On the road: DC
I drove up to DC this evening, and am now sitting in my room in my favorite DC hostelry, the Tabard Inn. The rooms here are all extremely funky. This one has walls painted the color of dried blood, a rococo iron bedstead, and numerous small lamps with black lampshades...
Coming up here I was noticing the gas prices. They varied from $2.45/gallon thru $2.89/gallon. (Okay, I got suckered into paying near the high end of that range. I was afraid I wouldn't make it to the next gas station.) On the radio, people were talking a lot about the uncertain prospects re refining capacity in this country, with many refineries having been put out of action for an unknown length of time by the Gulf Coast storm.
Someone said one-fourth of US refining capacity is currently out of action. It strikes me that's enormous.
I always have to grit my teeth coming back to DC. I think of it as "the Great Wen" as in (I think) Matthew Arnold's poem "The deserted village." A wen is a big scab or blister that grows upon the body of the land and sucks all its vitality out of it. Well, that's not quite how I think of DC-- I still have a lot of friends from the many years I lived here. But still, I need to grit my teeth just a little bit coming back here.
I guess George W has had to rush back here, too, to "look presidential" in dealing with the storm. (Not that he felt he needed to do so in order to deal with the terrible deterioration in Iraq over the past month... Oh no.)
A very good friend emailed me an article in which the writer, Doug Thompson, describes a situation in which,
- White House aides scramble frantically behind the scenes to hide the dark mood of an increasingly angry leader who unleashes obscenity-filled outbursts at anyone who dares disagree with him...
I'm here for a conference on Syria tomorrow. I'm not sure if it'll be bloggable, or blogworthy. Next week I'll be back for this big conference on "America's Purpose" that I'm a little bit involved with. Definitely bloggable, I think. I'm not sure if they'll let me in to the John Ashcroft session...
- Addendum, Wed. evening: Things sound so horrible in the Gulf Coast region, and in Iraq. That's why I made the border here black just now. I also took out the link to the Doug Thompson article. Commenters here raised some questions about it. However, I believe Doug Thompson is a well-connected journo who wouldn't have published this piece without having solid sources for it. But right now seems like a bad time to snipe at GWB.
In the context of rising oil prices, many are asking how to deal with their new circumstances, and what they can do to make a difference in their communities. Here are some suggestions.
"I'm here for a conference on Syria tomorrow."
Before leaving the topic of re-ineternment, perhaps you could raise the issue there of returning the remains of Eli Cohen to his family!
Well, one side of me wants to believe this story. Then again, come on - we often wail at the MSM for relying on un-named sources for even trivial stories. Here we have a sensational story - with no sources named for any of the more wild quotes.
For all we know, this story could be a plant by a "democrat" operative intending to drive a wedge between the Emperor and his Christian rightist base.... (e.g. Carville style)
Even the picture at the source doesn't show a credit/date.
Anybody able to lend any insight into the credibility and reliability of this web site?
Again, if I had a better sense of this stories veracity, I might be inclined to forward it widely. But it looks suspicious - to put it mildly.
Helena, that story about Bush smells like a fabrication. I get the feeling that somebody had a good time composing it.
When W. was first elected, I also heard and read stories about his sarcasm and verbal abuse to underlings.
perhaps you could raise the issue there of returning the remains of Eli Cohen to his family!
Perhaps you could raise the issue there of returning Aljolan Heights occupied by Israel to Syria, this act it’s threatening the stability and balance in ME!
Capitol Hill Blue, which originated the linked article, is known to be an untrustworthy source.
I've seen the same style of story three times now
at Capitol Hill Blue, about the angry, depressed,
unstable alchoholic-in-denial president. They change
the anecdotes, but the story remains the same.
It seems a little transparent.
The photograph is a still from a piece of video
from his Governor days, during the prep for a
debate or speech. He's among friends, and they're
giving him a bad time about sitting up straight, and
he flips them off. Everybody laughs and laughs.
The image of the "angry, depressed, unstable alchoholic-in-denial president" is actually a comforting fantasy, compared to the truly disturbing reality of the upper-class, pampered, privileged, incurious, self-righteous, ruthless, ignorant, born-again, frat boy President we actually have. Gimme Nixon any day!!!
John C, the most harrowing thing about all is that Nixon probably would not have been elected president now, having been thrown out of his party for being too left-wing ...
A conference on Syria is particularly good timing to do some decent journalistic follow up on the thread where we discussed who was behind Hariri's murder. Looks like with yesterday's arrests in Lebanon we are starting to see the cards being turned up. We can also recap who was right, who was wrong, and who was wildly off.
Without followup, our posts are all unaccountable opinions of little value.
David
Interesting philosophical-pedagogical point, David. You wrote: "Without followup, our posts are all unaccountable opinions of little value."
So, for you, what validates a dialogue is outside the dialogue. It is a factual truth, a Platonic archetype, towards which we are making feeble attempts to reach. The "account" is a reckoning against that higher, celestial standard. That's your point, isn't it?
I don't agree. I think that all facts and info are grist to the social mill of useful knowledge possessed in common. Dialogue is a piece of work that creates this social sense of things. Dialogue is the valuable thing. Fax n' info are only raw material.
Thanks to all for the dialogue, and especially to our hostess, Helena Cobban.
When is a terrorist not a terrorist? When does a family get or not get compensation?
"Four Arab Israelis shot dead by a soldier opposed to the closure of the Gaza Strip settlements are not victims of "terror" because their killer was Jewish, Israel's defence ministry has ruled, and so their families are not entitled to the usual compensation for life.
The ministry concluded that the law only recognises terrorism as committed by "organisations hostile to Israel" even though the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, described the killings by Private Eden Nathan Zaada, 19, as "a despicable act by a bloodthirsty terrorist."
He shot dead four people on a bus in the Arab Israeli town of Shfaram on August 4 and was then lynched by a mob."
Full story here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1560147,00.html
I think that all facts and info are grist to the social mill of useful knowledge possessed in common. Dialogue is a piece of work that creates this social sense of things. Dialogue is the valuable thing. Fax n' info are only raw material.
Dominic, Bravo! You've not only reiterated in a clean and concise way why what we do here in fora like Helena's is more important than just a collective venting of spleen, you've also pointed to the flaws in what passes for 'dialogue' right now, especially in the US. Brilliant. Thanks for saying it.
wind
I think that all facts and info are grist to the social mill of useful knowledge possessed in common. Dialogue is a piece of work that creates this social sense of things. Dialogue is the valuable thing. Fax n' info are only raw material.
Dominic, Bravo! You've not only reiterated in a clean and concise way why what we do here in fora like Helena's is more important than just a collective venting of spleen, you've also pointed to the flaws in what passes for 'dialogue' right now, especially in the US. Brilliant. Thanks for saying it.
wind
Apologies for the double post. Maybe you can take that to signify that I REALLY, REALLY mean it. :>
Just to say hellow!