Category: Old Dish

In Harry S. Truman’s name.

I have absolutely nothing against capitalism, but I have to say I feel solidarity with the dissidents here. Watching images of people bursting through department door stores and trampling each other for a cheap DVD player at 5.30 am makes me wonder if I belong to the same species. Yes, I know there are bargains. But please. The sheer frenzy, the entire mania of consumerism, the notion that meaning is to be found in buying things and giving these things to other people or to yourself – it all leaves me cold. That’s one reason I’m such a Christmas-phobe. Each year, we have a communal campaign to persuade ourselves that we never have enough, the new things will assuage our real needs, that buying is the same as living. Yes, of course, some of this is fine, generous or even important. I really did need a new sleeper-sofa. And my boyfriend loves his new, mini-iPod. But the hysteria is a form of cultural disorder. And “Christmas” merely feeds it. If “Buy Nothing Day” helps assuage this a little, it’s an excellent thing.

Take a look at these two photographs of Ukraine opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko. What on earth happened to him? Poisoning? Chemical agents? Russians point to the secret police. Money quote:

Yushchenko’s doctors in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, said they had determined that “chemicals not of a food origin” had triggered the illness.
Zimpfer and the clinic’s chief physician, Dr. Lothar Wicke — who requested police protection after receiving an anonymous threat while treating Yushchenko — later asked for outside help from “a specialist in military operations and biological weapons,” the Austria Press Agency reported.

Far more mysterious than whatever killed Arafat, no?

DAN ON THE UKRAINE: Dan Drezner knows what he’s talking about. Check his link-rich blog for developments.

FALLUJA, AGAIN: Another truly riveting eye-witness account of every twist in the battle.

“My middle name on my birth certificate is just, A. My Hebrew name is David Aryeh (meaning lion). My parents didn’t want my birth certificate name to be David Lion so they put an A there and said they were going to let me decide. In my teenage years I was infatuated with Blackadder and almost changed my middle name to Atkinson (for Rowan obviously). Now I kinda like that it’s just A, like Harry S Truman.”

Sidney Bumenthal is in fine, paranoid form in an article decrying Bush’s alleged behavior at the Clinton library festivities. My favorite anecdote:

Offstage, beforehand, Rove and Bush had had their library tours. According to two eyewitnesses, Rove had shown keen interest in everything he saw, and asked questions, including about costs, obviously thinking about a future George W Bush library and legacy. “You’re not such a scary guy,” joked his guide. “Yes, I am,” Rove replied. Walking away, he muttered deliberately and loudly: “I change constitutions, I put churches in schools …” Thus he identified himself as more than the ruthless campaign tactician; he was also the invisible hand of power, pervasive and expansive, designing to alter the fundamental American compact.

Oh, please, Sid. He was quite obviously joking. I think.

Steve Sailer says it’s fecundity that makes a red state red.

“There are some subjects so depressing that we do whatever we can to avoid hearing about them. Along with the results of a certain recent election, the sexual enslavement of children is high on the list.” – Andrew Johnston, TV listings, Time Out New York.

“Gonzales’ Middle Name: It’s just ‘R’! At least that what it appears to be according to my quick online search of Texas’ vital records database. There is one Alberto R. Gonzales listed as having been born 8 August 1955 in Bexar County, which is where his hometown of San Antonio is located. This birth records info track with Gonzales’ bio at Wikipedia. For all of the other listings, the records show full middle names where available, and are blank where there is no middle name at all. For Gonzales, under the middle name column, it simply says ‘R’.
It’s a bit odd, but it isn’t the first time I’ve seem someone with just a middle initial, without an actual full middle name. If this is true, then perhaps the White House’s ‘secrecy’ about his middle name is really just a joke. They’re simply taking the piss out of the media and waiting to see how long it takes them to find out that the White House had, in fact, released Alberto ‘R’ Gonzales’ full middle name already!
This all reminds me of one Homer J. Simpson’s growing up not knowing what his middle initial stands for, only to find out eventually that it’s ‘Jay’!” Yep. The Simpsons are always ahead of the curve. Then there’s this.

Tim Garton Ash has one of the best columns I’ve read on the subject.

The trickle of good news from Iraq is beginning to gain momentum, it seems to me. I’d cite several things: the relatively subdued Shiite and Kurdish response to the suppression of the Falluja revolt; the forgiveness of 80 percent of Iraq’s debt (can you imagine the media hype if John Kerry had negotiated that?); the larger-than-expected load of captured armaments in Falluja; the capture of Zaraqwi’s aide, Abu Saeed; and now, the latest desperate propaganda tape by Zarqawi. What Zarqawi is doing is complaining that some Sunnis – those not committed to the global Jihad so much as defending their own privileges and fighting the occupation – are going soft. Negotiations with Allawi might bear some fruit, thus isolating Zaraqwi even further. The barbarism of Zarqawi may also be alienating more moderate Iraqis – and many Shiites whose co-religionists have been targeted by insurgent violence. The elections, even without overwhelming Sunni involvement, will doubtless add momentum to the interim government and the prospect of holding Iraq together. Yes, huge obstacles remain; and the threat of civil war (which is the flipside of Kurdish and Shiite ambivalence toward watching the Sunnis get clobbered) is still intense. But it seems to me that the light at the end of this tunnel just grew a little. Here’s hoping.