Hello honey, I’m Hooooomme.
..well you did say it was an open thread.

Posted by: fauxreal | Jul 18 2005 22:55 utc | 4

And I’ll get out the dominoes. Any one game?

Posted by: jm | Jul 18 2005 23:05 utc | 6

there’s a contest at billmons!!! w/ a prize!!

Posted by: annie | Jul 18 2005 23:10 utc | 8

MEANWHILE BACK ON THE RESERVATION
Chief Bechtel and Chief Wackhenhut wantum wampum.

Posted by: Groucho | Jul 18 2005 23:17 utc | 10

Pipe? Did I hear pipe?
Oh, of course. Now where did I put that darn peace pipe?

Posted by: jm | Jul 18 2005 23:39 utc | 12

Oh, it slipped my mind temporarily. They’re in hot pursuit of evil. Too bad they they can’t master their surgical strikes.

Posted by: jm | Jul 19 2005 0:15 utc | 14

i’m worried about the beav. wish he’d never signed up.

Posted by: annie | Jul 19 2005 0:24 utc | 16

@Annie:
Beaver didn’t sign up. Too Young.
He’s over studying his catecism with that very nice priest that takes such an interest in him.
Ward has invited the Wolfes over for the evening for cocktails. Literary couple.
Ward, of late, has become interested in “swinging”.
I’m nervous. Don’t know how the evening will turn out.

Posted by: Mrs. Cleaver | Jul 19 2005 0:44 utc | 18

don’t worry mrs cleaver the wolfes teach cultural studies which in the absence of either – there will not be a great deal to talk about. mr wolfe will of course speak very highly of the bloom brothers wwith whom he had a clandestine fling during his masters but you know boys will be boys. mrs wolfes loves the Canon & will speak widely on everything from st augustine to early t s eliot. then you will all take off your clothes & do a cabbalic circle recite many numbers & translate from the latin of giodorno bruno. during this mr wolfe who did his undergrad thesis on giambatista vico will begin singing an opera in italian with a libretto by a sicilian silk merchant
you will then speak sternly of willy reich & enter the orgone machine
after that everything will wor out fine, real fine
or it could be the other wolfes – & well mr wolf is the sargeant of arms in the local hells angel chapter & mrs wolfes is a dancer, an exotic dancer of very very exceptional talent
there will not be much talking
you will enter the orgone machine
& everything will work out just fine
beaver of course will marry the pries & go & work in an an arkansas revivalist centre writing screenplays about intelligent design while the world turns to flames

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 19 2005 0:54 utc | 20

mrs cleaver, in any case do not to forget to clean out the orgone machine thoroughly after use

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 19 2005 1:29 utc | 22

Get a cocktail and chill, DID:
The wolves are coming.

Posted by: Mrs. Cleaver | Jul 19 2005 1:44 utc | 24

@DID:
This war is going south, and it is not, I think, generally supported, by the Viet Nam generation, or by the previous (Korea) generation. It seems to me that this war is supported by the 50 and under age groups, where it is supported.
During Viet Nam, less than 1/3 of age eligible males in America soldiered- and R. Limbaugh, etc. were not the only ones with anal cysts, trick knees, etc.
With the Volunteer military, inaugrated circa 1972,and with the downsizing since Vietnam even fewer have ever served.
When a society is that divorced from the experiece of war, I think this utter perversion could have been expected.
After all, It’s only a flash of light on a CNN green screen. Slap an adhesive piece of tin on your vehicle, wrap your tree with the obligatory yellow ribbon, and let’s get on with it.

Posted by: Groucho | Jul 19 2005 2:12 utc | 26

Goddamn, a Revolution even DeA- could love!!

Posted by: jj | Jul 19 2005 2:48 utc | 28

Haven’t breathed this deeply, since I first heard the dreaded words “Peak Oil”. I’m entranced – here’s a pic. from the Paris show

Posted by: jj | Jul 19 2005 3:14 utc | 30

@jj I missed the bit about compressed air. But if anyone is brave enough to drive that on Sydney’s roads (say, squished beween two 36 wheelers over the harbour bridge) then they have my utmost respect.

Posted by: DM | Jul 19 2005 3:33 utc | 32

Ms. Page:
We are searching for a live-in governess and after-school teacher for our son.
He is doing poorly in school since he discovered religion.
And his lunch box is not of the latest fashion.
Please feel free to contact us, If you think you can help our son.

Posted by: Mrs. Cleaver | Jul 19 2005 3:39 utc | 34

Relax, DM. It’s passed safety tests. If there’s a problem w/the Heavy stuff, they’ll be confined to other roads. Sorry you don’t share my enthusiasm. I guess living in a country that’s doing such TERRIBLE things for oil, can make one giddy at the thought of oil free transportation. If we then dump Agribusiness for Organic Agriculture, I wonder how much of a problem we’d still have.
Crap, DM, do you want to still be able to drive a car & breathe w/out roasting to death??

Posted by: jj | Jul 19 2005 3:46 utc | 36

It looks a helluva lot better than Falluja!!
NO MORE OIL WARS!!!!
Give the designers some time…Geez, you gotta have absolutely Everything at once? Isn’t it enough that we might be able to both drive a car & survive?
Wonder if they can work out something for airplanes & huge freight bearing ships?

Posted by: jj | Jul 19 2005 4:27 utc | 38

I remember the orgone box. All the rage once.
In fact an ex-boyfriend of mine’s wife divorced him over one.

Posted by: jm | Jul 19 2005 7:23 utc | 40

Yes. Rhetoric can be a frightfully sticky thing.

Posted by: jm | Jul 19 2005 9:16 utc | 42

The already unbelievably cool Juan Cole now starts riffing on Gil Scott-Heron’s The Revolution will not be Televised to diss the Rethug noise machine’s idiotic portrayal of Islam, fantastic!
The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

Posted by: Dismal Science | Jul 19 2005 15:06 utc | 44

Murdoch lauds Howard over US ties
By Michael Gawenda
Washington correspondent
July 20, 2005
John Howard and Rupert Murdoch at the US Chamber of Commerce dinner where the media mogul showered Mr Howard with praise.
Photo: Andrew Taylor
Australia’s relationship with the US was at its lowest level for more than 50 years when John Howard was elected prime minister in 1996, according to Rupert Murdoch.
Introducing Mr Howard at a dinner in Washington hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce, Mr Murdoch said that during the 1990s it seemed that Australia and the US might grow apart.
“Then came 9/11 and Bali and Madrid and London,” he said. “Terror became the great threat to us all. Tonight we honour a man who rose to meet all these challenges and met them wonderfully. When he came to power, the relationship was at its lowest level since the Battle of the Coral Sea. Under John Howard’s leadership, the relationship is deeper and stronger than ever.”
Mr Murdoch’s suggestion that the US-Australia relationship was at its lowest ebb in more than 50 years at the end of Paul Keating’s Labor government puzzled many in the audience.
It also jarred with what Mr Murdoch had to say about Mr Keating in March 1995: “You have got to say about Paul Keating that he is one of the very few strong leaders in the world today. You could not use all the fingers of one hand to say who are leading their country in a strong way and are on top of what they are doing and on top of their own political scenes. He’s right up there amongst them; he is a remarkable figure.”
While Mr Keating placed great emphasis on engagement with Asia, he always referred to the Asia-Pacific region in order, among other things, to include the US in Australia’s region.
La Trobe University historian David Day called the media-mogul’s take on US-Australian relations “a load of tosh”. “The relationship has been under strain in the past but it certainly wasn’t under strain in 1996,” he said. “That was when Australia and America were quite close, with relationships between Keating and Clinton.”
Michael McKinley, a senior lecturer in international relations at Australian National University, said Mr Murdoch tended not to be subtle with his political views and was extremely pragmatic to get what he wanted. “And he hasn’t lost hope that cross-media ownership laws may one day change, too,” he said.
Mr Howard thanked Mr Murdoch before giving his own speech, saying the Murdoch family was one of Australia’s great families.
theageccom.au
fuck me dead

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 19 2005 19:17 utc | 46

mrs cleaver
let me tell you the story of the mr & mrs wolfes. we will call them tom & berenice. being the children of a smalltown lawyer in the case of mr & a rand corporation executuve in the case of mrs. they met somewhere down san diego way & were politicised like some people by seeing poor people for the first time. young they joined the progressive labour party(plp) & chose to rigorously follow marxism-leninism mao-tse-tung thought. this went well for a moment & they were often to be found outside factories offering the latest extracts of peking review
when saigon fell well so did tom. he’d been a literary felow in the beginning so in the sad tradition of wm burroughs & trochi – well he went to the white powder one night & stayed there for a long moment. mrs being an exemplary comrade saw him through the worst & understood his petit bourgeois deviation but returned him to the correct path
unfortunately by this time mmme chiang ching, chen po ta lin piao & the gang of four had dissapeared like in the old story of kamenev, bukarin, radek, etc – well you know that story – well you just chinoise it. the plp was no more
what to do
well they went back to their studies like all good marxist but at good schools, mind you with reputable degrees & masters at stanford, doctorate at georgetown. well they were on their way. they didn’t see much of the poor those days. no not much at all but they did meet exciting fellows who discussed french theory as if it was a new detour when it was the opposite – an implicit demand to harden oneself & prepare for the battle to come – but of course that is my opinion mrs cleaver
tom & berenice got work & then tenure in some schools which didn’t have such a good name but well – education is education sd berenice
so taken were they with thi little idea the both did some postdoctoral work at duke where words a worth a fortune
meantime, the poor of the world & america were moving into drastically worse situations but of course that is my opinion, mrs cleaver. in any case they didn’t think too much about that – just bought the weekly guardian & voted democrat
they did not see the dark times coming but of course that is only my opinion, mrs cleaver
& the dark times came. as if out of nowhere the world fell in & it was those hysteric arabs again – tho tom he liked a good sane arab like edward said for example & would even listen to om kusum on occasion – but these fellows – well – they wanted to turn his world to pillars of salt it seemed
& even with teneure tom & berenice were scared that david gorwits or pipes might find out about some pamplets they wrote in support of a people’s albania with the glorious leader envar hoxha. they were scared that their little visits to cuba where they conceived the first of their two children would see the light of day
& after all – those arabs – so the patriot act had both its good & bad points for berenice – the bad being they might find out – the good being to protect the world from extremism – except they had forgotten that their country was the most extremist of alll but of course that is my opinion, mrs cleaver
& so when they come to your place – they may see a little frail – a little fragile – well tom is on lithium because its the only thing that makes sense & berenice is having an affair with a chicano layer who sells coke on the side
be kind to them mrs cleaver – their best years are behind them

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 19 2005 19:42 utc | 48

@ Mr. remembereringgiap:
I lurk here sometimes,not commenting, and have read much of what you write.
While I am no literary critic, it seems to me that your metier might be the dark comic novel; that is, if you are interested in megabuck commercial success in the American market.
The above short description of the Wolfes reminds me of something that might have been written by Thackeray, Thurber, and Vetter, in a very coked up state.
Ward has been in publishing for most of his career. He is currently editor of the Atlantic Monthly. If you would care to submit a manuscript, I am sure Ward could drag Mr. Hitchens out of his whiskey bottle long enough to write a favorable review.

Posted by: Mrs. Cleaver | Jul 19 2005 20:54 utc | 50

mrs cleaver
while literary success is not xithout its benefits – one of them of course sharing a bottle with hitchens i am at the moment fuly engaged organising the international proletariat masses in their valiant & heroic struggle against u s imperialism & all other insects. as you might have surmised from mr bill o’ reilly(who by the way was both conceived & borne in an orgone machine) that does not leave me a great deal of time. thankfully my friend mr zaqarwi is prepared to be everywhere & to take so many tasks or i would not even be able to write to you
do give my best to ward & suggest he keeps an iron bar by the bed

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 19 2005 22:03 utc | 52

mrs cleaver
i understand ward might be going on the ‘bring on the truth’ tour of american journalists to scenic fallujah & kirkuk & mosul. tell ward if h would like i will arrange a meeting with the sd mr zaqarwi – just tell ward what i have sd too many times before “keep your head on your shoulders’ & for yourself i will send perfumes & incence from our far lands

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 19 2005 22:50 utc | 54

rgiap- I think you have George and Martha confused with Honey and Nick…never knew they changed their names, though. But then again, they were always up for a little fun and games.

Posted by: Edward Albee | Jul 19 2005 23:56 utc | 56

@R’Giap – You disappoint. The Most Dishonorable General William Westmoreland (& even more land) finally died. Or have you not yet finished your obituary? I expected Bernhard to give you your own thread for it. If you have not yet written one, would you please re-consider, while Remembering Giap? Thanks!!

Posted by: jj | Jul 20 2005 0:16 utc | 58

@EA:
I have enjoyed your plays greatly.
@Bettie:
I thought you were absolutely stunning in the tiger bikini top picture Ward showed me. We can perhaps discuss Ward’s portfolio over lunch, in the near future.
Meanwhile, it seems we have offended the ideologically and ecologically pure, with our mundane thoughts.
I’m rushed. Late to a Little League meeting.
BYE!

Posted by: Mrs. Cleaver | Jul 20 2005 0:41 utc | 60

jj
here goes. the death of general ‘bodycount’ westmoreland leaves the mass of the people with one mass murderer less. there is nothing to distinguish this man – neither as a military nor as a strategic thinker. i am not alone in that understanding. even at the colleges of war of the empire his reputation was & remains at a very base level. not only de he lose to an ‘inferior force’ but faced with imminent defeat at each turn he was like the butcher generals of the first world war & sacrificed the children of the working class & minorites. he did so without blushing. like all butchers of his kind – they care nothing for their soldiery – they are small coins in his pockets or worse as the sicilians say – stones in his shoe
the man i honour & honour still – the great general giap understood what a westmoreland could not. that a peoples war is in the heart of the people. that is also true in iraq no matter how many demonise it – the war that is taking place has begun in the hearts of the iraqi people. their hearts are not represented in the puppet parliaments
what giap understood from the beginning is that people make hostory & not the other way around & in the real war that was the determining factor because even at a local level the soldiers of the viet cong & the nva always showed great inventiveness, imagination & when necessary a devouring ferocity
they did so because as they understood from uncle ho – that there is nothing more precious than national independence & freedom – – they fought agressor after agresso until finally – the heart of the puppet government collapsed in 1975. & it was just wind. soldiers dropped their clothes in the streets & welcomed their liberation. that was a real liberation that a rumsfield can only imagine in his worst nightmares
westmoreland was one of those less than intelligent military leaders – much like the leadership of south africa under apartheid could have drawn the fundamental lessons much much earlier than they did – by prolonging it – the brought only bloodshed – they brought nothing back
& that pumped up kinsman kissinger – who parades pompously as if he was the greatest diplomat, the most esteemed purveyor of the great machiavel was so stupid he gained nothing – not even in the short term – everything they constructed collapsed & collapsed catastrophically
under westmorelands control – the specifically terrorist actions of special forces was to be perfected for the coming period in latin america africa & other parts of asia – there can be no question that this is the point where the american army & the nazi einsatzgruppen became one & i would not be surprised given their relationship with gehlen amongst others that they did not study their methods. vietnamisation, the phoenix programme, the illegal entries into cambodia were of a kind any real soldier would be deeply ashamed of – this was not war – it was terrorism money
it was under westmorelands leadership that the cia & american air began collecting the funds through the cultivation of heroin for the operations for the wars to come
he was an indecent man a man who not only does not deserve our thoughts or even our concern – we should all watch by his grave to make sure he is dead

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 20 2005 1:41 utc | 62

The play’s the thing.

Posted by: Ham | Jul 20 2005 2:03 utc | 64

on the roberts nomination, wayne madsen points out that roberts might be a last minute pick for another reason. among his credentials:

Associate counsel to Ronald Reagan, 1982-86, including the Iran-contra scandal time frame. Deputy Solicitor General under George H. W. Bush, 1989-93 — likely involved in Dec. 24, 1992 decision by senior Bush to pardon Iran-contra principals Caspar Weinberger, Elliot Abrams (current National Security Council official and reported as person of interest in Rovegate), Robert McFarlane (advisory board Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), Duane Clarridge, Alan Fiers, and Clair George.

Posted by: b real | Jul 20 2005 3:12 utc | 66

So, what did really happen?
Posted by: DM | July 19, 2005 11:45 PM
Inpossible to ascertain. As soon as reality enters the memory bank it becomes altered by the imagination. The present is impossible to know since we are immersed in it and have no objective perspective. Retrospect is the only way of understanding and that is mucked up by the memory problem.
We the try to predict the future based on these distorted concepts of reality So that usually fails. We also disregard the fact of infinite possibility in tying the future to the present and past.
Conclusion: We’re fucked.
Pretty confused creatures.

Posted by: jm | Jul 20 2005 6:17 utc | 68

A bit of light relief. Poirot on the London Bombing.
Link

Posted by: John | Jul 20 2005 10:02 utc | 70