The Dish

I know he’s desperate to spark publicity – any publicity – for his book on why the earth is flat, I mean, why the media is hopelessly slanted to the right. But wishing Rush Limbaugh had actually gone deaf? Here’s a quote from Eric Alterman in the current Esquire: “The lack of civility he [Limbaugh] demonstrates toward liberal politicians is really dangerous to our political public. I hate to say it, but I wish the guy would have gone deaf. I shouldn’t say that, but on behalf of the country, it would be better without Limbaugh and his 20 million listeners.” And Alterman is bashing Limbaugh for incivility? Not that I’m exactly surprised. Alterman rarely avoids an ad hominem directed at yours truly. Here’s Limbaugh’s take.

In France, grilled relentlessly by French television interviewers, Vladimir Putin refuses to say he’d veto a second U.N. resolution. It’s “not necessary right now.” The French will have taken the message. There’s still a chance for a U.N.-backed war. Powell’s presentation persuaded the American public, and the Europeans have noticed. It’s still up for grabs.

SCHRODER BUNGLES: “Germany as the odd man out? This must be the nightmare now wafting through the chancellor’s office. Can it be banished? Yes, if coldly calculated interest prevails. It whispers ever so loudly: ‘Don’t mess with Mr Big unless the stronger battalions are on your side.’ Belgium is not enough.” – Josef Joffe on why Bismarck must be spinning in his grave.

“What we have made up our minds about is unilateralism vs. multilateralism. We are fully for multilateralism.” – Arthur Sulzberger Jr, February 8 2003.

“Turkey, which borders Iraq and reasonably fears Iraqi reprisals, has a legitimate need for Patriot missiles, Awacs surveillance aircraft and units specialized in combating biological and chemical attacks. NATO is capable of providing these, but so are its individual members, including the United States. Washington was wrong to strong-arm the issue to a decision in a divided NATO. The result was that France, Germany and Belgium blocked an initial American-backed proposal. They said it was premature and overly broad and would appear to commit NATO to supporting a war the Security Council had not yet approved.” – the New York Times, February 11, 2003, blaming the Bush administration for excessive multilateralism.

From the Washington Post, January 22, 1991:

Despite NATO’s commitment to defend Turkey, there is no consensus in the Western alliance to send forces to help Ankara if it is attacked by Iraq in retaliation for U.S.-led bombing raids launched from bases in Turkey, according to diplomats from four NATO nations.
If Baghdad fires Scud missiles at Turkey, the only NATO country to share a border with Iraq, the organization “will protect Turkey,” NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner has said. “Whoever attacks Turkey must realize that he will be attacking all member nations.”
But at least four NATO members – including Spain and Belgium – agree with the reluctance voiced today by German leaders against joining the Persian Gulf War, even if Turkey asks for help, according to diplomats from the United States, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s spokesman, Dieter Vogel, called Woerner’s comment “an interesting statement,” adding only that the German government’s position was not “describable.” Kohl avoided the topic today, saying he would “not publicly meditate on what would” spark Germany’s and NATO’s obligation to defend Turkey.

Maybe it’s time to ask France and Germany to leave NATO. Maybe, in reality, they already have.

MOORE WILL GET THE OSCAR: Of course he will. These people are in the movie business. They made “A Beautiful Mind” and “Good Will Hunting” the best movies of the year. You think a made-up documentary will stop them? For a little light relief, here’s a short extract from a truly hilarious Michael Moore parody in London’s satirical magazine, “Private Eye” (my brother sends over a copy every couple of weeks). It’s Michael Moore’s diary, as written by Craig Brown, Tina’s spectacularly talented brother:

The tobacco companies (all run by men) have been extremely successful in convincing the firearms lobby to pacify the car manufacturers by distributing crack cocaine to 132 nuclear plants so that now up to 69 percent of women between the ages of 28 and 39 are unable to drive their kids to school without inhaling harmful emissions from the ozone layer caused by toxic fumes radiated by President Bush under direct instructions from – yes, you guessed it – the tobacco companies. So where does that leave the rest of us? Ho-hum. From where I’m standing, guys, it looks like we’re drowning in deep doggy-do. And I don’t know ’bout you, but deep doggy-do’s not something I like to drown in – at least not when there’s a Pammy Anderson movie just started on the TV!!!

Moore in reality is a little less coherent than this, but it’s a pretty accurate otherwise, innit?

This band has got it all. Paging Mary Eberstadt. Here’s a chance to blame lesbians for pedophilia!

THE ANTI-WAR ASSUMPTION: At least this Guardian columnist comes out and says it: “The status quo is safe. Iraq is in a box.” His solution: keep sending the inspectors around Iraq for another year. But why? If Hans Blix is enough to deter Saddam, why bother with more inspectors? Why bother with Resolution 1441? Why even bother with military preparation? Just demobilize and leave the inspectors to keep the peace. Just remember: The status quo is safe. Iraq is in a box. Just close your eyes, whistle cheerfully and wait for the nerve gas.

DARWIN DAY: A group of scientists want a national holiday in Britain to commemmorate the extraordinary achievements of Charles Darwin. I guess we won’t get such an opportunity over here. But darwin surely deserves some kind of national honor in Britain. I’d add Newton and create a Science Day.

You can flame me now.

Some are. These guys do have a good slogan, though: “War Is Silly. Whack your willy.” Like I needed a reason?

Maybe he wasn’t such an obvious insider-trader, after all. The evidence suggests he did all he could to keep his Enron stock, even while the company was clearly tanking. In other words, he didn’t say one thing and do another. The New York Times engages in a pretty clear case of back-tracking:

That differs sharply from the story put forward early last year, after many news organizations, including The New York Times, reported that Mr. Lay had sold large numbers of shares as he urged others to buy. Many people seized on those facts as evidence of duplicity, not accounting for other possible explanations.

Good for the Times for correcting the record. I wonder if Krugman will.

Yep, it’s on the web.

MAIL JAM: I’m sorry some of you, many of you, have been unable to email me lately. Apparently, the mail server has gotten overwhelmed. I have calls and emails in to fix it.

I guess we wll know the answer to that, but this year’s nominees are almost a hetero-shut-out. An unusually well-informed movie buff friend sent me the following email:

Today’s Oscar nominations must set a record of sorts for gays in Hollywood. Best Picture nominee “Chicago” was produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, both openly gay, while another Best Picture nominee, “The Hours,” had openly-gay Scott Rudin as producer. (The Pulitzer Prize winning book on which it is based was, of course, written by openly gay Michael Cunningham.) Two of the nominees for Best Director, Rob Marshall of “Chicago” and Pedro Almodovar of “Talk To Me”, are openly gay. Nicole Kidman is nominated as Best Actress for her portrayal of bisexual Virginia Woolf in “The Hours,” Ed Harris is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a gay man with AIDS in the same film, while Meryl Streep is nominated for Best Supporting Actress as his lesbian best friend. Selma Hayek is up for Best Actress for her portrayal of bisexual painter Frida Kahlo in “Frida”. Pedro Almodovar is also nominated for Best Original Screenplay, where he is joined by openly gay Todd Haynes, who wrote and directed “Far From Heaven.” Juliette Moore is nominated as Best Actress for that film, in which she plays the wife of a closeted gay man (played by Dennis Quaid, whose omission from the list of nominees will be noted as one of this year’s Oscar gaffes). Another original screenplay nomination went to “Y Tu Mam Tambien,” in which two young straight men end up having sex with each other. “Lilo & Stitch,” whose co-director Dean DeBlois is openly gay, is up for Best Animated Feature. Kander and Ebb are up for Best Song (as is Eminem). And the Dutch film nominated for Best Foreign Film, “Zus & Zo,” is a comedy about how a family deals with the news that the brother they all thought was gay decides to marry a woman. Stephen Daldry did not direct it.

Note that this is all related to people who are openly gay. The closet is crumbling – even in that most privately homophobic enclave, Hollywood.
UPDATE: My friend got one detail wrong: Meryl Streep was nominated for her performance in “Adaptation,” not “The Hours.” But one more addition: openly gay writer, Bill Condon, for his screenplay adaptation of “Chicago.”