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Straight Up | Jan Herman

Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude

OK, IT’S HALLOWEEN

October 31, 2004 by cmackie

Now for the nine scariest Election 2004 Costumes from the “Do-It-Yourself Guide” by Dan Savage, David Schmader and John E. Hollingsworth. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

BIN LADEN SPEAKS

October 31, 2004 by cmackie

Referring to the president, Mr. bin Laden said: “It appeared to him that a little girl’s talk about her goat and its butting was more important than the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers. That gave us three times the required time to carry out the operations, thank God.” — NY Times, 30 Oct […]

MATT HABER’S HEADS-UP

October 31, 2004 by cmackie

Everybody loves Wonkette — and for good reason: She gives good head. In other words, she’s got brains (and a great sense of humor). But Matt Haber at Low Culture belongs right there with her, maybe ahead of her. Consider the item he posted the other day, “conspiracy-a-ga-ga”, taking the New York Post’s Page Six […]

SHORT MEMORIES

October 31, 2004 by cmackie

A friend writes: “News readers (we’re talking about the “talking heads”) have short memories for much that matters. As Brett Wagner, president of the California Center for Strategic Studies and a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, noted a year ago in a USA Today article (on Oct. 6, 2003): [T]he war fighters were […]

TAKING BETS ON THE ELECTION

October 31, 2004 by cmackie

Here, at a glance, are the bookmakers’s betting lines. At the moment Paddy Power is giving odds of 4 to 7 for Bush, 5 to 4 for Kerry. The line at Littlewoods betdirect is 4 to 6 for Bush, 11 to 10 for Kerry. At totalbet.com it’s also 4 to 6 for Bush, 11 to […]

RING AROUND THE ROSY

October 31, 2004 by cmackie

Nine Marines died in Iraq on Saturday. It was the deadliest day for the American forces in half a year. Meantime, U.S. officials go around giving upbeat assessments of the situation, while actually believing that it isn’t nearly as rosy as they’ve painted it. For instance, top commanders fear that “Iraq’s expanding security forces, soon […]

CITIZENFLICKS

October 31, 2004 by cmackie

Have a look at this citizenflick, “Visualize Winning” by Needlenose Productions. I love it, and you will too. Then have a look at the rest of these citizenflicks: “The Song”; “Game Show”; “One Vote”; “Margins”; Vinton, Iowa”; and “Testimony.” Then make Tuesday count. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

BELOW THE RADAR

October 29, 2004 by cmackie

You’d think it was an antiwar liberal who is venting his ideology. But it is not: Tell me there is a connection to 9/11? There’s not. Are there weapons of mass destruction? There’s not. Tell me the war will be over soon? It won’t. It is Lt. Paul Rieckhoff, an Army infantry platoon leader who […]

FRACTIOUS FRIDAY

October 29, 2004 by cmackie

In case you missed it, here’s another reason to throw the bums out: The Los Angeles Times reports it has obtained documents showing that Halliburton, Bunker Boy’s old company, won a lucrative extension of its no-bid military contract after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did an end-run around its own chief contracting officer, who […]

PLAY THE GAME

October 29, 2004 by cmackie

Just in time for Election Day: Give the Ignoramus a brain. Is it possible? Karl Rove is supposed to have done it. Can you? EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

NEED WE SAY MORE?

October 28, 2004 by cmackie

Yes!!! EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

THE ONE-FINGER VICTORY SALUTE

October 28, 2004 by cmackie

Today cannot pass without acknowledging the lead editorial in this morning’s New York Times, which spotlights one of the most important reasons to turn the Ignoramus in Chief and his thuggish minions out of office: When the Abu Ghraib prison scandal first broke, the Bush administration struck a pose of righteous indignation. It assured the […]

MADNESS REIGNS

October 28, 2004 by cmackie

Now hear this: “A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your commander in chief.” When the Ignoramus in Chief defends himself with those words against John Kerry’s charge that nearly 400 tons of high explosives vanished from an ammo dump near Baghdad because of […]

TAKE A PEEK

October 28, 2004 by cmackie

Who reads this stuff? (I mean the charts.) … Here’s a scary story. … Let’s hope so. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

SIGNS AND PREMONITIONS

October 27, 2004 by cmackie

The Beantown Boys have taken a commanding lead in the World Series. And, praise be, the Red Sox nation stretches across the sea to Liverpool, England, even across the globe to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. A sweep could come

KRISTOF’S WEIRDNESS

October 27, 2004 by cmackie

Will somebody please explain what’s wrong with Nicholas Kristof? The same guy who writes unequaled columns about the horrors of Darfur can come up with this weirdness about the Ignoramus in Chief: [M]ost liberals have not revised their view that Mr. Bush is a nitwit. In fact, I’m convinced that Mr. Bush is not only […]

FEIRSTEIN LOBS SOME LOL

October 27, 2004 by cmackie

In the funniest column of the week, Bruce Feirstein imagines the highlights of Election Night 2004. Here’s a sample excerpt from his “Pundits Go Nuts”: 10 p.m., NBC: Andrea Mitchell reports that Mount St. Helen’s has exploded. Tim Russert offers his instant analysis: “Since 1781, no Republican incumbent whose last name begins with a ‘B’ […]

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Jan Herman

When not listening to Bach or Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdes, or dancing to salsa, I like to play jazz piano -- but only in the privacy of my own mind.
Another strange fact... Read More…

About

My Books

Several books of poems have been published in recent years by Moloko Print, Statdlichter Presse, Phantom Outlaw Editions, and Cold Turkey … [Read More...]

Straight Up

The agenda is just what it says: news of arts, media & culture delivered with attitude. Or as Rock Hudson once said in a movie: "Man is the only … [Read More...]

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