the magnetic fields i wish i had an evil twin
mates of state ha ha
rainer maria artificial light
cat power he war
bright eyes bowl of oranges
franz ferdinand tell her tonight
sleater-kinney the professional
the shins mine’s not a high horse
the decemberists here i dreamt i was an architect
On May 10, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld fielded questions from Congress over the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. He all but promised there would be more photos and videos that would be even more repulsive: “Beyond abuse of prisoners, there are other photos that depict incidents of physical violence towards prisoners, acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman… There are many more photographs and indeed some videos. Congress and the American people and the rest of the world need to know this… ” The administration faced a tough decision: Do we hand all the evidence to the press now and confront the issue head on? Or do we sit back, almost certain that images of US instigated barbarism will appear on the front pages of global newspapers over the coming months? It seems the choice was to hope and pray that the worst has passed. Meanwhile, pundits, columnists, and average Americans discussed and debated the events at Abu Ghraib. The cultural right has been uncharacteristically discordant in its assessment. For example, the religous right has blamed such things as moral relativism, gays, porn, feminism. Still other conservatives didn’t see it as a problem. “This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation and we’re going to ruin people’s lives over it and we’re going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time,” said Rush Limbaugh, presumably informed that more evidence would soon surface.
Some friends and I were talking about all the twists and turns of this scandal and agreed that a particularly thorny point is the role of the media. We now know that Rumsfeld was right and the next wave of photos and videos has arrived. Nick Berg, an American contractor in Iraq was beheaded in response to the release of the earlier photos. In light of the new evidence, should the media show restraint? What if innocent people in Iraq are murdered because of the heightened shock and anger? More than anything, perception about the successes and failures of this war is shaped by the media. After viewing the images over and over, the natural response is, “this war is just so fu–ed.” The stories of democratic victories and better standards of living are buried. So perspective is almost impossible to achieve. And the dominant perception is determined by the media’s chosen story lines. For the record, I think the media is absolutely right to report the abuse–the torture (what else do you call the rape of a small boy?) — including showing graphic pictures, sans insulting pixelation. I think we’ve largely been ignorant of the darker side of war and need to see this stuff. At the same time, the horrors at Abu Ghraib don’t tell the whole story of what is happening in Iraq.
Who? Where’s he from? A Republican?
If you want to see sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda. There’s the sacrifice in this country. We’re trying to make sure that they have the ability to fight this war, that they have the wherewithal to be able to do it. And at the same time, we have to react to keep this country strong not only militarily but economically. We want to be able to have the flexibility to do it. That’s my reply to John McCain. 
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, questioning McCain’s Republican bonafides. Pretty ballsy considering McCain spent over five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Although Insomniac’s Dave Attell was the first to expose Austin’s thriving Rollergirl phenomenon to the masses back in January, 2003, Felix Gillette best captures the action in his latest Slate piece. The Austin writer nails it here: “If the lecherous (Russ) Meyer invented a sport, it would look a lot like this?part girl-on-girl athletic competition, part burlesque show, and all covered with a thick coating of hipster irony.” Sarah and I have a friend of a friend who is a rollerderby chick. She can even boast of a broken arm. Not from a dirty trick played by a member of the Hell Marys or the Holy Rollers–but by falling on the way out of the women’s restroom. There are actually two rollerderby leagues in Austin, and both have great web sites: Texas Rollergirls | Lonestar Rollergirls
I’ll spare you the “I’ve been really busy and haven’t had time to update the web site…” bit. But I would like to get back in the groove again. This should be a realistic goal, as Sarah is in Philadelphia for the next two and a half weeks working with a lab at U of Penn. If I behave and don’t go out to the Landing Strip for steaks, she’s promised to email me some pics of her bustling neighborhood, University City. I’ll try to post them to the site…
Has your new National Geographic arrived yet? No?! To no one’s surprise, Whitesburg, Kentucky is featured in the latest “ZipUSA”. If you were wondering, Whiteburg’s zip code is 41858. The gist is that there are no jobs so everyone is hanging out playing music. It seems that the kids are discovering both old-time mountain music and punk rock and there is even a show on local radio called, “Ska, Punk, and Other Junk.” According to the magazine, “caravans from Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky converge on Whitesburg for one of many concerts sposored by Youth Bored.” Vital stats:
Population: 1,600
Largest Attendance at a local Youth Concert: 700
Unemployment: 10%
Nearest Movie Theater: 30 miles away
Motto of The Mountain Eagle newspaper: It Screams!
