Saturday, January 10, 2009

"Fair and balanced"

The "democratic" government of Iraq has decreed that press credentials for covering its upcoming provincial elections will be issued only to members of the press who sign an oath to provide accurate accounts of the elections. I guess the democracy we installed there didn't read our first amendment.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

More doggerel

Hue-ing the line

On TV, it's Oprah,
She's king of the hill.
In movies, it's Denzel,
Or maybe it's Will.

In tennis, a Williams,
Except when it's two.
In golf, there's no question.
You know, you know who.

In roundball, a toss-up,
'Tween Kobe, LeBron.
In football, McNabb--
On a day when he's on.

And now, not just Condi and Colin:
Barack.
All of which means, trust me,
Black's the new black.


Ennui

It's not that there's nothing going on. We've got a wrecked economy, bombing in Gaza, wars everywhere, political spats galore--on top of all the crap that predated these events. So why am I unenthused, unmotivated to blog about any of this? Could it be that, as Bill Murray chanted to the campers in the movie Meatballs, "It just doesn't matter"? That none of this matters, not even Obama's election, and certainly not Al Franken's? Could it be that our planet, with all of us aboard, is hurtling through space and we're simply clinging to it like ants on a boulder? Feels like it, doesn't it?

Sunday, January 04, 2009

"Negotiating with Extreme Prejudice"

That's the title of this piece on Time magazine's blog. Its analysis concludes that Hamas will consider it a victory, a la Hizballah in Lebanon two years ago, if it can hold onto power even after Israel's invasion comes to an end. Kinda like Rocky becoming a hero by surviving his fight with Apollo Creed. The difference, of course, is that only Rocky got maimed in the movie.