Archive for May 2007
Yo Internet.
So does anybody out there know if there’s some quality programming coming down from HBO with the quickness? Not only did Rome and Deadwood end this year, now we got to worry about the end of The Sopranos and whatever show they’re going to get to replace that. That leaves me solely with Entourage, meaning the only dramatic show I watch anymore is Lost. (Which has picked back up again after a punked-out fall half-season).
Being that Big Love doesn’t do it for me, and I don’t know offhand of any new show ideas, what does anyone else know is coming? And if nothing, what should be the next topic? I’d like to see HBO’s take on a media workplace, personally.
Public service:
Don’t get a small cut your finger in the morning, then pour hot sauce on it at lunch. I’m impressed that it continues to sting after a good 10 minutes.
Just so yinz know.
It seems the FBI foiled an Islamist plot to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey when the potential terrorist masterminds took a tape of themselves firing assault weapons and yelling “Allahu Akbar” to the local video store for dubbing onto DVD format. The quick-thinking clerk called the cops, who called the FBI, who arrested the men and averted the attack.
The really interesting thing to me here is that, according to the story, four of the perpetrators were born in the former Yugoslavia. Being Muslims, that most likely means they’re either Bosnian or Kosovar Albanians, both of which were populations that the United States protected from Serbian violence through direct military action. Even today, the U.S. maintains a military presence in the area to keep ethnic conflict from flaring up again.
The Muslim world today is awash in anti-American sentiment. Yet if there’s any group of people that the West could expect to offer a counterweight to the jihadist hate, it would seem to be the two Muslim populations that NATO intervened militarily to protect less than ten years ago. Yet even after the U.S. and European militaries essentially act as the Bosnian Muslim / Kosovar air force and save scores of lives, Muslims from this community are still pissed enough to attempt a direct attack on the United States. We’re hardly talking about a parallel to the Iraq War in those conflicts; the impacted populations actually did “greet us as liberators”, or at least as forceful protectors.
I doubt that I’m alone in this sentiment, but after this, what more can the U.S. even hope to do to convince the Muslim world that we aren’t out to get them?
I just got done reading this excellent piece by Lt. Col. Paul Yingling in Armed Forces Journal. If you’re at all interested in the Iraq war, civilian-military confluence in political society, or even just want to read a well-thought-out article, read it with the quickness.
The great lesson of the article isn’t one that’s only for the military, either: if you’re not in charge, have the balls to speak up when your leaders are going the wrong direction. And if you are in charge, then have the balls to listen. Ignoring other perspectives while you bull ahead isn’t a sign of toughness; it’s a sign that you’re a damned idiot who doesn’t know how to accomplish even your own goals.
I’m not sure why it is that Nicolas Sarkozy seems to have been anointed as the front-runner by all the commentary I’ve read, but they were right about dude, as he won a pretty commanding victory, 53% to 47%. I think a lot of the positive coverage has to do with commentary peeps simply being tired of Chirac and his administration’s predictably boring obstinacy. Still, for all the press, I think the following are true:
1. You might see France stop automatically siding vocally with Russia and China at the Security Council like they have in the past few years, but that’s about it for change. Sarko is an admirer of the U.S., but what really is going to be different for French action on the world stage? He’s hardly going to jump into the Iraq debacle now, much less even express support for it. And nobody’s going to risk Bush contamination: hell, America is 68% against the man at this point, much less the French public.
2. Still, Franco-American relations will likely improve, and it’s about time. We need the two nations to come together for the sake of the global Spaghetti-Os community.
I’m also annoyed with everyone tip-toeing around the identity of the rioters. Were they angry Muslim banlieu residents, or were they disaffected left-wing students? Maybe a blend? With French rioting, you really never know, so let’s quit the vagaries and get some 5Ws up in this piece.
- Tony Blair = Lyndon Johnson. Think about it: both rode large waves of popular support for a domestic agenda that had so much promise to shift the political culture of the nation, only to be dragged down by what they saw as strategically and politically necessary involvement in a misguided foreign war when, in reality, a strong stand by either one could have averted the ensuing chaos. Both watched as their efforts slowly crumbled, but each was forced to wear a positive face, even as it was obvious that underneath, each knew just how badly things were going. (This is where the Bush / LBJ parallel ends.) Both left before their time, and ultimately endured a downtrodden exit from the world stage.
Who says history doesn’t mean anything?
- If he cares at all about the developmental mission of the World Bank—that may be debatable—Paul Wolfowitz should step down. What he did wasn’t illegal, but it was certainly in poor judgment for the head of the organization, and it’s causing fallout.
That said, I don’t think Wolfowitz will resign. The Bush people are in full turtling-up mode—see Gonzales taking a beating lately to understand this—, and I think that extends to Wolfowitz as well. Euros, you can offer all the tasty deals you want, but you’re just setting yourself up for yet another public snub, because the real issue here is admission of failure. The last six years have proven that that is just not going to happen with any facet of our executive branch. They’re weathering the storm, but as a result, so is the rest of the world.
… while running on Capitol Hill. He looks a lot like Dennis Kucinich.
3. “Don’t Stop Believing”, Journey – Yes, I do like this song. You like it too. So do your twelve friends. So does that annoying bar chick and her husband-hunting friends. So does the guy who says “bro” who’s just here to “cut loose with my boys”. These people indicate that the Journey trend has become way too popular to be ironically ahead of the game anymore. Sorry, Kevin.
2. “Living on a Prayer”, Bon Jovi – Again, I like this one. It brings back phat memories of Dance Marathon and Northwestern. Except that all those DJs who feel the need to pause the track during “whoaOOOOH! LIVING ON A PRAYER!” make me relive it a little too often, so hearing it all the time makes me feel like that dude who hangs around the college campus just a little too long after he graduates. And I am not that dude. I follow the “one visit after departure” rule very strictly here, Internet. Respect that.
1. “Sweet Caroline”, Neil Diamond – I don’t like this song. At all. In fact, I’ve hated it since I was a kid and my parents rocked “Oldies – 3WS” back in the car-radio day. Neil Diamond isn’t even a very good singer. Singing onomatopoeia doesn’t hold much of an appeal either: verbalized sounds aren’t lyrics, homes. If I go to a bar and the DJ rocks the track-stop for this one too (he’s probably already done it for Bon Jovi), I’m future-skipping that bar with the quickness. Also, Red Sox fans: baseball is boring. Sorry to tell you.
Tonight I had TV dinner and a beer. I am 1950s mantastic. What.
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