For those of you who’ve been asking, I’ve posted a bit of my (old) short fiction under “about” (upper right). At some point, I also hope to gather up my language and identity politics posts and place in them their own category. But not today I’m afraid. Because today was made for snowboarding. Or, if you’re me, for watching TV and eating chips while everyone else in Colorado is out
February 2006
February 11, 2006
Litotical Constructs
From Reuters: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, days after calling Iran the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism, ratcheted up the pressure on Tehran on Friday with fresh accusations of interference in Iraq. Rumsfeld, in Taormina, Sicily, for a meeting of NATO defense ministers, used an appearance in Europe for the second time in a week to talk tough over Iran, which the United States and European Union fear is covertly
February 11, 2006
NSA program (de)liberation?
In a change of course, the Bush administration on Wednesday and Thursday offered new operational details to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on the NSA foreign intelligence surveillance program, with press secretary Scott McClellan suggesting on Thursday that the White House would listen to ideas that lawmakers have about legislation, but that the President would resist any move that threatened to compromise the program. According to CBS News: The
February 11, 2006
It’s Friday, bro. And that can mean but one thing—
—Sorry. But the little guy read through some of today’s posts and immediately stuffed his rucksack with a physics primer and a few paperback anthologies on Renaissance revenge tragedies, then lit out for one of the nearby community colleges to “make my way in the world.” Because let’s face it: no punkass kitten fetishist is going to call him a failed academic—even if it means he has to has to
February 10, 2006
“The ‘Failed Academic’s’ Lament”: a haiku series
At the end of each summer, I pinch my nipples — thoughts of dreams deferred…*
February 10, 2006
Yes, ABOUT that inherent authority [FAILED ACADEMIC EDITION (see update)]
An interesting trial balloon for Presidential hypocrisy being floated today attempts to triangulate, for purposes of comparison, the idea of “inherent authority” under Article II with the NSA foreign surveillance story and the President’s reaction to Hurricane Katrina. From Begging to Differ’s Venkat, “About that Inherent Authority”: Josh Marshall flags a story in the Times quoting Brownie as saying he told the White House about the levee break when Katrina
February 10, 2006
To the left of the left of the left is…where, exactly?
With nothing more to go on, admittedly, than gut instinct (and the participation of such liberal-Democratic luminaries as John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, and Harry Reid—all of whom have written diaries for the website), I have been operating under the assumption that readers of the Daily Kos represent a vocal and powerful force in the Democratic base, those who vote in primaries and influence nominations, often at the expense of more
February 10, 2006
The “My Life as a Man” poem
Sometimes, when I succumb to laziness (and to the promise of a comforting, cheek-ringed respite), I sit down to do my pee pee. But — After, I feel the fillup of guilt and shame, knowing in my heart that somewhere, a gimpy man who wishes to pee proudly upright simply cannot.
February 10, 2006
One, two, three, war, what the hell’s impeachment for?—the sequel
As a follow-up to their Thursday editorial calling for the abolition of FISA (which I commented on at length, then later updated to counter a charge characterizing my position on the NSA controversy as “separtation of powers is stupid”—the precise opposite of what I’ve been arguing), today’s WSJ once again gets right to the crux of the issue. From “President Kollar-Kotelly”:
February 10, 2006
aggravated by something else entirely, protein wisdom lashes out at 80s balladeers Air Supply—who, in retrospect, he admits did nothing that called for such a hostile attack:
Air Supply: “I’m lying alone with my head on the phone / Thinking of you till it hurts. / I know you hurt too but what else can we do / Tormented and torn apart? / I wish I could carry your smile in my heart / For times when my life feels so low. / It would make me believe what tomorrow could bring / When today doesn’t really