a berlin blog
|
a berlin blog |
|
|
Thursday, February 26, 2004 EndorsementThe New York Times makes a solid argument for John Kerry next Tuesday -- he has gravitas and experience, write the editors, and we need those qualities in the White House for once -- while my wife, a New Hampshire Yankee, says she's impervious to "that whole Southern charm thing." She doesn't trust John Edwards.But the thing about Edwards is how hard the press and conservative blogosphere have fallen for him. Sullivan (scroll down) thinks "Edwards is winning the smart vote." Still, whatever Sullivan thinks he means, "smart vote" here just means sharp, with it. Because not much divides Kerry and Edwards in substance: Their voting records are parallel. (Links are to Vote Smart Senate histories.) They both voted for the Bush tax cuts, but against making them permanent (a decent combination), for the Patriot Act (pfui), and in favor of trendy, lawyer-full-employment-act things like expanding the definition of "hate crime" (useless). Both have back-pedaled on the Patriot Act, but Edwards did it first, in urgent, convincing language. Kerry has a war record and talks with more authority about foreign affairs. I reject his blather about September 11 as a "crime" — it was an act of war — but at least he recognizes better than George Bush just who the enemy is. "One would think," wrote Kerry in an op-ed piece for Forward, "that an American president who threatens the world by announcing 'you're either with us or you're with the terrorists' would be particularly troubled by the actions of the Saudi regime. But then one would be underestimating the hypocrisy that has become the hallmark of the Bush administration." Which almost tilts the balance. I want a president who talks like that about the Saudis, and about alternative energy sources (later in the piece). I just can't tell how serious he is. I suspect Kerry will be a business-as-usual Democrat — a relief from Bush, but still more hat than cattle. Edwards is young and energetic enough to pull a Gavin Newsom: He just might do something terrific and new. Combine that with his crossover appeal ("Edwards wins Independent-Republican votes without alienating Democratic voters," claims a pro-Edwards site, convincingly), not to mention the likelihood that Kerry will win the nomination anyway, and you have a first-ever Radio Free Mike endorsement, in the spirit of boosting the man's chances to be VP: John Edwards for President! posted by Michael Scott Moore | 6:43 PM Wednesday, February 25, 2004 How IrritatingThe New York Times, which ignored my novel, gives serious ink and a photograph to the author of Booty Nomad. I just read a review copy of Booty Nomad for the San Francisco Chronicle, and, I'm sorry, but it sucks. Quick preview: "In Booty Nomad every character, including a grandmother and a black bartender from Providence, talks with the narrator’s clever-white-boy sass. It’s not a serious dissection of pop culture so much as a boring contribution to it."Bookslut just gets it over with and calls the genre Dick Lit. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 8:18 PM Some basic principlesThe sanctity of marriage is personal and religious, not legal. It has nothing to do with the Constitution. A sane judge might be excused for thinking tax cuts and next-of-kin benefits are legal rights; but trying to define "marriage" in our founding document would be the work of a frivolous, radical, activist President.Sullivan is surprised. I'm not. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 1:02 AM Sunday, February 22, 2004 The Spoiler's ReturnSo, crown and mitre me Bedbug the First --the gift of mockery with which I'm cursed is just an insect biting Fame behind, a vermin swimming in a glass of wine, that, dipped out with a finger, bound to bite its saving host, ungrateful parasite, whose sting, between the cleft arse and its seat, reminds Authority man is just meat, a moralist as mordant as the louse that the good husband brings from the whorehouse (apologies to Derek Walcott.) posted by Michael Scott Moore | 11:59 PM Politics, ShmoliticsSometimes it surprises me how much I have to say about politics, since I'm not, in general, a political man. My novel deals (a little) with contras and the Reagan-era drug war, but my next book — a collection of stories, just about finished — has next to nothing to say about politics. Characters talk about presidents and war, but only as a function of ordinary life.Still, the last couple of years have been a weird season; I hate to watch my country lurching towards empire. Which means this blog will keep up with Iraq and the presidential campaign at least through 2004. So. Here's an old picture of one of the guys who subverted American democracy in the 1980s and helped make Washington such a hermetically powerful, imperial town. Ladies and gentlemen, Oliver North, asked by our editor to sign a copy of the U.S. Constitution: 
The protest was Marc's idea. North was touring for his memoirs in 1992. When he came to Boston, Marc said, brilliantly: "You know what this means, don't you? It means we have to make photocopies of the Constitution and ask him to sign it." There were three of us, maybe four: We waited in a long line with our Constitutions, among all those North fans with their copies of his book. Ollie was surprised by us and had no choice but to sign. He did it with a grim notch in his mouth. By the time I reached the podium his henchmen were wise to our stunt. (The one with his hand out, in the foreground, is about to lead me away.) When North handed back the paper, I said, "Just testing," and left on my own. North said nothing. But we were the only protesters who weren't shoved off the premises. Noisier people with signs got hustled out of the Copley Place mall. Great God was that fun, Marc. I know we live in different cities now, but we should do things like that more often. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 6:14 PM Friday, February 20, 2004 There oughta be a lawLarry Lessig has more on whether Mayor Newsom will get in trouble for issuing marriage licenses last week. Basically, the question is whether he should have challenged a state law against gay marriage in court before openly, gleefully breaking it. Lessig and his readers dig up a clause in the California constitution that says an "administrative agency" -- like City Hall -- has to uphold state law, period, or else issue a direct court challenge. No shenanigans. If that's right, Lessig more or less argues, then an official who flouts state law could be impeached.Sullivan goes into more detail about what might happen if Newsom really did violate his oath of office. I get the feeling Newsom didn't know about that clause in the constitution. (Lessig didn't know about it, and he's a Stanford law professor.) I think Newsom started the flood of marriages as a Valentine's Day stunt, then realized the technicality about filing a formal challenge. (The city filed yesterday.) That means he could be in trouble. I hope not; and I agree with Sullivan that San Francisco would just re-elect him. But it does make things rather fun to watch. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 11:06 PM Thursday, February 19, 2004 Joyce vs. JoyceThis infuriating story about the Joyce Estate's threats to sue anyone caught reading from Ulysses on Bloomsday is a perfect example of how good copyright goes bad after, oh, say, 70 years and a diligent, self-interested Mickey-Mouse lobby. My only consolation is the lively comments section at the bottom. Example: "Maybe the Greek government should sue the Joycean estate for a share of the royalties from sales of Ulysses, on behalf of the Homeric estate, seeing as how Joyce borrowed so liberally from the Odyssey."A Homeric estate! I love that. And: "Wait -- when the EU extended copyright terms, they made it *retroactive*, taking things that had been in the public domain for up to *20 years* back into private hands? Whose idea was that happy horseshit?" Via Larry Lessig, who loathes the idea of a Ralph Nader candidacy as much as you or me. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 10:08 PM Wednesday, February 18, 2004 Obit
"It is thanks to him, more than anybody else, that the Democratic base is now as energised and optimistic as it was passive and pessimistic back in 2002." — The Economist, 12 February 2004 posted by Michael Scott Moore | 7:05 PM Tuesday, February 17, 2004 Crasser and CrasserWhat if Janet just used the Super Bowl to publicize her new line of underthings? posted by Michael Scott Moore | 7:56 PMThe Draft?Vancouver's Indymedia reports that the Pentagon, and Congress, are quietly preparing to re-instate the draft. Indymedia outlets can be hysterical (and I hate their discussion boards), but preparing for a possible draft starting in spring 2005 is consistent with everything else I know about the Bush administration. If they're re-elected, they'll expand the war. But they won't discuss it in any serious way until after November. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 7:38 PMSaturday, February 14, 2004 Valentine's Day linksFirst, don't miss the essays by Richard Mitchell on this very site about Psyche and Eros. And, a snapshot of the difference between America and the Old World: Whiny prigs moralize about Janet's breast to the FCC, while the Guardian just runs a photo. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 12:20 AMThursday, February 12, 2004 Ghost storyA long, weird tale of a dybbuk is on eBay for probably not too much longer. Readers of my novel might understand if I said a dybbuk is a kind of nefesh. Not that I believe the story on eBay for a second: In spite of the mysticism in my book I'm a rationalist. But I love to learn about old superstitions, hoary myths, and ancient models of God and soul. I also love to see how these things can bid up an item on eBay.Via Loudmouths and Dilettantes and Neil Gaiman. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 8:50 PM Wednesday, February 11, 2004 Vanity of the Bonfire BanUntil now Ocean Beach in San Francisco, where I live, has felt like a wild ragged edge of a (relatively) free city at night: You step out of the N Judah train, or drive past the Cliff House, and see the glow of a dozen bonfires on the sand and smell burning wood as well as salted ocean air. It's nice. It makes the neighborhood unique. But it seems some of my neighbors want a tame and regulated L.A.-style beach, because now the longstanding bonfire tradition out here will be restricted. What the hell for? Do there have to be rules about everything?There's hope, though. I didn't realize bottled alcohol on Ocean Beach was already illegal. Every surfer who steps over a case of empties on dawn patrol knows how well that rule works. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 9:46 PM Gay Marriage Comes to TownI voted against him because I don't like his hair, but our new mayor is turning out okay (for now). Gavin Newsom wants San Francisco to offer marriage to any couple, gay or straight. Sure, it's symbolic, but it wouldn't be healthy for San Francisco's image to get trumped on this issue by the some east-coast state.The issue is custom-built to hurt John Kerry. His wishy-washiness on gay marriage is one reason I liked Dean better. But it will make the election in November interesting; we'll see if the threat of married gay people looms larger than Iraq in the collective mind. Waterbones fails to see the problem with gay marriage, and Misanthropicity is disappointed with old-school civil rights leaders. ALSO: Waterbones blogged the Michigan caucus last weekend (scroll down to "Jobs and Healthcare"), and even called the results. And Misanthropicity has hideous news about death camps in North Korea. I'm behind on my logrolling because of a computer malfunction; the lovely G4 laptop screen is dying by slow flicker. I've resorted to a yellowish old CRT that makes this blog look awful. For anyone who has to read this on a smallish screen: I am truly, truly sorry about the cramped design. I'm working on it. I swear. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 7:38 AM Thursday, February 05, 2004 George Tenet Speaks UpAt last. He denies feeling pressure from the White House. OK. But the vague and finally accurate assessment that Iraq was not ready (yet) to bomb us through terrorist fronts was what we read in newspapers before the war. It supported the case for waiting — or changing tactics — until we had broad UN support. The White House didn't listen. A measured assessment of why can be read in Josh Marshall's New Yorker piece about the new imperialism. Andrew Sullivan's hysterical (and flat wrong) reaction is here.Why does Sullivan insist on saying "Democrats" behave as if 9/11 never happened? He's wrong about that, and he knows he is. Some Democrats who behave that way are out there, but I don't know any. As Matt Welch writes in this terrific post about the "tax-and-spend librul," the caricature may be in need of an update. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 11:22 PM Wednesday, February 04, 2004 Kerry-EdwardsAs of yesterday I retract the idea of a Kerry-Dean ticket. My big regret — and I think it's a loss for the nation — is that we won't get to watch Howard Dean trample Cheney or Bush in a debate. A ticket of pretty-boy millionaires makes me uncomfortable, but I can't listen to arguments like this (Newsweek correspondent Ryan Gorsche "bristles when Kerry rails against privilege") until a real working man, without a fortune of his own, can win the White House.Would conservatives rather have a wealthy ruling class that won't even question privilege? Maybe we should just erase the poor from public debate in Washington. Get it over with, and turn the place into a modern Rome. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 5:32 PM Monday, February 02, 2004 Queer Eye For the Straight give me a fucking breakI know I'm behind, but bear with me. Owing to a constitutional inability to pay for television, I don't get cable. So an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy last night was my first ever. I expected a Candid Camera-style reality show, with real gay men giving honest good advice to truly hopeless regular guys. But no. All I could think was: Who died and left these five middling, kitsch-mongering Martha Stewarts in charge of "sophistication"? Even I know better than to artfully place polished stones and scented candles around the apartment with the idea of impressing my girlfriend. Great God on a popsicle stick.Of course, when I complained out loud, five women in the room instantly offered to improve my personal style. One or two of them are lesbians. There may be hope. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 11:41 PM Sunday, February 01, 2004 Snowed inFor God's sake, somebody write to Waterbones. She's beginning to feel like an ingrown hair. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 3:32 AM | |
|
|
 Too Much of Nothing, a novel  Politics and Prose  about our editor 
The Underground Grammarian  current Berlin blog page  |
