Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Local Notes
Saw Pig Iron Theater's Mission to Mercury this evening. Pig Iron's always a lot of fun, blending theater, dance, vaudeville, music, song, puppetry, whatever in inventive fashions to create an interesting work. Essentially they put everything in the toolbox in front of them and pull out whatever might work. Their pieces don't always add up to more than the sum of their parts, but they're usually at the very least worth seeing for their unique creativity. And at their best it's all a bit magical.
As for Mission to Mercury, if an evening of bizarrely arranged Queen songs sounds like your cup of tea, then try to a grab a seat for one of the few remaining performances.
As for Mission to Mercury, if an evening of bizarrely arranged Queen songs sounds like your cup of tea, then try to a grab a seat for one of the few remaining performances.
Dear Windows Users
Don't care much, either. You're on your own.
Other things I don't much care about:
Your pet cause. Whatever it is, I don't care about it, or at least I certainly don't care about it as much as you do. It's your pet cause after all! That's sort of how these things work.
Your hatred of television. No one should watch it, it's all bad, utter waste of time which could be spent doing amazingly inspiring and productive things, and you have not turned one on fir 35 years which makes you an expert. Got it.
Your new blog that you started yesterday. Hey, it might turn out brilliantly. Or not. You'll likely tire of it in about a week. Or not. Feel free, however, to send me a note about something you've written for that new blog. Might be brilliant! The blog on the whole, probably not so much yet.
Your hatred of musical genre [fill in the blank]. Yes we know that [...] is the the most awful music ever and only fools and idiots without any taste listen to that crap. You of course do not listen to any of it ever which makes you an expert on genre [...].
Probably lots of other things I don't care much about, but that should drive away a few more readers.
Other things I don't much care about:
Your pet cause. Whatever it is, I don't care about it, or at least I certainly don't care about it as much as you do. It's your pet cause after all! That's sort of how these things work.
Your hatred of television. No one should watch it, it's all bad, utter waste of time which could be spent doing amazingly inspiring and productive things, and you have not turned one on fir 35 years which makes you an expert. Got it.
Your new blog that you started yesterday. Hey, it might turn out brilliantly. Or not. You'll likely tire of it in about a week. Or not. Feel free, however, to send me a note about something you've written for that new blog. Might be brilliant! The blog on the whole, probably not so much yet.
Your hatred of musical genre [fill in the blank]. Yes we know that [...] is the the most awful music ever and only fools and idiots without any taste listen to that crap. You of course do not listen to any of it ever which makes you an expert on genre [...].
Probably lots of other things I don't care much about, but that should drive away a few more readers.
Wow
Does Laura have to call him Mr. President too:
(thanks to reader d)
BUSH: You know, it's interesting, you said that one of the things that we love doing is to invite our buddies up from Texas. And I think about the time we had Jones, Procter and Selee . These are guys we grew up with in Midland, Texas. They are down to earth, you know, they have no agenda, except being with their friends Laura and George.
VARGAS: They call you George?
BUSH: No, they call me Mr. President.
VARGAS: I was going to say…
BUSH: They probably don't want to call me Mr. President, but they do call me Mr. President. And we sit up there in the White House. First of all, it's a great joy to see their joy about being here. It's a fantastic experience for people to be able to come here.
(thanks to reader d)
Democracy
Yglesias writes:
And has a good column on the subject here.
To pivot away from the narrow security concern, the other thing we have here is a reminder of the elephant in the room when it comes to Version 3.0 of the Bush Doctrine -- America's strategy for the Middle East is centered on transforming its states into liberal democracies, but our main local partners in this effort are . . . sharia-enforcing hereditary monarchs. Nobody seems to talk about it anymore, but this is obviously dumb. I used to think it reflected insincerity on Bush's part, but insincerity implies that there's some coherent "real" policy that's being implemented behind the make-believe one.
After years of watching, I just don't see what that could be. Instead, I think it's genuine incoherence. But one way or another it's a big deal. And it's an incoherence that goes beyond Bush. The bulk of American elite opinion has switched over to the Bush view that we need to democratize the Middle East, but as we've been seeing in the port controversy the bulk of American elite opinion, like Bush himself, thinks the Arabian peninsula's monarchical elites are wonderful people who we should be supporting to the end. You can't do both. Maybe someday I'll get invited to Davos and learn what's so impressively awesome about Emir so-and-so (fun parties, according to Syriana), but until then I think the American public's gut instinct that these are not, generally speaking, the folks you want to rely on reflects a certain wisdom.
And has a good column on the subject here.
Shalala
Been sort of following this and I know enough to put the pieces together. Former Clinton HHS Secretary Donna Shalala is the president of the University of Miami. The janitors there just walked off the job demanding higher pay. Shalala, who recently claimed "spent much of her public career as an advocate for the poor" isn't doing much to advocate for these poor, who earn about $6.50/hr without benefits.
More from the Miami Herald:
You can call her at (305) 284-5155 and request she be an advocate for the poor since she has the power to do so.
More from the Miami Herald:
Zoila Garcia has the toughest job at the University of Miami.
From 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., five nights a week, she washes windows, cleans desks and picks up the potato chip bags and used condoms that students leave behind in the library.
''Ay mamita! And when they decide to draw on those tables, it's scrub scrub scrub,'' Garcia said.
When she returns to her mobile home off Southwest Eighth Street just after dawn, she takes the pills she gets through a Jackson clinic. Some are for high blood pressure. One is for the pain in her arms.
For now, there's nothing to be done about a blood clot that formed on her calf and blackened the leg from knee to ankle. She needs an operation. But when the doctor told her it would cost $4,000, she laughed. ``Where do you get that kind of money?''
Garcia, who makes $6.70 an hour, has no health insurance.
Sunday, janitors voted to strike for better pay and insurance from the company that hires them to clean at UM. They began walking out overnight.
...
Two weeks ago, The New York Times Magazine printed an interview with Shalala, who was photographed amid the splendor of her 9,000-square-foot presidential residence, where she lives with her dog, Sweetie.
In the interview, Shalala describes, among other things: ''Her perfect day'' (which begins with someone giving the university a $10 million donation and ends with her playing three sets of tennis), ''What she drives'' (a Lexus hybrid SUV), ''Favorite vacation spot'' (the kingdom of Bhutan) ''Her best recent purchase'' (a 1790 French country cabinet) and ''Possession that best defines her'' (a personal drawing by Susan Kapilow).
You can call her at (305) 284-5155 and request she be an advocate for the poor since she has the power to do so.
Truthiness
Apparently Nancy Grace has been feeling the bullshit at us. So much for the most trusted name in news.
(tip from guy)
(tip from guy)
Take the Survey
Advertisers appreciate information. It's also nice to be able to remind people that blog readers aren't all 13 year olds which is how the media likes to portray you.
So, please take survey if you can. For #23 put in "Eschaton" if you so desire, and not "atrios" or something else so as to make their lives easier...
So, please take survey if you can. For #23 put in "Eschaton" if you so desire, and not "atrios" or something else so as to make their lives easier...
Favorability
One of the internalized media myths of the Clinton years was that while he had high job approval ratings during Monica Madness he had very low favorability ratings. I've seen even good liberals talk about Clinton's favorability ratings having beein consistently in the low 30s.
It's just not true. Clinton's favorability ratings were indeed lower than his job approval ratings, not surprising given that he cheated on his wife, but that's mostly because his job approval ratings were so high. It was a media talking point that people hated that nasty Clenis, but it really just wasn't supported by the numbers. Bush's personal favorability has for some time been in roughly the same range as Clinton's, or even lower, depending on the poll and precise time period.
It's just not true. Clinton's favorability ratings were indeed lower than his job approval ratings, not surprising given that he cheated on his wife, but that's mostly because his job approval ratings were so high. It was a media talking point that people hated that nasty Clenis, but it really just wasn't supported by the numbers. Bush's personal favorability has for some time been in roughly the same range as Clinton's, or even lower, depending on the poll and precise time period.
Tweety Eats a Turd on the Today Show
Interesting. Notice how it's framed, though. "Can Bush Rebound?"
Pataki
I've been surprised that this has gotten almost no coverage outside of the New York press. The aches and pains of every governor isn't national news, but Pataki's been somewhat of a national figure.
Gov. George E. Pataki's ruptured appendix left him more seriously ill than his staff and doctors previously acknowledged, a team of surgeons revealed in a news conference yesterday.
The surgeons, who have been treating the governor at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital in Manhattan for the last week, said for the first time that he had suffered peritonitis and abdominal abscesses — both potentially life-threatening conditions — and fever. They would not predict when he might be able to leave the hospital, but said that it could be as long as two more weeks.
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