Rhinocrisy

Hi, long time no see! Since Mist One sadly (for us, happily for her hopefully) abandoned her blergh without even first marrying Saurabh, and since strangely tragic bits of voyeurism need to be posted somewhere, I figure I might as well post this here. Enjoy.

Apparently Zabasearch, one of the cyberstalkers very bestest friends, lets people write to the objects of their obsession. And then it archives the messages and posts them for the world to see.

For some particularly poignant stuff, take a look here. “It has been 18 yrs since you left me high dry and pregnant.” “I’m just wondering if you happen to be my father.” “My mother took off when she found out she was pregnant with me and I’ve never met him.” “I just wanted to meet you and let you know that I am your daughter.” No, these are not all from the same person.

Some super-smart and rather funny people wrote recently in dismayed tones about the conquest of irony over satire.^* I worry more about the death of disappointment.

Talking to American baby boomers, I sense a national self-image that now seems naive, quaint, and maybe a bit foolish. They felt their country could offer freedom and democracy and hope for the world — not just as a talking point but for real. I talked to one fellow in June who said that even after he turned against Vietnam, he still applied to the State Department — not realizing that they didn’t much hire Jews.

Who under 30 carries that kind of hope? Without hope, there is no disappointment. Without disappointment, no Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live, no All the President’s Men, no “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin-to-Die Rag” or “Ohio.” Not even, and this is art that came out in the 80s but was produced by a boomer…

read the whole delicious post by clicking hereBloom County, a daily comic that openly discussed safe sex, had its characters go on a closed-shop union-led strike, and talked of impeaching Reagan.

I think that the detachment and indifference one finds in youth culture and even in protest culture about the fate of the USA — and maybe of the developed world as a whole — is based on despair. We’ve given up hope that Enlightenment-era Constitutional democracy is anything but a cover for the rapaciousness that’s cataloged in the million-selling A People’s History of the United States and, on weekdays, in the Wall Street Journal. It’s like we feel it would be just as well to throw this draft out, ball it up and start over. And that would be great if any real revolutionary sentiment was flowing around, but it’s not — we’re not throwing out, we’re not starting over, and as we withdraw into negativity and hopelessness, real people are being killed in our wars and factories.

The most terrifying loss isn’t comedy or cine verite. It’s the loss of a wide-open youth culture in which people get together and commiserate and fix things — a culture motivated, maybe, by hope and disappointment. I know the Web is nice but no, it’s not the same. When veterans returned from Vietnam (forget the “spitting” myths, they are bullshit), the angriest and most alienated were welcomed by hippie and biker culture, each premised on love for different ideals of what America and humanity could be. Even while in Vietnam, they had open organized rebellions against the politicians who sent them to kill and die. (You are required to watch the extended 12-minute trailer.)

So, to draw the parallel, where do people go who return from Iraq? Almost half a million have served there. Many have been broken down. Being under fire for a year and taught to torture and having friends killed amid limited booze and unlimited ammo is not good for the mind.

The people I find on this blergh are, I think, still hopeful and put off by America’s turn away from ideals. Many of us are immigrants or children of immigrants, but other than that, I see little unifying theme. Maybe African-Americans have kept this kind of hope more than “whites”; at least their vote turnout is higher and let’s just say no European-American celebrities had the huevos to say the obvious about whether George Bush likes black people.

Why do some people continue to struggle for the deeper, more inspiring American dream, the one embodied in the best rhetoric of the Founding Fathers, while so many others seem willing to detach and watch, not even helping create an alternative but rather enjoying clever jokes about the chaos of the fall from Jon Stewart & Co.? Do they really feel so safe? Is it the deathwish of the privileged? What?

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^*OK, so I am reposting a barely rewritten comment I wrote for another blergh. That is because I have become functionally illiterate as a result of working for the Man. Enjoy this while you can, as I am regurgitating old prose, starting with the most recent, and before long I will have to start posting stories from my high-school literary magazine. At that time, the Internet can be expected to shrivel up in recoiling horror, unwilling to transmit such bad.

note: i moved this post down to make keep saurabh’s manifesto up top longer.
-hh

MR. SNOW: The point here is they’re firing rockets indiscriminately into civilian areas. The Israelis are responding as they see fit.
…
Q Does the President thus far have any problem with what the Israelis have been targeting, given the fact they have hit a lot of civilians?

MR. SNOW: They have hit civilians. And one of the things we’ve pointed out is that it has been the deliberate tactic of Hezbollah to place assets in civilian areas, including sometimes in the homes of its own members, as part of the tactics so that they would not get hit. And we lament the death of innocents whether they be in Israel, or in Lebanon, or in Gaza, or anywhere else. So it is something of which we are keenly aware. And it is also a reflection of tactics that would have been unthinkable in other conflicts at other times, but there is a deliberate attempt on the part of Hezbollah to place civilians in harm’s way. And, unfortunately, they are.

This, presumably, includes the Hezbollah stations built on Lebanese roads and bridges all across the country. Bridges are a great place for terrorist infrastructure, as are sea ports, air ports, cell phone communication towers, power plants, and trucks for drilling water wells. Once I saw a photo of a Hezbollah office in downtown Beirut that was built on the shoulder of a six-year-old boy, as well.

This is particularly horrifying:

MR. SNOW: What we want is the proper — the cessation of violence in a manner that is consistent with stability, peace, democracy in Lebanon, and also an end to terror.

A cease-fire that would leave the status quo ante intact is absolutely unacceptable. A cease-fire that would leave intact a terrorist infrastructure is unacceptable. So what we’re trying to do is work as best we can toward a cease-fire that is going to create not only the conditions, but the institutions for peace and democracy in the region.

In other words, we shouldn’t stop until Hezbollah is finished, or at the least Nasrallah is dead.

Again, we’re not surprised. We’re also not surprised by the lack of perspective shown by American media. We are somewhat surprised, however, by the response from the Arab League, all but Syria expressing condemnation of Hezbollah. Fear of Iran and their own populations.

Genuine, no-joke press release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, dated yesterday:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

*Germany to Help Provide Clean Energy*

Contact: Roxanne Smith, (202) 564-43XX / XXXXX@epa.gov (media only);
Erin Birgfeld, (202) 343-90XX/ XXXXX@epa.gov (technical questions only)

(Washington, D.C. – July 6, 2006) Germany has become the 18th member of the
international Methane to Markets Partnership, a Bush Administration initiative
that promotes the recovery and use of methane to provide clean energy. Germany’s
participation in the partnership will help reduce methane emissions and promote
global energy security.

“The Bush Administration has an unparalleled financial, international and
domestic commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Voluntary
programs, like EPA’s Methane to Markets Partnership, are achieving significant
reductions by taking methane waste and turning it into wealth,” said EPA
Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “By working with Germany to promote advances
in clean technology, President Bush is helping turn strong economic partners
into good global neighbors.”

Hello, is this Erin Birgfeld? Yes, I have a technical question. If two lines are unparalleled, and one is going the right direction, which way is the other one going?

Gotta love those unparalleled commitments. It reminds me of two speedskaters, one bolting with determination for the finish line while the other pours salt on the ice, moons the camera, and wanders off into the crowd. “My commitment to victory is unparalleled!”

Or to put it another way (PDF):

German emissions are 18.5% below 1990 levels, within reach of its 21% emission reduction target. Germany is expected to meet its targets without the use of flexibility mechanisms such as international carbon trading. Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder has offered to set a target of reducing German emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 if the EU accepts a 30% reduction target. The new coalition government under Chancellor Angela Merkel has maintained a strong stance on climate change action…

As of 2003, the report says, Germany needed to cut another 3 percent from its carbon emissions to meet its Kyoto commitment. The USA needed to cut 21 percent, a number that rises with every record month for gasoline consumption. Hooray for April! We sure stuck it to Exxon that month!

Gosh, two terrorist plots in a month. The FBI at work, protecting the homeland.

The agency’s top-notch cybersleuthing skills were on display. Just a day after a consultant pleaded guilty to hacking the bureau’s computers and acquiring the password and social security number of each employee including the director! The FBI regained the advantage over cybercriminals. The bureau found these criminal masterminds by monitoring what my sources call “open Internet chat rooms.”

Other sources, within the FBI, tell me that enforcement actions will increase in September. As schools reopen, college sophomores across the U.S. will be arrested for quoting aloud from the first paragraphs of The Communist Manifesto while preschoolers, having built tall towers out of wooden blocks and Legos, can expect to be questioned if they levy credible threats against the structures.

The agents who will be assigned to Operation Schoolyard will become available after the FBI disbands 110-member Unabomber task force. Its continued existence was criticized earlier this year after an agent found the bomber at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. The bomber was turned in by his brother in April, 1996, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Following the high ethical bar of my competitor, the New York Times, I must disclose why I granted these sources anonymity. They didn’t want their names used because they are my imaginary friends and it would embarrass me to have everyone know what I call them. Right pooky-monster?

I just had to snap this off at the Triborough Bridge in New York.

I’m glad I took off my kaffiyeh.

Dennis Perrin has a good bit about the latest nonsense in Israel/Palestine, including a nice debate between Norman Finkelstein and some guy from AIPAC.

Our own government has responded about as expected. This:

Israeli forces entered the southern Gaza Strip this past week as part of efforts to free [captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit]. Israeli forces also detained more than 60 officials of Hamas, the Islamic militant group, which won the last Palestinian election.

prompted this:

President Bush says the key to ending the crisis in the Gaza Strip is freeing [Shalit].

This, following Israel tearing in and shutting off all power in Gaza (read: hospitals and water supply).

Screw virgin births – how many people who live to puberty die as virgins? My guess – 0.7%. But I have no idea how to confirm this.

The U.S. government wanted to prosecute Osama bin Laden’s driver, a dude named Hamdan, for war crimes. They wanted it so bad they went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to promote their interpretation of Congressional, Constitutional and U.S. treaty requirements. Oops – the court decided that the war crimes tribunal was itself a war crime, as it violated the Geneva Conventions. It’s nice when hubris runs into itself, at least a little bit.

The news has been wall-to-wall debates over whether the New York Times should lose its White House press passes because of its treasonous act of reporting on this “secret” organization along with the Wall Street Journal and L.A. Times. Leave aside the fact that this is the most ridiculous demagoguery ever: it is getting tremendous traction among the kind of people who vote in cable-TV call-in polls and is almost certainly a more popular idea than the idea of leaving Bush in charge of the country for another week.

I’m not going to argue against this idea. Plenty of smarter people have. Instead, I like to think about what would happen if they did lose their press credentials. I think it would be the best thing to happen to them since the Pentagon Papers. They now dedicate at least one reporter for half of every workday to sitting around in a crumbling little room transcribing non-denial denials and noncomittal assents from a guy who doesn’t know, doesn’t even want to know, squat about turkey. It’s worse when the POTUS travels, as they have to send some fancy-pants reporter along to see — usually nothing. It’s partly what the wire reporters call deathwatch: you just need to be there in case the guy gets shot. But as far as news, it tends quickly to turn into stories about what the press was interested in or how the grounds are kept at Crawford, because the president and his flaks don’t provide information. They barely provide entertainment. I doubt that a picture of the president on the cover of a newspaper sells as many copies as a picture of a pretty sunset.

Meanwhile, the White House press corps does more for the President than he does for them. They continue to quote his lies, put his ugly mug on the front page, and otherwise treat him like a celebrity and important character rather than the pathetic pawn he is. He needs them to prop up his image more than they need him to improve sales or to enhance truth.

Instead, that $100,000+ a year top-notch high-speed reporter could be spending day after day pursuing news containing has both information and entertainment value. Sell papers and support democracy at the same time.

Does Sy Hersh have a White House press pass? He might, but you can’t tell from his stories. Still, he has helped the New Yorker become a serious news organ while exposing some of the worst crimes in Iraq, such as Abu Ghraib. How about it?

Why not give up the little plastic cards? The White House soon will learn — they are much better off keeping you inside than forcing you to go out and write real news.