c/Pom D'or

Danny Drennan blogs from Beirut on the assassination of Rafik Hariri. Personal reactions from a man who is both Lebanese and American. Good stuff.

With all the talk of red vs. blue in the last few days, I’ve been
thinking about Eric Hobsbawm’s provocative but too-brief comments on
the causes of the American Civil War in _The Age Of Capital_.

[T]he very economic superiority of the North meant that the South
had to insist with increasing stubbornness on its political force –
to stake its claims in the most formal terms (e.g. by insisting on
the official acceptance of slavery in new western territories), to
stress the autonomy of states (’states’ rights’) against the
national government, to exercise its veto over national policies, to
discourage northern economic developments, etc. In effect it had to
be an obstacle to the North while pursuing an expansionist policy in
the West. Its only assets were political. For (given that it could
not or would not beat the North at its own game of capitalist
development) the currents of history ran dead against it. (p. 142)

Parts of this ring familiar. Does so-called Red America emphasize
politics because, to some extent, that’s all it has going for it?

Hobsbawm, a good Marxist as always, stresses that the industrializing
North needed protectionist policies, while the agrarian South
preferred free trade, trading with the U.K. in a pattern reminiscent
of the old mercantilist mode.

Which leads me to an interesting question. In attempting to
understand red vs. blue, are we giving short shrift to regional
economic differences? Has the American ideology of denial of the
existence of classes blinded us to something that should be obvious?

Today, Suzanne and I were walking in Brooklyn when we found a house whose inhabitants had captured Jesus and locked him up in their front yard.

Like Gulag or Guantánamo interrogators, they keep a light on all day, and make him stand. The public-humiliation twist seems to be their own invention.

From the Washington Post’s White House Briefing:

CNN reports that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, appearing on Late Edition, “said Bush did not misspeak when he said that the network of Pakistan’s A.Q. Khan – the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear program who was caught selling secrets on the global black market – had been ‘brought to justice.’

“Khan is living in a villa and was pardoned this year by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. None of Khan’s co-conspirators have been brought to trial.”

Here’s how Rice explained it, from the Late Edition transcript.

“A.Q. Khan is out of business and he is out of the business that he loved most. And if you don’t think that his national humiliation is justice for what he did, I think it is. He’s nationally humiliated.”

Well! “Nationally humiliated"! Is that like Osama bin Laden supposedly being “isolated"? Boy, that Bush team sure knows how to put fear into the hearts of evildoers.

The Left Coaster explains why Gallup polls are unlikely to resemble the Poll That Counts on November 2nd.

The short version is, Gallup inexplicably polls about 6 Republicans for every 5 Democrats, while evidence suggests that Democrats outnumber Republicans by something like 8 to 7 (these numbers are rough).

Following a link from Drunkenblog, and then reading around, I found this curious, nutty but charming piece of writing.

My latest obsession is photography.

More to follow.

“Pom D’or” doesn’t mean “Golden Apple". It means “Golden Doorknob".

Yesterday’s New York Times has a sidebar that is a one-stop shop for debunkers of the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

I’d bet that Kerry’s rapid response team had a lot to do with this. They deserve a pat on the back. And now other parts of the campaign team need to take the ball from them and run with it. Here’s what I mean.

Liberal Oasis said yesterday:

Instead of simple denials, the campaign needs to “Expose The Tactic.”

That should not only nip this particular lie in the bud, but make it harder for Bush to lie in the future on other matters.

The factsheet has pretty pictures, a graph, and a punchy table that juxtaposes Swiftvets’ lies with military records and the Swiftvets’ own former statements. It is perfectly suited to capture the attention of other journalists.

Can the Kerry campaign turn this whole thing around and make it a story about the sleazy campaign tactics of BushCo?

DrunkenBlog has a thought-provoking piece up on where Apple is going with the technology constellation currently comprised of the iPod, Airport Express, iTunes, and iTMS.

What is it about Apple that consistently attracts such obsessive speculation, I wonder?

There’s this group, America Coming Together, which is working to save the world from George W. Bush.

And then there’s the Bush campaign, which is squatting on the domain name that should rightfully belong to ACT. Check it out: http://americacomingtogether.org/. (Update: look out for popups, apparently there are a lot of them.)

Grr.

Here’s the whois data.

This has been making the rounds. It’s sort of an ad for America Coming Together, but as far as I’m concerned it’s just a great piece of political satire.

Will Ferrell IS George W. Bush.

Screw enlightenment. I want heavy machinery. Will spammers help me? Of course spammers will help me.

Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 12:28:34 +0300
From: Bosfor
Subject: 100 t. MARINE SELF-PROPELLED FLOATING CRANE FOR SALE: from UKRAINE; COMMISSION-5%!
To: security@panix.com

Dear Sir,
We would like to offer you for sale 100 ton. MARINE SELF PROPELLED
FLOATING CRANE, specification please find below.
This crane is located in Ukraine, port Sevastopol.
The crane is in excellent condition.
Now we are looking for buyer and would like kindly to offer your company
this 100 ton. floating crane. Please be advised that our company
“Bosfor” is not a intermediary.

No. Fucking. Kidding. They even have a website.

Instead of yoga, how about the quick route to enlightenment — mushrooms?

Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 16:58:32 +0800
From: “canned mushroom”
To: security@panix.com
Reply-To: lydia@e-century.com.cn
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200

Dear Sir/Madam,

From Databank of World Importers, we have obtained your name and address
and understand that you are experienced importers of Canned Mushrooms. […]

Well, in fact this address is for handling network abuse, but close enough.

This Flash cartoon is one of the better efforts I’ve seen from Mark Fiore.

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 00:48:12 +0800
From: “Yoga In Bali”
Subject: Yoga Retreat Facility In Bali
To: security@panix.com

Dear Spiritual Friend,

It is with great pleasure that I would like to announce the opening of
Sukhavati Retreat, an exclusive new 6-villa property located in the
Hindu paradise island of Bali, Indonesia.

With its sacred jungle setting and well-being oriented facilities,
including a yoga and meditation pavilion, 3 salt-water swimming pools
and healthy food menus, Sukhavati Retreat offers yoga teachers a
wonderful new destination to bring intimate groups of up to 12 people.

[…]

Good grief.

I like this rundown of the best weblog convention coverage over at liberaloasis.

(The Oasis is generally a nice source of analysis. The posts are less frequent than those of some other blogs but they make up in quality what they lack in quantity.)

Gustave Courbet, French artist; Rick Danko, Canadian musician.

From the Arizona Daily Star by way of Atrios:

President Bush’s re-election campaign insisted on knowing the race of an Arizona Daily Star journalist assigned to photograph Vice President Dick Cheney.

[…]

Organizer Christine Walton asked for [Mamta] Popat’s race in telephone conversations with two other Star editors before she spoke to Hayt. They also refused to provide the information. Walton told Hayt that Popat’s race was necessary to allow the Secret Service to distinguish her from someone else who might have the same name.

If you know me, you probably know Suzanne.

If you know Suzanne, and you haven’t visited Suzannestan, you should.