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Thursday, October 16, 2003 |
Craziness
As we usually do at the Jackson school at UW we're having a series of lectures, one of which I am fortunate enough to be invited to speak to.
In reading the descriptions of the lectures I came across this one, please let me know your thoughts because I can't figure out what the hell they're talking about!
October 23
Judith Halberstam's public lecture and workshop. 7:00 PM, 301 Miller Hall.
She will discuss queer disruptions of global flows in two contexts: the
political significance of popular film narratives of "white male stupidity"
such as Dude, Where's My Car? and the theoretical importance of recent
rethinkings of the relation between queer spatiality and queer temporality.
In each of these very different cases, Halberstam draws on the insights of
post-modern geography in order to disrupt the reproductive time of the
nation. Both the public lecture and the workshop offer paradigms for
reimagining the globalization of sexualities in terms of a queer critique by
locating sexual politics today at the intersections of struggles over race,
gender, class, and nationality.
5:27:35 PM 
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Candy Crowley - Shrill and Annoying
I watched a bit of Candy Crowley on CNN's Politics Today before I left for the gym. After 10 minutes of seeing her misstate the facts and then call St. Peter's Square at The Vatican "St. Petersburgh Square" I was led to the conclusion that Candy has been overdosing on her diet pills. Unfortunately for her they're not doing a thing for her weight but are seriously clouding her judgment and grasp of the facts.
Candy began by reporting on Wesley Clark's campaign's release of his records while serving in the military. She said that the records showed that Clark was praised by his superiors but there were "gaps" in his records where there were no evaluations. Then she turned the report over to another reporter to fill us in on those "gaps". "Gaps" in political jargon brings up memories for some of the "gaps" in Richard Nixon's White House recordings. In the case of Clark, as the reporter after Candy specified, there are no "gaps" in his record.
After Clark became a 2-star general there were no more performance reviews because 2-stars and above do not get annual performance reviews! There's the answer, no smoking gun and no "gaps". Then we have to hear about former Jt. Chief of Staff Chairman Shelton's slanderous comments about Clark and his removal from his post as SACEUR at NATO. Shelton is the true definition of a coward, slinging accusations and then refusing to back them up. Since he said the things he said about Clark he has consistently refused interviews to explain just what he meant by his remarks yet the media give credence to what he said like it was Moses coming down from the mountain.
3:16:46 PM
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Putting the Myth to Bed
Nighty-Night
Republicans are full of bravado these days about the victory of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the California recall election. It's interesting to hear them talk about "putting California into play" for the Republicans next year, as if the victory by a socially liberal action-movie star was a harbinger of Californians being ready to embrace a right-wing conservative from Texas. Yes, I'm sure Californians are ready to embrace the Baptist values of the old South and back attempts to roll-back abortion rights and imprison gays.
I hope Republicans continue with this delusion that California is within their reach next year. Any money they spend in California is less money they have to spend elsewhere. In 2000 the Bush campaign spent over $15 million in California, Gore spent $0 and Bush still lost the state by 12%. Maybe they can up that amount to $30 million and Bush would still lose by 6%. Either way you look at it California is NOT a Republican state, try and spin it as they might. Because Californians voted out an extremely uncharismatic and unpopular governor for an action-movie star does not mean they're going to embrace an anti-abortion, anti-gay rights Southerner for president.
2:51:55 PM
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What's Wrong With The Democratic Party, On One Page
Thanks to Mickey Kaus and Slate for this link.
2:28:05 PM
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© Copyright 2003 Shane Hensinger.
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