Category: Old Dish

Signs that the Washington Post’s Don Graham really, finally does understand the future of news and opinion media.

If this is true, then some Bushies have officially lost it.

The Iron Lady meets Monty Python:

[Thatcher’s daughter], Carol said: “The memory loss is very strange because her recollection of distant events is still sharp. A friend commented to her the other week: ‘Oh, Margaret, it’s like rationing!’ Immediately, my mother sparkled and this fellow got 15 minutes on wartime privations, including all mum’s favourite recipes for Spam.”

Wonderful spam.

BEFORE GAY CULTURE? The Provincetown Banner runs occasional stories from its previous editions. This one is from 1950. Check it out:

December 7, 1950 CHAMBER TO PONDER ‘THE BOYS’ INFLUX

At the regular meeting of the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce on Monday night, Chief of Police William N. Rogers will speak on various phases of the problem created by the summer influx of ‘The Boys,’ according to an announcement yesterday by Chamber president, Joseph E. Macara.

Commenting on the subject for discussion, Mr. Macara termed the problem one of foremost importance and added that while there has been a tendency to shy away from bringing it out into the open, he felt that it had reached such proportions that the Chamber of Commerce should give it the consideration it demands.

Each season, he said, the number of ‘The Boys’ continues to increase and with the increase in numbers and abnormal actions of many become more public and brazen with the result that more and more normal people turn away from the town in disgust.

Mr. Macara said the problem will be difficult to handle but it must be met and solved before the summer trade of the town is seriously damaged and before some climax in abnormality occurs.

A couple of questions. Was this serious? I don’t know enough precisely about the atmosphere in 1950, but this seems a little draconian for Ptown. But maybe I’ve under-estimated the staggering speed of cultural change. But the metaphors. “Climax of abnormality!” One of ‘the boys’ wrote that one, I bet you.

An exasperated Democrat writes:

The Democrats are such spineless, unimaginative dorks that they can’t make political hay even at a time like this with opponents like the Bush administration. I am (was?) a Democrat, and they make me sick. I can’t imagine what FDR, Harry Truman, or LBJ would have to say about the maladroit politicing of these amateurs. It only goes to prove that they have no core ideas about which political practices might cohere. On the other hand, I couldn’t ever be a Republican. I don’t know what to do. The great political philosopher, Dave Barry, probably had it right:

“The Democrats seem to be basically nicer people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills of celery. They’re the kind of people who’d stop to help you change a flat, but would somehow manage to set your car on fire. I would be reluctant to entrust them with a Cuisinart, let alone the economy. The Republicans, on the other hand, would know how to fix your tire, but they wouldn’t bother to stop because they’d want to be on time for Ugly Pants Night at the country club.”

That’s why I’ve never thought of myself as either a Republican or a Democrat. Both parties drive me nuts – for different reasons.

Some good and interesting reporting from Iraq, and the slow progress some U.S. troops are achieving, can be found on Julian Barnes’ blog from Iraq. Money quote:

The 101st seems to have a much deeper appreciation and understanding of the region it oversees than other units have had. The division soldiers seem to understand the factionalism better and also better appreciate the limits of their understanding. For example, Lt. Col. Marc Hutson, the commander of the battalion, can talk in some detail about the succession battles going on inside the larger tribes in his region.

It takes time to understand an alien culture. And even more time to win it over. Three years is not long enough.

Ferdie Mount has an excellent essay. I’m glad the new Tory leader is talking a lot about the environment. But he needs to tackle the fundamental issues of an over-extended state as well.

I try and read Orwell’s famous essay once a year. When I edited TNR, it was the only thing I asked the interns each year to read before they started work. It has rarely been more valuable than today. Here’s Condi Rice describing “extraordinary renditions” when the US swoops in, captures an alleged terrorist, and transports him to countries like Uzbekistan, Egypt or Syria to be tortured, as long as the dictators say they’ll be nice this time. You know: like with Libi. Her phrase:

“spiriting away terrorist suspects to mystery destinations for robust interrogation.”

Is that a spa she’s referring to or a torture chamber?

“I am a 18 year old gay boy and I just read your article, “The end of gay culture…” It was very good and you are totally right. I never realized how much suffering previous gay generations went thru. It made me think about my self, I am “straight acting,” pretty popular, I have all straight friends… And besides not dating girls, I am just one of the guys. I only tell people that I am gay if they ask (all my friends know) but I have never had any one give me shit for being gay… I guess it is weird how much of a change that is from back then. Your writing was very helpful, it gives me a sense of cultural history.”

A fascinating profile.

Bad intelligence. This case is almost a perfect one for the anti-torture position. Not only did we send Libi to be tortured, the intelligence he gave us was wrong, and that evidence was used to launch a war. The fundamental casus belli for that war was completely undermined by that bad intelligence. And the disastrous consequences in Iraq led to more torture being used to obtain more bad intelligence. And on and on. Isn’t it time we stopped this?