Tuesday, July 9, 2002
PJ O'Rourke has another characteristically smug essay in the new Atlantic. It incorrectly assumes April's Palestinian protesters had no "intelligable demand." Considering it was an AIPAC meeting they were crashing you'd think the message is clear. The US ships one-third of it's foreign aid to Israel and it's sent in lump sums completely unaccountable. They recieve almost $3 billion annually to do as they please, while most countries recieving aid are greatly restricted and must account for all purchaces.
Lame as the 4-20 protests may have been, every jab O'Rourke takes at the tie-dye and the cute acronyms has been said a million times before. The article could have been written by any funny-guy Cato intern in twenty minutes flat. How he got the correspondenship baffles me. O'Rourke's schtick wears thin quickly, and his column is not up to par with the eloquent works of Richard Posner, David Brooks, and Jonathan Rauch.
That leads me up to another point; that it is unbelievably frustrating to see major libertarian organizations mum over the conflict. As George W. Bush incorrectly correlates terrorism in Tel Aviv to our "War on Terrorism," and billions of dollars continue to be spent, the only people brave enough to question the status quo have been on the left, i. e.
Freezerbox:
To craft U.S. policy in an entire region around new elections for an already expired Palestinian Authority is yet another display of Israeli setting of U.S. policy. More frightening is President Bush's criteria for the new leadership to be "not compromised by terror." We can only assume that this will be translated by way of Jerusalem to mean that only those Palestinians who have not been involved in resistance against occupation would be accepted. This is a clever way to say that no Palestinian is eligible for acceptance into this U.S. policy and thus give Israel more time to destroy Palestinian communities and any hope for co-existence.
Monday, July 8, 2002
Don't tell me there is nothing to do this month:
9 electric circus - black cat
10 i am the world trade center - velvet lounge
11 the hurricane lamps *Free* at fort reno,
then, jason lewis -- metro cafe
13 dj shadow - nation, or the explosion -black cat
14 rah brahs - black cat
15 trans am *Free* at fort reno
18 most secret method *Free* at fort reno,
archer prewitt - black cat, or swearing at motorists - metro cafe
19 Free Electrons - house of secrets
20 neil halstead - iota (afternoon show)
21mendoza line -- black cat
22 jenny toomey *Free* at fort reno
23 my birthday party -- my apartment
26 burning brides - black cat
27 interpol - black cat
28 el guapo - black cat
29 nazca lines *Free* at fort reno,
then dead meadow - velvet lounge
30 the 90 day men - black cat
Monday, July 8, 2002
Victor Pelevin's Omon Ra, a snarky look at a kid enrolled in the Soviet space program, is one hell of a good book. Good enough to get banned in his homeland. Check out his interview in Bomb
In Russia, when you are trained as an engineer, you spend several years studying theoretical physics: from mechanics and electricity to elementary particles. And this training is quite deep and serious. After you graduate from your institute you are assigned to some factory where you have to work for three years (at least it was like this when I was a student and factories were still working). What happens next is they give you a crowbar, a padded coat and a cap with earflaps, and you are entrusted with the leadership of three stone-pissed proletarians (you can't use the term "worker" here as they never work). And your task is to remove ice in the backyard. That was the metaphysics of engineering in Russia.
Monday, July 8, 2002
Now from 'latte taxes' to dotcom nostalgia: the always insightful Annalee Newitz fondly remembers the golden age's purple painted walls and workers in shorts.
However, if a new initiative petition gathers enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, residents of Seattle may have to choose which they like more, their coffee or "the children." At least, that's how the issue is being framed: An alliance called the Early Learning and Care Committee (ELCC) is seeking to add a 10 cent surcharge to every espresso beverage ordered to subsidize pre-school workers and public school teachers. With the usual string of caveats and qualifiers - this doesn't apply to drip coffee, it would not kick in unless businesses have revenues of $50,000 a year - the ELCC estimates that the latte levy would raise $7 to $10 million per annum.
The money, which could have been shaken out of one of Bill Gates' pant legs, is a pittance compared to the potential social fallout. Many Seattleites are incredulous, to the point of anger. The Seattle Times editorial on the subject began "Taxing lattes? In Seattle? … [W]hy not put a statewide tax on Washington apples?"
Sunday, July 7, 2002
It smacks of some muddled anti-corporate bias, but Pitchfork is publishing some tightly written IP criticism.
What Ms. Rosen and the RIAA fail to note is the lack of a direct correlation between the declining sales figures in today's marketplace and the ascendancy of utilities like Napster and Audiogalaxy. For every RIAA press release bemoaning the downturn in sales, there are studies that show otherwise. A recent study conducted by the Ipsos-Reid Corporation reports that 81% of those downloading music from the Internet are buying just as much music, or more music, than they did prior to public awareness of peer-to-peer file sharing technology.
Sunday, July 7, 2002
this is something I've been meaning to sign off on for quite some time: thick, black-rimmed glasses are as timeless and classic as chinos and collared-shirts. I don't want anyone to stop wearing them because of incorrectly identified correlations to the emo-ilk
Saturday, July 6, 2002
From today's post: Some Riders Want Transit Agency To Ease Rules on Restroom Access
When Michelle Hudgins, 32, moved to metropolitan Washington two years ago, friends gave her some advice. "If you gotta go, go before you Metro," they told her.
Saturday, July 6, 2002
The Buddyhead gossip page is the perfect antidote to a lazy afternoon:
Saves The Days has "beef" with Weezer. Yeah, we know…it’s like back in high school when the two biggest geeks squared off at recess and the “fight” was really just some limp-wristed shoving match until someone got their nerd glasses broken and started crying. Anyway, here's how this story goes; basically Saves the Day and Weezer both made a video with some Muppets in it. Yeah…we said muppets. Saves The Day are claiming the idea was theirs first (with crazy ideas like muppets in music videos you know those kids are on the pot now! Woo!) and that Weezer stole their lame idea for their new visual attrocity. Saves the Day's video which features a goofy cast of puppets and Jeremy Weiss as the "emo gay guy" had to get budget Muppets because Vagrant steals all their money and gives it to the Taliban. And wouldn't you know it, seeing as how Weezer is rich and equally lame, they went out and got the actual, honest to God, Muppets! Jim Henson style bitch. This really bummed out the guys in STD, who just wanted some credit for their "original" concept. The funniest part about this whole thing is that no one's realized that having muppets in your video is one of the biggest dorkus molorkus fruitcake moves one could commit, and these two dork squards are FIGHTING OVER IT.
Friday, July 5, 2002
O, the July 4th festivities. It was of course much to hot to go anywhere, so most of my time was spent in my friend's partially air-conditioned apartment. I got stoned and watched the firework from the roof. That's all the holiday really should be
