2003-08-05T13:32:00-04:00

IN THE BAG: Terry Teachout has a variant on desert-island lists, in which you can only take one of each kind of artwork, and you have to shove it in the bag right this second because the jackbooted thugs of the Desert Island Squad are about to batter down your door and haul you away. So this is your knee-jerk “want that!” response rather than a considered one. One of his lists (because of the insta-reaction aspect, these lists change... Read more

2003-08-05T12:46:00-04:00

“In [Hutu supremacist Hassan Ngeze’s] most famous article, ‘The Hutu Ten Commandments,’ published in December 1990, Ngeze called on Hutu women to ‘guard against the Tutsi-loving impulses of Hutu men’; declared all Tutsis ‘dishonest’; and urged Hutus to have ‘unity and solidarity’ against ‘their common Tutsi enemy.’ The Hutu Ten Commandments were widely circulated and phenomenally popular. The eighth and most frequently quoted commandment said, ‘Hutus must stop having mercy on the Tutsis.'” —World on Fire Read more

2003-08-04T18:26:00-04:00

THE HOPE STREET GROUP: Centrist think tank-y thing dedicated to promoting equality of opportunity. Worth a look. Read more

2003-08-04T18:12:00-04:00

WEAPONS OF METH DESTRUCTION: Idiocy. For many more examples of defining terrorism down, check out my Jewish World Review column here. Read more

2003-08-04T18:09:00-04:00

BLANKETS: Sean Collins wondered what I think of Blankets, the vast semi(?)-autobiographical graphic novel about a Wisconsin teen growing up, covertly drawing comics, wrestling with God, and falling in love. I’m not sure what to tell him; I’m not sure I know what I think of it. I finished it about four or five days ago, and put it aside to see if it percolated in my mind, but so far I’m still left with a confused and basically lukewarm... Read more

2003-08-04T17:18:00-04:00

ELEGANT MESS: Saw two movies this weekend that could rate that description: “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and “Five Star Final.” There’s a lot to dislike about “Liberty Valance,” which I saw because I found it on some list of classic Westerns: stop-and-start pacing; constant repetition of the titular villain’s entire name just so we have it hammered into our heads; racial condescension; non-racial condescension and speechifying; oddly one-note performance from Jimmy Stewart. But there are also several endearing... Read more

2003-08-04T17:00:00-04:00

South of the Blogwatch, Down Mexico way, That’s where he fell in love, when stars above Came out to play… Johnny Bacardi: Another “comics you must read” list, focusing on lesser-known lights. I’ll definitely be checking some of these out. As far as Love & Rockets goes, though, my picks would probably be “Poison River,” “Blood of Palomar,” “Flies on the Ceiling,” “Chester Square,” “Wigwam Bam,” “The Death of Speedy,” in very very roughly that order. God of the Machine:... Read more

2003-08-04T16:23:00-04:00

“Democratically elected in 1965, Marcos placed the entire Philippines under martial law in 1972 on the pretext of protecting the Philippines from the threat of a Communist takeover–a threat now widely acknowledged to have been a Marcos fabrication. A series of terrorist attacks, including the bombing of department stores, private companies, waterworks, even government buildings, all turned out to have been masterminded by Marcos himself, part of an elaborate plan to justify his imposition of one-man rule…. “…Indeed, many Filipino... Read more

2003-08-01T13:42:00-04:00

HOW YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD GET OFF THE PHONE WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE (Dixie edition). You find yourself saying, “Ah’preciate that, but…” If you do not ordinarily have a Southern accent, but you grew up below the Smith & Wesson line, this is a sign that you are about to utterly lose it, because these people are working your last nerve. For some reason the accent comes most in handy when I’m cajoling, resentful, or (as with customer service lines) both. Read more

2003-08-01T11:47:00-04:00

WOW. Richard Brookhiser pens a rambling essay that wanders up to the same-sex marriage debate but doesn’t quite wade into the melee. But then at the very end he drops this little bomb: “The great question, which none of the three positions can convincingly address, is: Are we bodies, and if so, what effect does that have? Emerson wrote about ‘the iron wire on which the beads are strung.’ He thought the iron wire that controlled our destinies was temperament.... Read more

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