Songs for Ten a.m.
if the buzzing in my head is any sign
or the sensation that swells my ribs
and pushes out my eyes
from behind
from behind
i'd say i spent the night with you,
hanging accidental pearls in my hair
telling stories
and spooning melting chocolate ice cream past my lips
your pretty head intent between my thighs
and pretty hands are resting on my hips
'That's quite the collection you've got there,' I said,
as the black cloth momentarily covered my eyes.
I might have said more:
'sometimes these things remind me of another kind of darkness.'
But I felt so light and sweet, that I was able to cough out a laugh, instead.
There is something frankly winning in your voice, which always sounds so glad.
(Even thought it's clear we are both mad.)
For an hour or more I ran my hands over your skin,
talking about this and that,
There was something like a dream about it-
at last, I wound my arms around and pulled you in.
5.27.2004
5.17.2004
OP-ED
Just Trust Us
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: May 11, 2004
TIMES NEWS TRACKER
Didn't you know, in your gut, that something like Abu Ghraib would eventually come to light?
When the world first learned about the abuse of prisoners, President Bush said that it "does not reflect the nature of the American people." He's right, of course: a great majority of Americans are decent and good. But so are a great majority of people everywhere. If America's record is better than that of most countries — and it is — it's because of our system: our tradition of openness, and checks and balances.
Yet Mr. Bush, despite all his talk of good and evil, doesn't believe in that system. From the day his administration took office, its slogan has been "just trust us." No administration since Nixon has been so insistent that it has the right to operate without oversight or accountability, and no administration since Nixon has shown itself to be so little deserving of that trust. Out of a misplaced sense of patriotism, Congress has deferred to the administration's demands. Sooner or later, a moral catastrophe was inevitable.
Just trust us, John Ashcroft said, as he demanded that Congress pass the Patriot Act, no questions asked. After two and a half years, during which he arrested and secretly detained more than a thousand people, Mr. Ashcroft has yet to convict any actual terrorists. (Look at the actual trials of what Dahlia Lithwick of Slate calls "disaffected bozos who watch cheesy training videos," and you'll see what I mean.)
Just trust us, George Bush said, as he insisted that Iraq, which hadn't attacked us and posed no obvious threat, was the place to go in the war on terror. When we got there, we found no weapons of mass destruction and no new evidence of links to Al Qaeda.
Just trust us, Paul Bremer said, as he took over in Iraq. What is the legal basis for Mr. Bremer's authority? You may imagine that the Coalition Provisional Authority is an arm of the government, subject to U.S. law. But it turns out that no law or presidential directive has ever established the authority's status. Mr. Bremer, as far as we can tell, answers to nobody except Mr. Bush, which makes Iraq a sort of personal fief. In that fief, there has been nothing that Americans would recognize as the rule of law. For example, Ahmad Chalabi, the Pentagon's erstwhile favorite, was allowed to gain control of Saddam's files — the better to blackmail his potential rivals.
And finally: Just trust us, Donald Rumsfeld said early in 2002, when he declared that "enemy combatants" — a term that turned out to mean anyone, including American citizens, the administration chose to so designate — don't have rights under the Geneva Convention. Now people around the world talk of an "American gulag," and Seymour Hersh is exposing My Lai all over again.
Did top officials order the use of torture? It depends on the meaning of the words "order" and "torture." Last August Mr. Rumsfeld's top intelligence official sent Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the commander of the Guantánamo prison, to Iraq. General Miller recommended that the guards help interrogators, including private contractors, by handling prisoners in a way that "sets the conditions" for "successful interrogation and exploitation." What did he and his superiors think would happen?
To their credit, some supporters of the administration are speaking out. "This is about system failure," said Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina. But do Mr. Graham, John McCain and other appalled lawmakers understand their own role in that failure? By deferring to the administration at every step, by blocking every effort to make officials accountable, they set the nation up for this disaster. You can't prevent any serious inquiry into why George Bush led us to war to eliminate W.M.D. that didn't exist and to punish Saddam for imaginary ties to Al Qaeda, then express shock when Mr. Bush's administration fails to follow the rules on other matters.
Meanwhile, Abu Ghraib will remain in use, under its new commander: General Miller of Guantánamo. Donald Rumsfeld has "accepted responsibility" — an action that apparently does not mean paying any price at all. And Dick Cheney says, "Don Rumsfeld is the best secretary of defense the United States has ever had. . . . People should get off his case and let him do his job." In other words: Just trust us.
Just Trust Us
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: May 11, 2004
TIMES NEWS TRACKER
Didn't you know, in your gut, that something like Abu Ghraib would eventually come to light?
When the world first learned about the abuse of prisoners, President Bush said that it "does not reflect the nature of the American people." He's right, of course: a great majority of Americans are decent and good. But so are a great majority of people everywhere. If America's record is better than that of most countries — and it is — it's because of our system: our tradition of openness, and checks and balances.
Yet Mr. Bush, despite all his talk of good and evil, doesn't believe in that system. From the day his administration took office, its slogan has been "just trust us." No administration since Nixon has been so insistent that it has the right to operate without oversight or accountability, and no administration since Nixon has shown itself to be so little deserving of that trust. Out of a misplaced sense of patriotism, Congress has deferred to the administration's demands. Sooner or later, a moral catastrophe was inevitable.
Just trust us, John Ashcroft said, as he demanded that Congress pass the Patriot Act, no questions asked. After two and a half years, during which he arrested and secretly detained more than a thousand people, Mr. Ashcroft has yet to convict any actual terrorists. (Look at the actual trials of what Dahlia Lithwick of Slate calls "disaffected bozos who watch cheesy training videos," and you'll see what I mean.)
Just trust us, George Bush said, as he insisted that Iraq, which hadn't attacked us and posed no obvious threat, was the place to go in the war on terror. When we got there, we found no weapons of mass destruction and no new evidence of links to Al Qaeda.
Just trust us, Paul Bremer said, as he took over in Iraq. What is the legal basis for Mr. Bremer's authority? You may imagine that the Coalition Provisional Authority is an arm of the government, subject to U.S. law. But it turns out that no law or presidential directive has ever established the authority's status. Mr. Bremer, as far as we can tell, answers to nobody except Mr. Bush, which makes Iraq a sort of personal fief. In that fief, there has been nothing that Americans would recognize as the rule of law. For example, Ahmad Chalabi, the Pentagon's erstwhile favorite, was allowed to gain control of Saddam's files — the better to blackmail his potential rivals.
And finally: Just trust us, Donald Rumsfeld said early in 2002, when he declared that "enemy combatants" — a term that turned out to mean anyone, including American citizens, the administration chose to so designate — don't have rights under the Geneva Convention. Now people around the world talk of an "American gulag," and Seymour Hersh is exposing My Lai all over again.
Did top officials order the use of torture? It depends on the meaning of the words "order" and "torture." Last August Mr. Rumsfeld's top intelligence official sent Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the commander of the Guantánamo prison, to Iraq. General Miller recommended that the guards help interrogators, including private contractors, by handling prisoners in a way that "sets the conditions" for "successful interrogation and exploitation." What did he and his superiors think would happen?
To their credit, some supporters of the administration are speaking out. "This is about system failure," said Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina. But do Mr. Graham, John McCain and other appalled lawmakers understand their own role in that failure? By deferring to the administration at every step, by blocking every effort to make officials accountable, they set the nation up for this disaster. You can't prevent any serious inquiry into why George Bush led us to war to eliminate W.M.D. that didn't exist and to punish Saddam for imaginary ties to Al Qaeda, then express shock when Mr. Bush's administration fails to follow the rules on other matters.
Meanwhile, Abu Ghraib will remain in use, under its new commander: General Miller of Guantánamo. Donald Rumsfeld has "accepted responsibility" — an action that apparently does not mean paying any price at all. And Dick Cheney says, "Don Rumsfeld is the best secretary of defense the United States has ever had. . . . People should get off his case and let him do his job." In other words: Just trust us.
4.13.2004
3.26.2004
3.23.2004
Friendster
To: eevin
From: vanessa
Re: a staggering work of writing a nonboring profile
Eevinevil!
How are you?
All things, large and small, are as they should be. I'm looking for work, currently interviewing at Univision. Have been working at ugh Citigroup as assistant to Managing Director. Nice people, but not really my thing. I live in Park Slope with my plant (nameless) and maybe some spiders. It's cool. People visit.
But what about you? What have you been up to? Last time we spoke I think you were working at the Museum of Teeve. Still there?
Glad to be rebefriended,
Vanessa
Eevin wrote:
> Beatrice!
> We are befriended.
>
> How's every little thing with you?
> What news?
>
> Ee
>
> Vanessa wrote:
> > hello lovely eevin,
> > this is vanessa, now rejoining the world of the
> > computerable. want to befriend me?
> > have a wonderful day!
> > v
To: eevin
From: vanessa
Re: a staggering work of writing a nonboring profile
Eevinevil!
How are you?
All things, large and small, are as they should be. I'm looking for work, currently interviewing at Univision. Have been working at ugh Citigroup as assistant to Managing Director. Nice people, but not really my thing. I live in Park Slope with my plant (nameless) and maybe some spiders. It's cool. People visit.
But what about you? What have you been up to? Last time we spoke I think you were working at the Museum of Teeve. Still there?
Glad to be rebefriended,
Vanessa
Eevin wrote:
> Beatrice!
> We are befriended.
>
> How's every little thing with you?
> What news?
>
> Ee
>
> Vanessa wrote:
> > hello lovely eevin,
> > this is vanessa, now rejoining the world of the
> > computerable. want to befriend me?
> > have a wonderful day!
> > v
3.21.2004
3.20.2004
In a message dated 3/19/2004 1:00:54 PM Eastern Standard Time, CBotana2 writes:
To allay anyone's concerns that Vanessa may be the only woman this wide world over that is incompatible with another human being, I too am confirmed to have no man nor woman match in all continents, according to eHarmony. A Buddhist monk might have more luck in love than either of us. Alas, I am not even suitable for Vanessa whose profile must have been scanned against mine.
To allay anyone's concerns that Vanessa may be the only woman this wide world over that is incompatible with another human being, I too am confirmed to have no man nor woman match in all continents, according to eHarmony. A Buddhist monk might have more luck in love than either of us. Alas, I am not even suitable for Vanessa whose profile must have been scanned against mine.
3.18.2004
'The Penguin is Mightier than The Sword'
From: Berkeley Breathed
Date: Fri, Oct 10, 2003, 1:51 AM
Subject: Fwd: salon interview
> Last we heard from you, via the Onion interview a few years back,
> the odds of you ever doing a strip again seemed pretty slim
> (to put it mildly). What changed?
The world went and got silly again. I left in 1995 with things properly, safely dull, and couldn't imagine why anyone would feel it necessary again to start behaving ridiculously. It would have been at least courteous of the Republicans to warn a few of us inclined to retire our ink-swords that they had King George waiting in his zoom-zoom jetsuit aching to start the Crusades again.
From: Berkeley Breathed
Date: Fri, Oct 10, 2003, 1:51 AM
Subject: Fwd: salon interview
> Last we heard from you, via the Onion interview a few years back,
> the odds of you ever doing a strip again seemed pretty slim
> (to put it mildly). What changed?
The world went and got silly again. I left in 1995 with things properly, safely dull, and couldn't imagine why anyone would feel it necessary again to start behaving ridiculously. It would have been at least courteous of the Republicans to warn a few of us inclined to retire our ink-swords that they had King George waiting in his zoom-zoom jetsuit aching to start the Crusades again.
3.16.2004
I can't believe that George W. Bush soundbite I just heard on The Daily Show referring to Sen. Kerry about not making accusations without proof to back them up. That man is too, too much.
check this
Also, I love Jon Stewart and I need to marry him. squeep.
Reality TV snark quote of the day, from Television Without Pity's America's Next Top Model II forums:
pontoon, Couch Potato
Mar 16, 2004 @ 10:07 pm
"I was watching the show with Mrs. Pontoon and when Shandi's boyfriend wailed his quavering, sobbing, girly "Oh my gawwwd!", we both lost our shit. I think you'd have to be overly technical not to react thusly."
Thinking about this later, it just seems like such an awful situation for both of them. I can't imagine the producers and editors having a clear conscience about televising this scene. And yet, it was cringey and fascinating to watch. The weird paradoxes of reality TV. If we've all been through it one way or another, is it a 'larger human theme' or 'universal archetype'? Or is that an easy way around the fact that the tears of misery or humiliation of these poor schmos are just as unique and personal as yours or mine in the stall in the office bathroom or in bed at 4pm and should be left the heck alone.
I don't really know, but I have to say it makes for some undeniably compelling and satifying programming. Sometimes reality TV is just soooo real.
check this
Also, I love Jon Stewart and I need to marry him. squeep.
Reality TV snark quote of the day, from Television Without Pity's America's Next Top Model II forums:
pontoon, Couch Potato
Mar 16, 2004 @ 10:07 pm
"I was watching the show with Mrs. Pontoon and when Shandi's boyfriend wailed his quavering, sobbing, girly "Oh my gawwwd!", we both lost our shit. I think you'd have to be overly technical not to react thusly."
Thinking about this later, it just seems like such an awful situation for both of them. I can't imagine the producers and editors having a clear conscience about televising this scene. And yet, it was cringey and fascinating to watch. The weird paradoxes of reality TV. If we've all been through it one way or another, is it a 'larger human theme' or 'universal archetype'? Or is that an easy way around the fact that the tears of misery or humiliation of these poor schmos are just as unique and personal as yours or mine in the stall in the office bathroom or in bed at 4pm and should be left the heck alone.
I don't really know, but I have to say it makes for some undeniably compelling and satifying programming. Sometimes reality TV is just soooo real.
3.12.2004
I went to see the Nederlands Dans Theatre's 'ballets' Claude Pascal and others at the Brooklyn Academy of Music the other night with my friend James. It was unfortunately just awful, but had one redeeming moment, when a woman in a black Edwardian bustled gown with a fan stepped forward and pronounced "I like darrrknesss, and solllitude, and spaghetti."
That was the one thing in a performance full of random that was sort of random in a nice way.
That was the one thing in a performance full of random that was sort of random in a nice way.
From Dan Renzi's weblog, by way of Gawker.com
"Real World Miami star Dan Renzi has renounced reality television -- except, admirably, for one show: "I have decided that, when I die, I want to be reincarnated as a contestant on America's Next Top Model," he writes in his weblog. (Yes, in case you forgot, he was the gay one.)"
The Best TV Show Ever:
"I want to be Shandi. I want to have a criminal record and a messy, drug-addicted past. I want to have wild sex with hot Italian men, and then call my boyfriend in suburban Kansas City and crumble into guilt-riddled, emotionally-unstable breakdowns. I want to win dance contests because I'm the only one in the room who knows how to "do levels."
I love this guy!
"Real World Miami star Dan Renzi has renounced reality television -- except, admirably, for one show: "I have decided that, when I die, I want to be reincarnated as a contestant on America's Next Top Model," he writes in his weblog. (Yes, in case you forgot, he was the gay one.)"
The Best TV Show Ever:
"I want to be Shandi. I want to have a criminal record and a messy, drug-addicted past. I want to have wild sex with hot Italian men, and then call my boyfriend in suburban Kansas City and crumble into guilt-riddled, emotionally-unstable breakdowns. I want to win dance contests because I'm the only one in the room who knows how to "do levels."
I love this guy!
3.11.2004
George Michael, long may he live:
Giving it away for free: George Michael has announced that he won't be releasing albums in the traditional sense and will instead just put music out via the Internet for free download -- with the option for fans to donate money to charity should they so choose. "I've been very well remunerated for my talents over the years so I really don't need the public's money," the musician told BBC Radio 1. (Soundgenerator)
*having a Pump up the Volume / Grosse Pointe Blank moment*
So this one goes out to all the folks at Callahan's, from Spider, Mike and Jake-
Well I guess it would be nice
If I could touch your body
I know not everybody
Has got a body like you
But I've got to think twice
Before I give my heart away
And I know all the games you play
Because I play them too
Oh but I
Need some time off from that emotion
Time to pick my heart up off the floor
And when that love comes down
Without devotion
Well it takes a strong man baby
But I'm showing you the door
'Cause I gotta have faith...
Baby
I know you're asking me to stay
Say please, please, please, don't go away
You say I'm giving you the blues
Maybe
You mean every word you say
Can't help but think of yesterday
And another who tied me down to loverboy rules
Before this river
Becomes an ocean
Before you throw my heart back on the floor
Oh baby I reconsider
My foolish notion
Well I need someone to hold me
But I'll wait for something more
Yes I've gotta have faith...
Giving it away for free: George Michael has announced that he won't be releasing albums in the traditional sense and will instead just put music out via the Internet for free download -- with the option for fans to donate money to charity should they so choose. "I've been very well remunerated for my talents over the years so I really don't need the public's money," the musician told BBC Radio 1. (Soundgenerator)
*having a Pump up the Volume / Grosse Pointe Blank moment*
So this one goes out to all the folks at Callahan's, from Spider, Mike and Jake-
Well I guess it would be nice
If I could touch your body
I know not everybody
Has got a body like you
But I've got to think twice
Before I give my heart away
And I know all the games you play
Because I play them too
Oh but I
Need some time off from that emotion
Time to pick my heart up off the floor
And when that love comes down
Without devotion
Well it takes a strong man baby
But I'm showing you the door
'Cause I gotta have faith...
Baby
I know you're asking me to stay
Say please, please, please, don't go away
You say I'm giving you the blues
Maybe
You mean every word you say
Can't help but think of yesterday
And another who tied me down to loverboy rules
Before this river
Becomes an ocean
Before you throw my heart back on the floor
Oh baby I reconsider
My foolish notion
Well I need someone to hold me
But I'll wait for something more
Yes I've gotta have faith...
Free Will Astrology:
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Imagine that your life is a detective story.
The goal is not to solve a crime, but to solve the mystery of why you're
here on earth so you can carry out the special mission you've come to
accomplish. Sometimes you go for months without even looking for clues.
You sleepwalk through the world, reacting blindly to the tricks that the
gods use to try to wake you up. Then there are those phases when hot leads
and fresh evidence pop up all over the place, convincing you beyond a
doubt that magic is one of the fundamental properties of reality. This is
one of *those* times, Pisces.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Imagine that your life is a detective story.
The goal is not to solve a crime, but to solve the mystery of why you're
here on earth so you can carry out the special mission you've come to
accomplish. Sometimes you go for months without even looking for clues.
You sleepwalk through the world, reacting blindly to the tricks that the
gods use to try to wake you up. Then there are those phases when hot leads
and fresh evidence pop up all over the place, convincing you beyond a
doubt that magic is one of the fundamental properties of reality. This is
one of *those* times, Pisces.
