TW3 plus … sound & fury

That Was The Week That Was … a listing of skips and jumps resonant with the Mercury direct and preparing us for whatever comes next.

Meanwhile, THIS weeks news appears to be, as Shakespeare told us, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. One of the issues I take with this whole bar-lowering period of history is that it requires good wo/men to waste time debating drivel.

Dubby, for instance, never one to let reality intrude in his batshit bubble world, has declared today that we’re not headed into recession — but, well … you know … last week he insisted the GOP was keeping the White House because, sez Dub, “When I say I’m confident, I am so because I understand the mentality of the American people.”

Right! [snort!]

John McCain has some of the most improbable news coverage I’ve seen in a candidate, and he’s living up to his title of ‘maverick.’ You just don’t know what he’ll say or do next, and his flips and flops are legion. He also has a few problems in his record to note, among those that will make us sneer is his percentage of support for children’s issues [10%] and the environment [zero] — and now it appears there are archaic wrinkles with his citizenship. Who knows if the Left is aggressive enough to exploit any of that — time will tell. Of more substance, he has real issues with the campaign finance laws he himself wrote.

Problems for Obama include the flap over the Farrakhan endorsement, prompting one Huffy blogger to ask if Clinton is going to “reject” Ann Coulter’s promise to work for her if McCain became candidate. And the GOP’s dust up over Baracks middle name grew teeth when a Righty shock jock repeated it [Hussein] three times in a row while warming up a Mac rally [we knew what he was trying to say;] all this caused Mac to ‘reject’ the context and piss off his base. Meanwhile, the GOP thinks Obama needs to change his middle name and the whole debate prompted Juan Cole to break his professorial shell and pen one of the most emotional pieces I’ve ever read from him.

While this seems ridiculous on its face, we cannot afford to ignore the Rights use of the Muslim imagining — it’s lethal swiftboating and will cause problems down the line. Obama’s photo in native African dress planted on Drudge the other day is another of these ‘hits’ … although while hand-wringing over how such an image plays here on the homefront, we should not forget that it is perceived with welcome on the international front. We’re so inbred here, we don’t think about that.

So — what all this sound and fury, as the Bard said, signifies is more like seeding clouds for rain than collecting it in a bucket, and it may or may not have legs as part of a dumbed-down political conversation. You can take my word for it or open these many links to investigate; I recommend the Cole link, at least.

All of this has turned into an ordeal, and all begun too soon in this election year, me’thinks — Erica Jong has written a blog piece with which I can agree [this time, she's no favorite of mine.] And for those of us who can bare the agony no longer, the Onion puts us out of our misery:

The Onion: Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results of ‘08 Election [VIDEO]
Warning: For those of you who have been keeping up with the election, this clip contains spoilers.
Manila Ryce, The Largest Minority
February 28, 2008

Two last bits of information include the passing of Big Daddy Right, William F. Buckley — he was the Father of modern Conservatism, establishing the National Review and contributing to various GOP think tanks. He was an extraordinary character and always cultured and interesting, if lethal in his pronouncements. As they say — before there was Goldwater, there was Bill. His own twilight came as his political ideology kissed the dirt.

Last and FYI, as regards Harpers, a fairy cake turns out to be a version of the cupcake.

Jude

HARPER’S WEEKLY REVIEW
February 26, 2008

Kosovo, in a move supported by the United States and
strongly opposed by Russia, declared its independence from
Serbia. NATO sealed Kosovo’s northern border, and Serbians
looted designer clothes, shoes, and chocolates, and set
fire to the U.S. embassy in Belgrade. Turkey began a
ground invasion into Iraq targeting the PKK, despite
protests that the invasion was “a violation of Iraq’s
sovereignty,” and Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered a
six-month extension of his Mahdi militia’s unilateral
cease-fire, which has led to a 60 percent decrease in
violence across Iraq. Benazir Bhutto’s party received the
most votes in the Pakistani parliamentary election. Calls
were made for President Pervez Musharraf to step down
after his party performed poorly, and opposition leaders
who had been under house arrest since Musharraf declared
emergency military rule last November found that their
phones had suddenly started working again. In Cuba, Fidel
Castro ceded power to his brother Raul through an election
in which Raul was the only candidate. “I distrust the
seemingly easy path of apologetics,” wrote Castro in his
resignation letter, “or its antithesis the
self-flagellation.” President Bush, whose approval rating
was at an all-time low of 19 percent, was in Africa, where
he said that the United States “is not seeking African
bases” when asked about AFRICOM, a U.S. military command
program for Africa, and danced with Liberian President and
AFRICOM supporter Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. “The president
seemed keen to impress the crowd,” said one onlooker,
“with his David Brent-style gyrations.” Women in Ivory
Coast were using creams and injections to enlarge their
buttocks in reaction to the craze for the big-bottom
dance, or Bobaraba.

Michelle Obama’s Princeton senior thesis was made
public. “Further integration and/or assimilation into a
white cultural and social structure,” she wrote, “will
only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never
becoming a full participant.” The New York Times published
an article insinuating that John McCain had an affair with
a lobbyist a decade ago, and Congressman Rick Renzi (R.,
Ariz.), one of McCain’s campaign managers, was indicted
for conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, insurance
fraud, and extortion, but mostly for using his office to
promote a swap of federal land to collect on a debt owed
by a former associate. The League of Conservation Voters
said that McCain had the worst environmental record of all
535 members of Congress for 2007 and had missed more
crucial votes than members who died in the middle of their
terms. Texas surpassed California to become the top
producer of wind power, and oil men were cashing in on the
boom. “We’re number one in wind in the United States,”
said Texas land commissioner Jerry Patterson, “and that
will never change.” Ralph Nader, who is older than John
McCain, announced his fifth run for the presidency.

The whistle-blower website Wikileaks.org was removed from
the Internet after a Swiss bank obtained an injunction
against California Web hosting company Dynadot, and the
Pakistani government caused a global crash of YouTube when
it attempted to block the site from its country. “Users
are quite upset,” said the convener of the Association of
Pakistan Internet Service Providers. “They’re screaming at
ISPs which can’t do anything.” Japan launched an
experimental satellite that would provide Internet access
speeds of 1.2 gigabytes per second, and the United States
claimed to have successfully shot down a disabled and
toxic spy satellite; China and Russia said the action was
actually an excuse to test anti-satellite missile
systems. Scientists revealed that the sun will vaporize
the earth if we cannot figure out how to change our orbit
within 7.6 billion years. Researchers were at a loss to
explain why suicide rates recently rose sharply for
Americans aged 45-54, and it was revealed that the man who
killed five Northern Illinois University students and
himself had stopped taking Prozac shortly before his death
because it “made him feel like a zombie and lazy.”
According to a recent U.S. study, men can pass down sperm
damage caused by alcohol, cigarettes, and other
environmental toxins for up to four generations. A
Moroccan man was sentenced to three years in prison for
creating a joke Facebook profile under the name of Prince
Moulay Rachid, who is second in line for the country’s
throne, and Robert Somma, a federal bankruptcy judge
appointed by President Bush in 2004, resigned from his
position after police found that he had crashed his
Mercedes into another car while drunk and wearing a dress,
fishnet stockings, and heels, and carrying a purse. “He’s
a highly respected member of the bar,” said a fellow
judge, “and remains so.” A man in Swansea, England, died
from eating too much fairycake.

– Chantal Clarke
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/02/WeeklyReview2008-02-26

“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
~ Molly Ivins, 1944 - 2007

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1 comment February 28th, 2008