micah holmquist's irregular thoughts and links |
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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.
Archives
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 |
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
The good folks at MTV aired the final episode of The Real World: San Diego last night. Towards the end southern belle Cameran said that if she ever hears people saying racist things that she is going to say she lived in a house with a black person and "they are cool as hell." Tuesday, June 29, 2004
The Wall Street Journal calls yesterday's Supreme Court decisions are "a modest but important victory for the Presidency." They don't seem worried about how the "war on terror" could go on forever and all of these powers become a permanent part of the presidency. Monday, June 28, 2004
The key to the country has been given to a group of Iraqis earlier than expected. This had to be the idea of people who have never been a New Year's Eve party after the New Year had begun, either that or the CPA didn't want to explain where the billions are. Sunday, June 27, 2004
My review of Fahrenheit 911 is up at Press Action. Reviews by Jordy Cummings, Jonathan Rosenbaum and Daniel Patrick Welch are also worth your time. Saturday, June 26, 2004
Friday, June 25, 2004
Viva Rage! What the hell's so wrong with "pessimism" and "rage"? If you watch a new Bush campaign commercial, you get the idea that not believing Bush's policies are going to work out is "pessimistic" while being angry about Team Bush's deceptions is "rage." Both of those things are true, but so what? Bush may want you to believe otherwise, but everybody's pessimistic about some matters, while people have a right to be angry about being lied and manipulated. Instead of confronting even the mildest forms of these charges, Team Bush just ridicules them and plays off people's reluctance to thinking of themselves as having been manipulated. And in the process they manipulate the public one more time. Just so it is clear, Mr. Bush, an avid reader of this blog, if you want to see real rage, get in a room with me for five minutes. The offer is also extended to Democrats. Beyond the politics, I don't mind anger and rage. In fact the Bush Administration's "war on terror" should make people angry. *** Wolfie says Iraqis are more worried about security than abuse, which makes sense as insurgents killed 100 Iraqis yesterday. Excuse me, I shouldn't call them "insurgents" because as Wolfie says: By the way, it's not insurgency. An insurgency implies something that rose up afterwards. This is the same enemy that butchered Iraqis for 35 years, that fought us up until the fall of Baghdad and continues to fight afterwards. It was led by Saddam Hussein up until his capture in December. It's been led, in part, by his No. 2 or 3, Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, since then. It's been led by Zarqawi, who was a terrorist working for bin Laden in Afghanistan, who fled to Iraq in 2002. It's not an insurgency, in the sense of an uprising. It is a continuation of the war by people who never quit.*** Rummy is never one to avoid tough questions. *** Bill O'Reilly can say a lot of shit, but when starts making fun of Drew Barrymore, it is time to break out the blackjack... *** I'm so glad the media keeps me from reading the dirty word used by an asshole like Dick Cheney! Thursday, June 24, 2004
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Six days ago I wrote but didn't publish: Stupid dumb IraqisThat entry eventually lead to "My Iraqi Week ('Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me,' Uncle Sam Screams In Pain)." And that didn't even cover the more fucked up shit to have recently come from Bill. *** From the "full sovereignty" for Iraq file, we this June 22 Financial Times story by Nicolas Pelham: The US-led occupation authority in Baghdad has warned Iraq's interim government not to carry out its threat of declaring martial law, insisting that only the US-led coalition has the right to adopt emergency powers after the June 30 handover of sovereignty.Patrick Cockburn of The Independent and Amitai Etzioni in The LA Times have more. Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Monday, June 21, 2004
Paul Johnson was beheaded, so we have even more justification to do whatever we want, says Neal Boortz. Sunday, June 20, 2004
Watching season four of a certain show on DVD makes it clear that Homer J. Simpson is the greatest t.v. father ever. Saturday, June 19, 2004
Bush asked God to "bless Paul Johnson," so I bet Paul is up there enjoying the deaths of what looks to be around 20 Iraqis due to presents from Uncle Sam. Friday, June 18, 2004
Television shows on DVD have done much to improve the world. I don't know where I'd be without the long lost episodes of A Simple Life, but who exactly is buying Who's the Boss? Thursday, June 17, 2004
Rummy was in fine form today: Now, we're in a war, and I can understand that someone who doesn't think they're in a war or aren't in a war, sitting in an air-conditioned room someplace can decide they want to be critical of this or critical of that, or misstate that or misrepresent something else, or be fast and loose with the facts. But there's an effect to that, and I think we have to be careful. I think people ought to be accountable for that, just as we're accountable.I guess a lot of troubles are the result of Bush never springing for AC in Rummy's office, but as far as this "accountable" thing goes, this is the same asshole who once said, "sometimes I overstate for emphasis." There is no accountability worthy of the word. *** Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Five more reasons for God to Bless America "A key investigator in the espionage case against a Syrian-American translator at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo has been charged with raping and sodomizing children, officials said on Tuesday," Adam Turner of Reuters writes in a story published yesterday. "The charges were made public during a pretrial hearing for Senior Airman Ahmad Al Halabi, who is accused of carrying jail maps, letters and other documents from Guantanamo Bay where he worked an Arabic translator with suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who are being held there." *** "Sexualized violence and harassment of women is a widespread problem within the US armed services, but according to a government investigation and testimony from numerous female soldiers who have been raped, assaulted and harassed by male soldiers, the Pentagon’s response has been woefully inadequate," Chris Shumway writes in a New Standard piece published yesterday. *** "The torture and mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was the predictable result of the Bush administration's decision to circumvent international law, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today," Human Rights Watch says in a June 9 statement. *** *** Jim Lobe of IPS reports that plans continue to made for the U.S. to continue to run the world. Tuesday, June 15, 2004
The tributes to Ronnie keep rolling in -"[T]he USDA now defines frozen French fries as 'fresh vegetables,'" Andrew Martin writes in a Los Angeles Times story published today. Add ketchup to the mix and you have a double dose of vegetables -"Instead of becoming a Middle Eastern model of pro-Western democracy, as the Bush administration had hoped, Iraq is being swept by Sunni and Shiite Muslim extremism," Hannah Allam of Knight Ridder writes in a story dated June 14. "High unemployment, little visible progress toward rebuilding the country and dissatisfaction with leaders appointed by foreigners are herding thousands of disenchanted Iraqis into the hands of hard-liners, according to political parties, Islamic scholars and social scientists." Reagan supported Islamic "extremists." -The Center for Economic and Social Rights says in a June 10 statement: The Bush Administration is committing war crimes and other serious violations of international law in Iraq as a matter of routine policy, according to a report released today by the Center for Economic and Social Rights. The report, Beyond Torture: U.S. Violations of Occupation Law in Iraq, documents... war crimes and rights violations regularly committed by U.S. forces...Reagan was no slouch when it came to war crimes. (By the way, William F. Buckley Jr. has said that commanders who allowed troops to abuse Iraqis should be punished.) Monday, June 14, 2004
Saudi sand Far more than the secular Ba'athist regimes targeted by the Washington neo-cons, the Saudis have turned the face of Islam against the west. The war on Iraq has only provided a rallying cry for al-Qaida supporters. The country that has played by far the greatest role in advancing global Islamist militancy was never listed in Bush's "axis of evil" speech, and is a major US ally.Obviously the solution is to "pick up [that] small crappy little country and throw it against the wall," but then that's the solution to everything. Dalrymple doesn't highlight how the U.S. has propped up the Saudi government, but Uncle Sam has. In what appears to be an example of a phenomenon identified by Slavoj Zizek in Welcome to the Desert of the Real (Verso, 2002), few in the U.S. have been willing to confront this relationship and what it has lead to without suggesting that U.S. power has the ability to resolve the situation. Zizek contended that the surge of relatively friendly U.S. interest in Islam and the area around and including the Middle East was clouded by an inability to see how the U.S. had been a major player in creating this world. Similarly, the Bush Administration doesn't want to press Saudi Arabia, at least in part, because doing so would likely mean admitting that U.S. intervention doesn't always bring all good things. The hawkish intellectual class wants to avoid bringing it up for a similar reason. On the other hand, people like me who are opposed to the U.S. trying to run the world may be uncomfortable –I certainly am- bringing it up, because I am afraid that it will be interpreted as merely a call for taking over Saudi Arabia and setting them straight. Sunday, June 13, 2004
Saturday, June 12, 2004
The John Hinckley Award Yesterday's coverage of President Ronald Reagan's funeral was a shining moment for television news. I didn't see any of it but television news excels at nothing if it doesn't excel at interjecting the same thing they have been saying without end for days to coverage of pre-planned events. Still I think we aren't paying enough attention to one of the true heroes of the Reagan Era, John Hinckley. As everybody should know Hinckley shot and almost killed Reagan in 1981 in an attempt to meet to Jodie Foster. I'd say this is a great argument for legalizing prostitution and requiring Harvey Keitel to be a pimp, but that would have most likely have prevented us from ever hearing the noble "I am in control here" from the great patriot named Alexander Haig. Hinckley didn't get the job done, but if we can "remember the good stuff" about Reagan, I say we do the same for Hinckley and vow from this point on, anybody who kills a member of the Bush Administration gets to meet the celebrity of their choice, save for Winona Ryder. You have to get Bush for that honor. Friday, June 11, 2004
Sadistic Rummy I have so much contempt for the Bush Administration that it is almost a tribute to them that they can still outrage me. A June 9 Los Angeles Times editorial says that Rumsfeld approved of attempts to rough up John Walker Lindh. For the sake of the argument, let’s say Lindh was guilty of treason and deserved to be executed for this crime. Lindh still wasn’t that important and any attempt to rough him up in particular is just cruel. If true, this is indisputable proof that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is a sadistic asshole. Thursday, June 10, 2004
Tributes to Ronnie I turned on the telly last night and found out that someone named Ronald Reagan had recently passed away. Apparently this guy was a president, the reason the Soviet Union did not defeat the United States and a servant of God. You would think that the death of such a great man would provoke non-stop coverage on the cable news distractions, segments on talk radio and maybe a note or two on the net, but it hasn't. Even Micah Holmquist hasn't written anything funny about this tragedy. What the fuck's up? The answer is that the liberal media is doing its best to keep the greatness of Reagan from being known to all. *** Fortunately there are some people who haven't forgotten. Amongst them may be the Bathists fighting coalition forces in Iraq. Jim Mannion of the AFP writes in a June 9 story: United States soldiers now fighting the remnants of Saddam's regime can look back to the early 1980s for the start of a relationship that fostered the rise of the largest military in the Middle East, one whose use of chemical weapons set the stage for last year's invasion.Then there's the Afghans. *** The State Department is doing a subtle tribute. Less than two months ago when The State Department said that "terrorism" ("premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.") had declined in 2003 when compared to the 2002 numbers. Well... Josh Meyer writes in yesterday's Los Angeles Times: The State Department is scrambling to revise its annual report on global terrorism to acknowledge that it understated the number of deadly attacks in 2003, amid charges that the document is inaccurate and was politically manipulated by the Bush administration.Maybe the mistakes was "clerical" in nature, but Team Bush ("the lying assholes") gives you no reason to believe them. *** Reagan would no doubt be proud of the behavior of our brave fighting men... Luke Baker of Reuters writes in a May 25 story: Besides the prisoner-abuse scandal, there is another, more pervasive problem Iraqis say they suffer daily at the hands of U.S. troops -- theft of money and other property during aggressive American raids.*** Ronald Reagan increased military spending and so he'd no doubt be pleased to know that military spending by the world as whole increased last year, with Reagan's beloved America remaining the largest dealer. *** I'm sure I'm missing out on some of the many tributes to Reagan. If I were a man as great as Reagan, I would no doubt include them, but Reagan had faith in both America and God, and so I tell you, GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Important issues Your humble blogger trys to avoid commenting on every little matter. Most of them don't interest me. I don't care if John Kerry needs to cut his hair or if Bush can manage to convince people of something. And yet there are times when my public just demands that I comment and so I must say that I am opposed to any person ever being allowed to do anything unless they have signed a loyalty oath to the legacy of President Reagan. *** A less important matter is the new U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq. This is important because if the best argument against the Uncle Sam's conquest of Iraq is that a subsection of the United Nations didn't support it, it is time for you to get in line behind this generation's Ronald Reagan, President George W. Bush. That or admit that your opposition was intellectually shallow. *** "The Bush administration routinely bypassed or overruled Pentagon experts on international law and the Geneva convention to construct a sweeping legal justification for harsh tactics in the war on terror, the Guardian has learnt," Suzanne Goldenberg writes in today's Guardian. "In one instance, President George Bush's military order of November 13 2001, which denies prisoner-of-war status to captives from Afghanistan and allows their detention without charge or access to a lawyer at Guantánamo, was issued without any consultations with Pentagon lawyers, a former Pentagon official said." "A classified Pentagon report, providing a series of legal arguments apparently intended to justify abuses and torture against detainees, appears to undermine public assurances by senior U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush, that the military would never resort to such practices in the 'war on terrorism,' Jim Lobe of IPS writes in a June 7 story. "Short excerpts of the report, which was drafted by Defence Department lawyers, were published in the Wall Street Journal Monday. The text asserts, among other things, that the president, in his position as commander-in-chief, has virtually unlimited power to wage war, even in violation of U.S. law and international treaties." These stories aren't worth my time, but thanks to James Benjamin for the links. And here's Kate Zernike and David Rohde in yesterday's New York Times: In the weeks since photographs of naked detainees set off the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib, military officials have portrayed the sexual humiliation captured in the images as the isolated acts of a rogue night shift.Some liberal Reagan haters will no doubt be bothered by this shit by I say it is just more reason for God to Bless America. Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Monday, June 07, 2004
Elite members of the elite media such as Bill Blum, Susan Davis, Phil Gasper, Mark Hand, Christopher Hitchens, Greg Palast, Ben Tripp and Mickey Z have decided to confuse people and try to convince them that the greatness of Ronald Reagan is not a fact. Also, read my endorsement of Kerry. Sunday, June 06, 2004
The mourning surrounding the death of Ronald Reagan is obscuring the fact that Robert McNamara, Henry Kissinger and Oliver North are all alive. This means there's still time to liven up history classes by putting them in a cage and allowing school children to poke them with a stick. Saturday, June 05, 2004
Friday, June 04, 2004
Pat Boone shouldn't shut up and sing One of America's greatest entertainers, Pat "I don't think censorship is a bad word, but it has become a bad word because everybody associates it with some kind of restriction on liberty" Boone, appeared on Fox News' Day Side yesterday to criticize the media for talking way too freaking much about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. It was noticeable that nobody, including host Linda Vester, said anything along the lines of "aren't you just an entertainer? Why should anybody care what you think?" Compare that with the much more hostile treatment Janeane Garofalo received when she appeared on the FNC last year. I consider this further evidence for my theory that complaints about celebs speaking out on politics really mean "shut up, unless you are going to say something I agree with!" Thursday, June 03, 2004
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Why not? Bush outlined his latest strategy for fighting "terrorism" today. You can read the points for yourself, but notice Bush doesn't mention anything about oh I don't know ending the United States' abuses of human rights, U.S. support of repression or even improving security at nuclear facilities in the home of the brave. To bring up those things is to bring up something that doesn't make Americans feel all goddamn great about their country. And why would Bush want to inspire that? Tuesday, June 01, 2004
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