Archives for October 2004

Paul Krugman has been writing about the cover-up culture of the Republican neocons at the White House for as long as the Ignoramus in Chief has been in office. This morning’s column is Krugman’s latest reminder of exactly why the bum’s gotta go. Meantime, the Washington Post reports that after the election, if he’s still […]

Nick Nolte’s Diary is no more. It used to be

The Guardian reports that “Bill Clinton regularly requests early copies of Carl Hiassen’s novels” and Bush the Father “recently wrote asking for some signed bookplates for his wife.” Bush the Son hasn’t yet asked for an autograph, but Hiassen doesn’t expect him to. “I’d be thrilled if he did because it would suggest he has […]

“Whenever Howard Fineman strays into the truth,” he’s likely to find James Wolcott laying in wait for him. Adam Nagourney fares no better. Wolcott gives him the back of his hand. He calls him (with an apology for shouting) “the kind of putz people walk away from at cocktail parties!” And how about the Ann […]

And here’s one more reason to vote for John Kerry: Unlike some satirists who openly endorse the re-election of George W. Bush, hoping for four more years of amusing malaprops and even more amusing enlisted and civilian deaths overseas, low culture stands firm in the belief that there will still be things to make fun […]

Regarding rumors of a post-election draft, the poet speaks: A DRAFT IN THE AIR? Don’t believe the rumor spreaders;Buncha lousy battle-dreaders.Scared to fight for country and king— I mean, our man in the West Wing.With every American casualty,The Prez is exporting liberty.Corpses for the Iraqi nation —Our contribution to globalization!Reinstate the oldtime draft?Unpatriotically daft.Leave it […]

In a 4,523-word commentary this morning, the editors of The New Yorker have endorsed John Kerry for president. Their summary of all the many reasons underscores the need to reclaim American democracy from the coup four years ago that turned the United States into a right-wing banana republic. After being installed as president by the U.S. […]

In life, he was a traitor to his class. In “Trying,” a two-character play by Joanna McClelland Glass at the Promenade Theatre in New York, he is hardly that. He’s far more the Philadelphia blueblood offended by servants who are “forward” and women who are “bold” than the former New Dealer who served as FDR’s attorney […]

Here’s a grassroots view of “the hidden extent of systemically ill-considered acquisition actions” for U.S. troops in Iraq, according to a weapons expert who brought it to my attention: Date: 040718Slug: VEHICLEARMORBy: Sgt. Zachary A. Bathon CAMP VIRGINIA, Kuwait – In a large warehouse outside of Kuwait City civilian contractors from more than 25 countries […]

The message below was received several weeks ago. Due to an editorial oversight, the staff failed to take note of it at the time. Dear Straight Up: Thank you so much for your support! Due to the enormous influx of avid patrons, The Endangered Species Restaurant is now hiring additional staff in the following categories: […]

The Blessèd Reverend Repulski was thunderstruck by the Hollywood movie musical “Kismet” on The Movie Channel yesterday. “I actually saw this thing at the Loew’s Valencia, in 1955,” he recalls. “But I had no idea of the larger meaning then. It’s beyond gruesome. It’s something Salvador Dali couldn’t do on a bad day.” What is […]

The Guardian in London ran that headline over a story brought to our attention by Arts & Letters Daily. The story recounts the results of a project that had Brits writing to Ohio voters about the upcoming election. Now the fair country folk of the New World are writing back. See, for instance, the second letter […]

Though I’m a New Yorker, I’m as pleased as any Beantown fan that the Red Sox beat the Yankees for the American League pennant. I grew up rooting for the Brooklyn Dodgers, which meant I grew up hating the Yankees. I lived close enough to Ebbets Field to hear the roar of the crowd when someone hit one into […]

The following message arrived a while ago, but was overlooked due to an editorial lapse: Dear Straight Up: Thank you so much for your support! Due to the enormous influx of avid patrons, The Endangered Species Restaurant is now hiring additional staff in the following categories: Thick-Skinned Cooks (Oceolt roasting exp.) (2)Wild-Animal Poachers (6)Appetizer Cleansers […]

Speaking of The Guardian — see DEAR LIMEY ASSHOLES — Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland writes about having “the same queasy feeling” he had four years ago when he followed the 2000 presidential campaign around the U.S. of A. Only now, he figures, the clash is about more than Republicans vs. Democrats, Bush vs. Kerry, right vs. left. It’s “tradition against […]

Bulletin from heaven (scroll down): Did God’s little deputies help prevent a terrorist attack on the United States over the past three years? Attorney General John Ashcroft told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce yesterday that Providence was partly reponsible. “But the hand of Providence,” he said, “has been assisted by the dedicated men and women […]

Kurt Vonnegut’s “Requiem for a Dreamer” is making the rounds. It’s a conversation between Vonnegut and out-of-print science fiction writer Kilgore Trout, and turned out to be their last: Trout committed suicide by drinking Drano at midnight on October 15 in Cohoes, New York, after a female psychic using tarot cards predicted that the environmental […]