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Too much information: lessee if Toph remembers this.

We got fascism, but weak (wrong, should be...) thuggish state, (even) strong(er) corps. We got divided, docile (wrong, should be...) democratic masses not united (thugs) somehow. Toph remembers nothing whatsoever.

posted by TT 7:04 PM

whitewash

posted by TT 6:50 PM

A parody of Laura Bush?

Why not, Betty? Show some gratitude. If it weren't for her and the Supreme Court we wouldn't even be moving into the White House – it's not like Bushie was actually elected!

posted by TT 12:41 PM

From another old interview of Laura Bush:

None of the children asks the first lady about her favorite book. It would be fascinating to hear her tell them about Dostoevski's "Brothers Karamazov."

If she is eloquent on education, Laura Bush uses a separate, simpler vocabulary when talking about herself. She answers agreeably with declarative sentences that could come out of a Dick and Jane primer. It's curious to hear, coming from a woman who steeps herself in the words of emotionally dense novels.

posted by TT 12:36 PM

Wouldn’t mention this, but then again can’t drive it out of mind. Catch the cooties. Umm-umm. Authentic. And while we’re at it, let’s check Matthew 10:34-42.

posted by TT 11:06 AM

Nineteen Eighty-Four: 'THE WILL TO FASCISM'

Orwell in 1948 understood that despite the Axis defeat, the will to fascism had not gone away, that far from having seen its day it had perhaps not yet even come into its own -- the corruption of spirit, the irresistible human addiction to power, were already long in place, all well-known aspects of the Third Reich and Stalin's U.S.S.R., even the British Labour party -- like first drafts of a terrible future. What could prevent the same thing from happening to Britain and the United States? Moral superiority? Good intentions? Clean living?

—Thomas Pynchon, as quoted in today's SF Chronicle

posted by TT 10:53 AM

More along the lines of post-performance catchup and wisdom...

Let's start with risk. The risk of being punished. The risk of being isolated. The risk of being injured or killed. The risk of being scorned. We are all conscripts in one sense or another. For all of us, it is hard to break ranks; to incur the disapproval, the censure, the violence of an offended majority with a different idea of loyalty. We shelter under banner words like justice, peace and reconciliation that enroll us in new, if much smaller and relatively powerless, communities of the like-minded. That mobilize us for the demonstration, the protest and the public performance of acts of civil disobedience--not for the parade ground and the battlefield.

—Susan Sontag, "Of Courage and Resistance," The Nation, May 5, 2003

posted by TT 10:28 AM

An angel can be whatever, but, belatedly, Laura Bush is Laura Bush.

posted by TT 6:29 PM

Those we lost were last seen on duty. Their final act on this earth was to fight a great evil, and bring liberty to others. All of you — all in this generation of our military — have taken up the highest calling of history. You are defending your country, and protecting the innocent from harm. And wherever you go, you carry a message of hope — a message that is ancient, and ever new. In the words of the prophet Isaiah: "To the captives, 'Come out!' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'"

          —George W. Bush

There are often references to scripture to find and parse in these speeches. Or not. Moleskin King James says for these verses, "God's chosen servant to save both Jews and Gentiles."

posted by TT 5:12 PM

Special Laura Bush pronounciation, which Toph lost track of. Doesn't matter any more. Not many people appeared for the reading, but all wonderful.

• Laura, Angel, spouses and "children"
• Julia, a nine-year-old poet and her mother
• Cliff and ? and ? who read beautifully from Pasolini, Borges and Patchen

posted by TT 11:06 AM

‘Hast Thou the right to reveal to us one of the mysteries of the world from which Thou hast come?’ my old man asks Him, and answers the question for Him. ‘No, Thou hast not; that Thou mayest not add to what has been said of old, and mayest not take from men the freedom which Thou didst exalt when Thou wast on earth. Whatsoever Thou revealest anew will encroach on men’s freedom of faith; for it will be manifest as a miracle, and the freedom of their faith was dearer to Thee than anything in those days fifteen hundred years ago. Didst Thou not often say then, “I will make you free”? But now Thou hast seen these “free” men,’ the old man adds suddenly with a pensive smile. ‘Yes, we’ve paid dearly for it,’ he goes on, looking sternly at Him, ‘but at last we have completed that work in Thy name. For fifteen centuries we have been wrestling with Thy freedom, but now it is ended and over for good. Dost Thou not believe it’s over for good? Thou lookest meekly at me and deignest not even to be wroth with me. But let me tell Thee that now, to-day, people are more persuaded than ever that they have perfect freedom, yet they have brought their freedom to us and laid it humbly at our feet. But that has been our doing. Was this what Thou didst? Was this Thy freedom?’

                          —Ivan reciting his poem to Alyosha about the Grand Inquisitor, a ninety-year-old fifteenth century Spanish cardinal of Seville who interviews a silent, visiting Jesus Christ whom he has imprisoned and threatens to burn at the stake in the morning. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, trans. Constance Garnett, The Brothers Karamazov, Modern Library, 1950, pp. 297, 298.

posted by TT 9:32 AM

HAPPENINGS

May 1

An International Day of Poetry Against the War, with a poetry open mike, will take place beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the McKie Community Center at Half Moon Bay's Community United Methodist Church. There will be a reading of the first scene of the play "Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy" by playwright Tony Kushner ("Angels in America") followed by an open mike. Free to the public; light refreshments will be available. Info: Chris Church, 728-3119.
                            —Half Moon Bay Review, April 30, 2003

posted by TT 9:04 AM

Sunday driver! How about an ordinary wild ride? Fifteen seconds of rollicking.

posted by TT 9:51 AM

Nuremberg is in the news today. Can't imagine why. Point at Saddam Hussein. Do not point at US.

posted by TT 9:54 AM