Democracy Now! is on a roll. Yesterday it featured Gore Vidal and Matt Rothschild on Geogie Boy’s imperial God-mania. This morning it has video excerpts of Seymour Hersh giving a talk, “We’ve Been Taken Over by a Cult,” and Sen. Robert Byrd speaking in the Senate against the nomination of Ms. Mushroom Cloud for Secretary […]
REPULSKI’S REVENGE
A reader writes, “Pardon me, boy, is this the Ugly Hombre’s Station?” (Click the keys to start the morning off right, but pardon the instrumentation.) He continues: Alas, I’ve seen it before, the Calamity that comes when a Lifetime of Happy Dreams is crushed against the Rocks of Despair. Yes, we mistake Hapless Twits for […]
SCARY WORDS
Two pieces of essential listening from this morning’s edition of Democracy Now!: Matt Rothschild, editor of The Progressive magazine, on the hidden passages in Georgie Boy’s inaugural address, and Gore Vidal on the most un-American speech he ever heard.
CANONIZING CARSON
Yesterday’s tonnage was not enough. Now comes David Thomson to lend his expert opinion on the subject of Johnny Carson with an eloquence that has turned spuriouser and spuriouser. Calling Carson “a great movie star” and “a romantic icon,” despite appearances, Thomson also declares him “a master spy” and “an immaculate secret.” Topping all of that, he […]
KING CARSON RULES, TAKES UP SPACE
In case anyone wants to know the relative historical importance of showbiz celebrity Johnny Carson and Jan Nowak-Jezioranski, a revered World War II hero of the Polish underground who devoted his life to the cause of an independent Poland, the size of their obituaries in this morning’s New York Times ought to make it clear: […]
JOHNNY HAS LEFT THE BUILDING
Old friend Bill Reed entered the competition to eulogize the late Johnny Carson in the first post of his brand new blog. The media was, as Reed says, “abuzz with all manner of hagiographic mudwrestling.”
OH, REALLY?
Writing about Georgie Boy’s $40 million inauguration and his overrated speech, David Brooks noted in his Saturday column, headlined “Ideals And Reality”: “What you saw in Washington that day is what you see in America so often — this weird intermingling of high ideals with gross materialism, the lofty and the vulgar cheek to cheek.” […]
THE TIANANMEN PARADOX
“1984” is alive and well in China, but 1989 is not. “For Beijing Students Now, Protests Aren’t Even a Memory” was the headline on Saturday in The New York Times. The story began by quoting 21-year-old “Yu Yang, a mop-haired biology major,” who says he barely knows of the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising and doubts […]
THE FUTURE MEETS THE PAST
On Oct. 5, 2018, the 43rd president of the United States died at age 72, according to Greil Marcus. Have a look at Georgie Boy’s obit. It’s a killer. Coincidentally, Leon Freilich asks, “Did I see you at the inauguration turning your back to King Gorge?” And answers: BLOGGING IN 1776 Blogging’s really not that […]
326 YEARS OF HIP
The invitation said, “They’re Old, they’re Cool, they’re Wise, and they all lived on the Lower East Side.” Needless to say, it was not an invitation to Georgie Boy’s inauguration. It was an invitation to a group show, and “they” are octegenarians — Mary Beach, whose 1998 collage “Pepper Head” (right) illustrates the invitation, Taylor […]
PLEASE DON’T OFFEND MS. MUSHROOM CLOUD
Let us not insult the Bush regime’s nominee for Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice by impugning her integrity or credibility, as she claimed Sen. Barbara Boxer did in yesterday’s Senate confirmation hearing. After all, pointing out her contradictory statements disturbs the nominee. It offends her dignity. And, gosh, Ms. Mushroom Cloud herself says she respects the truth. (Shame […]
AN ABSURD QUESTION
Whom to believe, Seymour Hersh or the Bush regime? Given the regime’s track record, can there be any doubt? The comprehensive report that found no WMD in Iraq — which contradicted nearly every prewar assertion about Iraq made by the regime’s top officials — ought to make clear that the regime can’t be believed. And […]
FRESH AND SAUCY
When The Minor Fall, The Major Lift expired last September, TMFTML wrote, “This blog has sucked lately, and our heart hasn’t been in it.” He was right. We’d had enough of it, too. Somehow the sauciness had palled. But now the blog is back, and it seems fresh again. It returned two weeks ago, so […]
HONORING MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
Today’s national holiday marks the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., who would have been 76 on Saturday. King’s legacy more than three decades after his assassination in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39, lives on despite the contempt shown by a majority of American voters in electing a right-wing […]
IN BAD COMPANY
Roger Ebert begins his review of “In Good Company” this way: Corporations have replaced Nazis as the politically correct villains of the age — and just in time, because it was getting increasingly difficult to produce Nazis who survived into the 21st century.” With young Prince Harry doing his thing, Roger, you might want reconsider […]
THE FRIDAY FOLLIES
Verse from Straight Up’s poet laureate Leon Freilich comes in handy at the end of the week. In re: “Some Now Question Cost of Inauguration.” AFTER THE BALL IS OVER What will be left after the waltzingAnd Bush has had his inauguration?When forty million has been splashed,What will be the mood of the nation? With […]
BEAT THE GONG
Besides Doug Ireland, more reasons for an alternative press: A brief history of consortiumnews.com and an interview with John Perkins about his recently published “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.”