protesters that it is o.k. to fornicate and young fornicators that it is acceptable to protest. My testicles and I are looking forward to it." Meanwhile the AP reports that police officers (you know the think blue line between us and a country that Osama would love, even if they are morally inferior to sailors) in Portland, Oregon are allowed to profanity on the job while dealing with people and, according to sources of Reuters, the son of the Secretary of State "has proposed barring the F-word from most radio and broadcast television, regardless of the context." Personally I think it is absurd that "mainstream" news stories about this don't actually use "fuck." I mean that it what they are talking about and if someone has yet to hear that word and is reading about this, it seems like it is time for them to hear it even if Rockdale Citizen says, "TV profanity not acceptable." *** Jonathan Rosenbaum gives a quite positive review to Bernardo Bertolucci's 1998 film Besieged. Like much of his criticism Rosenbaum's harsh review of Star Wars: Special Edition is most certainly worth reading, although many of the contentions are highly debateable. This section is particularly interesting: It can be, and has been, argued that all this is a glorious triumph of technology--which was also said of the [1991] gulf war. Of course plenty of Americans lost or risked losing family members in that war, and I certainly don't mean to suggest that any of them experienced that event as light or lite entertainment. But for those of us who experienced the annihilation of Iraqi innocents and the partial destruction of Baghdad as bloodless zaps and light shows, it was a new kind of impersonal warfare, for some even a kind of masurbatory fantasy that Star Wars provided the blueprint for.Yes, but it is an expected element of "America's" spectator wars that nobody is supposed to acknowledge this. Instead "we" are supposed to pretend that it is anything but good fun. It is implicitly expected that "we" publicly wish this didn't have to happen and that it were only possible for "us" to watch fictional scenes of great violence, when in truth, I contend, such a sentiment only exists amongst most people in the U.S. when the target of the violence is the U.S. 3:21 p.m. 01/17/03 *** UPDATE #3: Faith rewarded Last year Tom Izzo benched Paul Davis as they lost to Michigan 60-58 in Ann Arbor. Izzo said Davis wasn't putting out the necessary effort. This year, in East Lansing and the first meeting between the two teams since then, Paul Davis lead all players with 22 points and MSU beat Michigan, 71-54. 6:09 p.m. 01/17/04 |
