Sasha Castel has moved

2002-09-19T19:44:00.000-04:00

Ain't nothing left to see here. The blog and archive have moved to:
http://www.coldfury.com/Sasha. Ciao!

2002-09-18T12:14:00.000-04:00

Today is the six month anniversary of this site. Please help me celebrate by signing my Guest Map if you haven't already done so. And by all means check out my wish list, newly updated for your browsing pleasure.

2002-09-18T10:39:00.000-04:00

Oh crap, it's happening again. Another homicide bombing, this one at a bus stop in Umm al Fahm. One person killed ( believed to be the bomber) and three injured, including a policeman.

2002-09-18T09:43:00.000-04:00

Ken Layne responds to the Nigerian spam-artists. A tip: if you're drinking a beverage right now, put it down slowly and swallow before clicking on the above link.

2002-09-17T22:52:00.000-04:00

Apparently my new site slogan requires a bit of explanation: "Crisper than crisp--keen!" is an old Coca-cola advertising slogan from the turn of the 20th century. (This was back in the days when the stuff actually contained coca and cola, instead of about 42 pounds of corn syrup and caffeine.) I read it and it made me giggle out loud. Anyway, it won't matter for long, because the new site is on its way soon!!!!

2002-09-17T22:33:00.000-04:00

Now this is downright bizarre. On the FBI's website, Usama bin Laden is number one both on the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and the 22 Most Wanted Terrorists. But not for what I would think are the obvious reasons: MURDER OF U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; CONSPIRACY TO MURDER U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; ATTACK ON A FEDERAL FACILITY RESULTING IN DEATH USAMA BIN LADEN IS WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE AUGUST 7, 1998, BOMBINGS OF THE UNITED STATES EMBASSIES IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, AND NAIROBI, KENYA. THESE ATTACKS KILLED OVER 200 PEOPLE. IN ADDITION, BIN LADEN IS A SUSPECT IN OTHER TERRORIST ATTACKS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. That's it. That's the whole page. Not a mention of 9/11. Just "other" terrorist attacks. Oh, excuse me. It does mention that UBL is "left-handed and walks with a cane", and helpfully informs us that he should be "CONSIDERED ARMED AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS". My tax dollars and yours, hard at work.

2002-09-17T21:50:00.000-04:00

It appears that the new production of Die fledermaus at the Welsh National Opera is a colossal and tasteless flop.

2002-09-17T21:33:00.000-04:00

Another killer column from Stephen Pollard, this one about Saddam suck-up MP George Galloway: This week the MP for Glasgow Kelvin flew black to Iraq as part of his mission in life: to show us that Saddam is human. As Mr Galloway put it in an interview on Monday: “I could have said he had a brutish handshake, but he didn’t. I could have said that he was bombastic and loved the sound of his own voice, but that was not true. I believe in telling the truth as I find it.” For God’s sake, Mr Galloway: do you think the rest of us are as craven as you? George Galloway stands in a long and dishonourable line of willing dupes. Similar fools have told us that Hitler had a lovely smile, Milosevic supported his local football team and Mengistu adored his children. So what? They were dangerous, evil men, however comforting the quality of their handshake.

2002-09-17T20:46:00.000-04:00

Hey, Janet Reno? This is what a really corrupt election looks like.

2002-09-17T19:48:00.000-04:00

So you want to be a doctor, huh? A nice little MD or PhD to hang on the office wall? But sadly, you haven't got any, you know, education to back it up. What to do? William Bryk has the answer in today's "Old Smoke" column. Actually, that article may explain a lot.

2002-09-17T19:34:00.000-04:00

SON OF RETURN OF BOY CUOMO WATCH, PART 2: Signorile's Press column takes a sharp knife to the Boy for his asinine and race-baiting remarks to Bob Herbert of the Times (which I discussed here) He may be a Cuomo, and he may have married a Kennedy, but this guy not only subverts the supposed values of the Democratic Party; he’s an embarrassment to Italian-Americans, reaffirming every raw stereotype about the relationship between blacks and Italians in New York. "The negative here," the former Clinton HUD secretary told Herbert, explaining why he did so badly in the polls and why he eventually pulled out of the race against New York State Comptroller Carl McCall, "is that I was running against the first African-American. It was his turn." In other words: He was a white victim of a kind of political party-driven affirmative action–even though McCall has a resume a mile longer than that of Cuomo, who has never held elective office. If anything, McCall was for a while the victim of nepotism on a grand scale, running against someone whose entire career has been about trading on his famous father’s name. Perhaps it's time for the Boy to (gasp) get a job. What a concept.

2002-09-17T10:13:00.000-04:00

A fond farewell to Bruce Hill's War Now! blog, which has ceased publication. We'll miss his insights terribly. If anyone would like to write to Bruce he requests that you do so at pacificreporter@hotmail.com.

2002-09-16T21:34:00.000-04:00

Lest anyone forget...

2002-09-16T16:56:00.000-04:00

Martin Bernheimer is not impressed by City Opera's Dead Man Walking, but likes the Trittico Sounds like that one might be worth seeing.

2002-09-16T11:40:00.000-04:00

A mostly-coherent (?!?) article by Michael Wolff about the Columbia School of Journalism and its search for a dean, a mission, and.... er... a clue.

2002-09-16T10:48:00.000-04:00

Found this quote from an unnamed "senior US diplomat" in a UPI article: "When the Europeans demand some sort of veto over American actions, or want us to subordinate our national interest to a UN mandate, they forget that we do not think their track record is too good... "The Europeans told us they could win the Balkans wars all on their own. Wrong. They told us that the Russians would never accept National Missile Defense. Wrong. They said the Russians would never swallow NATO enlargement. Wrong. They told us 20 years ago that détente was the way to deal with what we foolishly called the Evil Empire. Wrong again. They complain about our Farm Bill when they are the world's biggest subsidizers of their agriculture. The Europeans are not just wrong; they are also hypocrites. They are wrong on Kyoto, wrong on Arafat, wrong on Iraq -- so why should we take seriously a single word they say?" Take that paragraph, enlarge it, frame it, and send one to every diplomatic mission around the world.

2002-09-16T10:32:00.000-04:00

Checking in with the New York Times this morning ( it's a habit... I've been doing it since I was a kid) I was momentarily startled to find a popup ad...not for a mortgage broker or a new cellular phone plan, but forTomPaine.Com, a political website that can only be described politely as left-of-center. Now of course it's their right to run ads from whoever they want, but I can't help thinking that the Times would never dream of publicizing the American Enterprise or the Cato Institute in the same way. Anyway, there's a good op-ed on the folly of assuming that weapons inspectors are the be-all and end-all.

2002-09-16T10:21:00.000-04:00

Stephen Green takes on a congressman who asks some seriously dumb questions. Guess who comes out on top.

2002-09-15T20:48:00.000-04:00

Deroy Murdock challenges the administration to distance itself from the House of Saud.

2002-09-15T20:42:00.000-04:00

Tim Blair and Misha give Robert Fisk a Fisking the likes of which he probably hasn't seen since... well since his last article, I suppose.

2002-09-15T12:58:00.000-04:00

A year and four days after being closed due to 9/11, the New York City subway is almost back to normal. Words really cannot express how happy I am about this.

2002-09-15T12:52:00.000-04:00

Browsing Richard Poe's blog I was momentarily startled to find Poe debating a "writer" for the Vanguard News Network going by the handle of "Max Power". Rest assured, this is not "our" Max Power, who can be found here hanging out with Combustible Boy.

2002-09-15T12:45:00.000-04:00

Speaking of Franco Z, the man who knew Maria Callas better than perhaps anyone is finallymaking a movie about her. It doesn't say when it'll be released in the USA though.

2002-09-15T12:41:00.000-04:00

If Italy had the equivalent of an Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiassen, this story would be tailor made for him: A man who was paid by singers to applaud their performances at Rome's main opera house has been murdered, rekindling fears that a homosexual serial killer is targeting cultured Italians. Salvatore Romano, 57, was the last of the capoclaques, professional clappers traditionally entrusted with leading the applause from the gods. Although Mr Romano was not known to be gay, investigators believe that his suffocation and bludgeoning with a brandy bottle at the weekend bore all the hallmarks of the killer. ... The list of victims reads like an extract from a Who's Who of Italian culture. It includes Enrico Sini Luzi, a papal protocol aide; Louis Inturrisi, a New York Times food critic, Dante Livorno, a theatre critic, and Count Alvise di Robilant, who was hit over the head with a candelabrum as he played his piano. Franco Zeffirelli, watch your back.

2002-09-14T22:32:00.000-04:00

Did a little link rearranging and added some new ones: TANSTAAFL, Freedom and Whisky (who provided that ridiculous Scottish currency story, see below), Major Ramblings, Horologium, and Liberty Log. UPDATE: Also added Leo Le Brun, Sabertooth Journal, and ScrappleFace.

2002-09-14T22:14:00.000-04:00

Come to think of it, a rash may be a minor thing to put up with, if only that the Brits can therefore avoid situations like this one.

2002-09-14T18:18:00.000-04:00

Paul Wright doesn't think much of coalitions: I want to see some hard numbers on what the acceptable level of “international support” is, and I want to see them up front. Written down. If it’s 10, 20 or 50, I want to know in advance, so these multilateral weenies can be shown for what they really are: whining, kvetching dills whose morality shifts like sand. Whose integrity is like catching smoke. Whose idea of consistency is like a greased pig chase. And I want to hear someone say out loud that they would rather see International Law ™ upheld, and the sovereign integrity of this week’s tin-pot sandbox maintained, even if it costs Australian and US civilian lives. A smoking hole in Sydney, a botulism massacre in Chicago, a car bomb in London. These are worth the price aren’t they? Go on the record. Tell us how many civilians in your country have to die before you will admit that we should not be hostage to the good wishes of the UN Security Council. That the word of your elected leaders is worth more than that group. I want numbers. Bloody well say it. Or get out of the way.

2002-09-14T16:42:00.000-04:00

Did anybody besides me notice this little exchange in Scott Pelley's 60 Minutes II interview with the President? PELLEY: Arafat's got to go? BUSH: HE's been a complete failure as far as I'm concerned. Utter disappointment. THe complete transcript in PDF format can be found here.

2002-09-14T16:36:00.000-04:00

Mark Steyn on cultural "sensitivity" and the 9/11 anniversary. Brilliant as usual.

2002-09-14T16:33:00.000-04:00

I was right. According to yesterday's Wall Street Journal, Robert Mugabe DID meet with Charles Barron, the city councilman who wants to smack white folks. And Barron will be visiting Zimbabwe on a "fact finding mission". Somehow I get the feeling that not too many facts are going to be found if Mugabe is doing the tour-guiding. Barron is an embarrassment to the citizens who pay his salary. I hope his political opponents are taking careful notes.

2002-09-14T16:25:00.000-04:00

Splendid column from the Toronto Globe and Mail, titled "The Yahoos Who Shamed Canada", about the Concordia University riots. William Johnson writes: Call it poetic justice. The pro-Palestinian ultras who prevented Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking at Montreal's Concordia University on Monday, achieved the antithesis of what they wanted. By rioting against an eminent foreign visitor's presence on a university campus, they gave Israel's former prime minister an international spotlight he could never have commanded without the smashed windows, attacks on police, the kicking and spitting on Jews, and bullying of those who came to hear the speaker. The yahoos caused Canada embarrassment, Concordia shame and themselves condemnation. They didn't help the cause they so loutishly purported to serve. Some people never learn.

2002-09-14T16:20:00.000-04:00

Euros are poisonous. And I'm not talking metaphorically.The amount of allergy-inducing nickel released is an alarming 320 times the level allowed by the European Union nickel directive. (There is such a thing.) Thus the coins are bound to become a "health and safety issue", perhaps even found to be an infringement of the European Convention on Human Rights. Supermarket checkout workers are at high risk. (trying...don't want to do it... please...oh damn... I can't help it... BWAHAHAHAHAHA!)

2002-09-14T16:15:00.000-04:00

Forgot to pick up a NY Press this week, so I didn't get a chance to read thisfabulous Russ Smith column 'till now. It's a little dated post-anniversary but definitely worth reading. Also: Taki's last "Top Drawer before he runs off to play magazine editor with Pat Buchanan, a surprisingly coherent Signorile column about the Vatican scandals that nonetheless manages to include the now-obligatory swipe at Andrew Sullivan, and the always perceptive Christopher Caldwell, who this weeks talks about political campaign advertising.

2002-09-13T16:13:00.000-04:00

Regarding the foot-in-mouth disease that seems to have struck Jean Chrétien, prompting him to utter such priceless idiocies as this: ...I do think the Western world is getting too rich in relation to the poor world and necessarily, you know, we're looked upon as being arrogant, self-satisfied, greedy and with no limits. I can only defer to Colby Cosh, who answers the PM thusly: I believe the traditional punchline here is "What do you mean we, kemosabe?" This seems pretty simple to me, Jean: you're a millionaire, you nasty cocksucker. If you feel too rich, give your money away. Let's see you live on my salary for a while, then we can have a nice chat about how greedy and arrogant we both are. Other Canadian bloggers are similarly appalled.

2002-09-13T10:23:00.000-04:00

Interesting post by John C. about teaching English as a foreign language. It includes a little quiz, with questions like this: 3. What's the problem here? *He's a(n) French young intelligent student. And no, the problem is not the oxymoronic juxtaposition of four such contradictory concepts as "intelligent", "young", "French", and "student". ... 10. This one's real obscure. Spaniards have a great deal of trouble understanding sentences in this form: *Yasser Arafat was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. Yes, I don't understand why those damned Scandiwegians or whatever they are gave that clown anything but a kick in the ass, either, but Spaniards have a problem with the sentence structure. What is it? And be sure not to miss bonus question #2 for extra credit.

2002-09-13T09:17:00.000-04:00

Stephen Pollard has wriiten an excellent profile of Sir Simon Rattle for the Indy, on the occasion of SR's first concerts as music director of the Berlin Philharmonic. Only point of disagreement is that Stephen thinks a lot higher of Valery Gergiev than I do.

2002-09-13T08:57:00.000-04:00

Tammy Bruce has had it with the Euro-whiners: I was particularly amused when Japan and Germany weighed in insisting that attacking Iraq was a bad idea and that they would not support it. Really? Well I'm shaking in my cowboy boots as I stand under the Stars and Stripes that adorn the outside of my abode! How could we take action if the Japanese and Germans don't like the idea?! Germany and Japan have had the great luck of being our defeated enemies. They are alive because of our compassion. If they aren't going to support us, they should simply sit down, shut up, and hold on.

2002-09-12T12:21:00.000-04:00

The fascist bastards who kidnapped Whacking Day have now released it unharmed back into the Blogosphere. Tex, dear, I thought I told you not to trust any company that describes themselves as "the United Nations of web hosting".

2002-09-12T11:11:00.000-04:00

Should orchestras have racial quotas? That's the issue addressed in this jaw-dropping article in the Chicago Sun-Timesby Wynne Delacoma. Finally, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has shed a mark of distinction it wasn't particularly proud of in the first place. As of July 1, the CSO is no longer an orchestra without any permanent African-American players. With the hiring of 31-year-old Tage Larsen, who joins the orchestra from the St. Louis Symphony, the CSO has its first African-American instrumentalist.... For myriad reasons, vast numbers of African Americans consider the traditional symphonic orchestra alien territory. Firm statistics about orchestras' racial makeup are hard to come by since the American Symphony Orchestra League, the field's professional service organization, doesn't keep ongoing records of orchestral membership by race. But a recent survey found that African Americans account for a pathetic 1.4 percent of the players in American orchestras; Latinos for a barely better 1.9 percent. Among the largest orchestras, the numbers of African-American players are less than a handful--one in the New York, three in Detroit, for example. "For myriad reasons". Yeah. "I think it's important that orchestras be more representative than they are of the communities they are in,'' said Henry Fogel, president of the CSO. Like virtually every other American orchestra, the CSO has been expanding its work in schools and city neighborhoods to spread the word about classical music. But an orchestra with no African-American members hardly represents the reality of Chicago in 2002. I heartily applaud the CSO's outreach efforts. It is this, along with programs like Young Audiences, the Metropolitan Opera Guild's Education Department, and American Ballet Theater's Make-A Ballet program, that will educate the next generation of music lovers and professional musicians. Arts groups should certainly be deeply involved in their communities, especially considering the shabby state of arts education in public schools today. But Mr. Fogel's and Ms. Delacoma's assertions that such groups must be "representative" in order to do their important work, denies the essential power of music and the arts to speak to every human being, regardless of race. Entering the ranks of an orchestra like the CSO is a carefully controlled process, one created in the mid-1960s to solve problems that were significant at the time--favoritism and a tenacious old-boys' network. "Until that time,'' said Fogel, "the conductor could just pick up the telephone and call up the concertmaster and say, 'Who do you know that's good'? That would be perfect if you thought only musical judgment reflected those recommendations. But even if the concertmaster was being honest, the only people he knew were the people he heard. It wasn't truly open.'' Thus was born the so-called blind auditions that have been a way of life in American orchestras since the mid-1960s. Openings and audition notices are posted with musicians' unions and in the national music trade press. If 100 auditioners show up, 100 are heard. Preliminary auditions are conducted behind screens with carpets to muffle the sound of a female candidate's high heels. It's generally agreed that women musicians benefited greatly from blind auditions. Female tuba players are still rare, but the CSO's approximately two dozen female members are typical of American orchestras today. A selection process that makes decisions completely based on merit, without regard to sex, race or any other factor besides talent? Sounds good to me. Many African-American musicians vehemently defend blind auditions, arguing that selection for orchestra positions should always be based on musical merit rather than skin color. But the pool of African-American musicians auditioning for orchestra jobs is small, smaller than it should be, according to some classical music insiders. Is it a matter of fewer talented players or the fact that talented players don't feel welcome in American orchestras? The talent is out there, according to Aaron Dworkin, an African-American violinist and founder of the Detroit-based Sphinx Organization that has held national competitions for young, high-achieving African-American instrumentalists since 1996. Impressed by the level of the competition, 23 orchestras including the CSO are collaborating with Sphinx to present their competition winners in concerto performances. The problem, according to Dworkin, is convincing talented young African Americans that life as an orchestral musician will be worth living. Overwhelmingly, their parents introduced them to classical music. They have grown up with it and love it, but they aren't certain they would feel welcome or comfortable being such a tiny minority in such a hidebound world. Somebody tell Mr. Dworkin that the life of a professional musician is not "comfortable" at any stage of the career. In a speech at the American Symphony Orchestra League's annual conference in June in Philadelphia, Dworkin dared to question the process of blind auditions. Yes, minorities need to move into orchestras' administrative positions, he maintains. And millions of dollars spent on building new concert halls could be better spent on taking classical music out of its isolated tower and into the city's mainstream. But the strongest need is to open orchestral jobs to talented African Americans sooner rather than later. "Orchestras need to widen the criteria of what makes a good orchestral musician,'' said Dworkin. "I don't believe it's just how you play an excerpt [at a blind audition]. It also should be how you are as a musician. This is an argument that a lot of educational institutions are making. We don't see the work we do as affirmative action. We see it as trying to achieve diversity. Having a diverse student body, for example, benefits the educational experience for everybody. It is not something schools are doing to serve the minorities who are participating. "It's the same thing with orchestras. If the CSO were even 5 or 10 percent minority musicians--African American or Latinos--it would have a different sound. The artistic result would be served by diversity.'' Absolutely, positively not. As it stands, members of an orchestra can look at each other and know with certainty that their colleagues achieved their current exalted positions due to one thing: talent. If the blind audition process is superseded by affirmative action (excuse me, "diversity"), every black or Latino hired thereafter will be regarded with suspicion. Mr Dworkin would dismantle the blind audition system, a system that was created with the express purpose of remedying discrimination, in favor of a bald and unapologetic quota system that would be disastrous for everybody, not least the minority musicians he is trying to "help".

2002-09-12T09:49:00.000-04:00

Here's the speech that Benjamin Netanyahu would have given in Montreal... had he not been violently prevented from doing so by Palestinian "activists".

2002-09-12T09:38:00.000-04:00

Light of Reason's Arthur Silber pens a glowing paean to the Blogosphere... including some lovely praise for his blogmother. I knew I raised that boy right.

2002-09-12T09:33:00.000-04:00

Scott Ritter's former boss, Richard Butler,opines that Scotty is a few eggs short of a dozen in this interview with CNN's Paula Zahn: ZAHN: There is a lot for you to react to here. For starters, your reaction to [Ritter's] accusation that you allowed the inspectors to be used as spies for the U.S. government? BUTLER: Well, it is really pathetic. I don't know what has come over Scott to make him say these things and behave in the way that he is. One of Iraq's charges against us four years ago is that we were American spies. We were not. It was most obvious possible thing for them to say as they sought to avoid inspection, as they sought to shut us out to protect their weapons program. It is pathetic and sad to hear Scott repeating their propaganda. Look, I want to make this clear. Until the day he left UNSCOM, Scott was robustly advising me, in writing -- you know, the papers are out there to prove it -- that Iraq continued to retain illegal weapons. He begged me to authorize him to go in and do what he called "kick in the doors and find those weapons." Sometimes, I authorized him to lead inspections; sometimes I rejected his proposals because, quite frankly, they were a little bit off the wall. Now, his advice to me then, on the basis of good evidence which I knew, was that Iraq continued to retain illegal weapons. He resigned. A few months later, he crossed the road and for some reason -- I don't know why, I am not a psychoanalyst -- but he crossed the road and started to tell the world that there were no such weapons. So I put it to you this way. Either he was misleading me when he worked for me, or he began to mislead the world's public later. Now, I know which one it is. He was not misleading me, rather, he is now misleading the world's public. And I find that sad, wrong, and frankly, a touch dangerous. ZAHN: What do you think is his motivation if your charge is, in fact, accurate here? BUTLER: I don't know. I don't know why he has decided to do this. I know what the facts are. I find it incredible to hear some of the things he is saying, when he knows what the facts were then and are today. I don't know why he is doing this. As I said, I am not a psychoanalyst. I don't know. The plot thickens...

2002-09-12T09:22:00.000-04:00

I'm back. I made it through the day relatively intact. I had planned to go to the Van Cortlandt Park candlelight vigil, but Heidi and I decided to stay in and exercise our patriotic right to order pizza and beer. So we stayed, watched TV, played with little Lucy, and played "name that world leader". (I recognized Jean Chretien, Junichiro Koizumi, and the ever-dapper Hamid Karzai, the only man who could attend such a solemn ceremony in a green bathrobe and look damn good doing it.) So the anniversary is over. But that doesn't mean I'll forget what was done to my country and my city. If anything, my resolve is stronger now that we know what must be done to prevent another 9/11.

2002-09-11T12:50:00.000-04:00

2002-09-11T08:21:00.000-04:00

Good morning. This blog will be silent for the day. Please come back tomorrow.

2002-09-10T22:40:00.000-04:00

What Type of Villain are You?
mutedfaith.com / <º>

2002-09-10T22:07:00.000-04:00

My deepest condolences to former mayor Rudy Giuliani on the passing of his mother. The mayor (I'm sorry, 'former' still sounds wrong) requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to: Twin Towers Fund 575 Fifth Ave. New York, N.Y. 10017 or: St. Vincent's Trauma Center, Development Office St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers 131 W. 12th St., Suite 6B New York, N.Y. 10011.

2002-09-10T21:34:00.000-04:00

The Dresden Semper Oper is doing their best to return to normal after the devastating floods of last month: The stage, the audience area and the orchestra pit were not hit by the water, and the 300 costumes from Swan Lake were saved. But workers could not rescue the costumes from four other productions, sets, instruments including two Steinway concert pianos, nor any of the shoes used by the opera. Also destroyed were some of the opera's workshops and all its technical equipment, including stage hydraulics. "I'd love to play, but I need light, I need air conditioning for the audience and I need to raise the iron curtain, the fire curtain, which is stuck down," Semper Opera director Albrecht said. Since the floods, the opera -- which had been sold-out for the season -- has lost an estimated $345,000 to $492,000 each week, Albrecht said. At the same time, it will cost an estimated $19.7 million to replace the guts of the Semper Opera, and another $6.7 million for sets, props, costumes and setting up temporary places to play, Albrecht said. Officials will try to raise some of the money through benefit concerts, ballets and operas. Nice concluding paragraph: "I think it's necessary to continue as we did before," said Martin Roth, director of the Dresden state art collections. "I wanted to hug the first American and Japanese tourists I saw and say 'It's great to see you back."' Nice to know someone in Europe likes us!

2002-09-10T21:15:00.000-04:00

Well, well... Robert Mugabe is coming to New York this week. Meeting with the City Council, no less. I wonder if he'll meet that councilman who wanted to smack a white guy for his "mental health". I'm sure they'll get along famously.

2002-09-10T21:01:00.000-04:00

Great article by Matt Welch about the so-called "death of dissent". I'm amused by the inherent oxymoron involved.

2002-09-10T11:44:00.000-04:00

A request: Will the Blogatrice reader checking this site from a house.gov IP address, please contact me by Email. I promise to keep your identity secret... I 'd just like to know who in Congress is reading me. Thanks!

2002-09-10T10:34:00.000-04:00

There is so much being written about the 9/11 anniversary, in every media outlet large and small. You've probably seen most of them, linked to on other sites: pro-America and anti-America, mourning the dead and trying to "understand" the "root causes" of the attack. Essays that try to explain What It All Means For Us As Americans...and simple biographies of flight attendants, bond traders, soldiers and bartenders. Articles denouncing cultural relativism and other articles embracing it. Frankly, it would be beyond my abilities as a writer to put my feelings about 9/11 into words. So I won't even try. Starting tomorrow, this blog will observe a day of silence. I will probably be attending one or more of the memorial services going on, and I will report on those. I urge you to visit the links to your right for varied perspectives on the day and its meaning if you want to read more. Posting will resume on the 12th.

2002-09-09T18:36:00.000-04:00

All the cool kids seem to be doing this, so I may as well take a crack at it. Although I don't know if I can come up with 100. So, here's an abbreviated list, or if you're feeling optimistic, the first installment. 20 Random Things 1. I'm a natural redhead. Really. 2. My favorite food is pizza. 3. The only places I've ever lived besides New York City are Binghamton, NY and Lima, Peru. 4. Binghamton and Lima are both unspeakably depressing places. 5. I speak two languages fluently (English and Spanish). 6. I could communicate in two others if my life depended on it (French and Italian). 7. I've never met a blogger I haven't liked. 8. My favorite movie actress of all time is Audrey Hepburn. 9. I do not and never have had a driver's license. 10. My paternal great-grandfather was a tiger hunter. 11. In the NYC neighborhood of Inwood there is an avenue parallel to Broadway called Seaman Avenue. One of the side streets north of Dyckman is called Cumming Street. I pity the people who, when asked where they live, must red-facedly reply:"At the corner of Seaman and Cumming". 12. I'd sooner spend $50 on a bottle of perfume than clothing. 13. I don't like seafood. 14. I don't particularly like vegetables either, although I force myself to eat them for health reasons. 15. The first actor I ever had a crush on was Christopher Plummer in "The Sound of Music". 16. I always have trouble spelling the word "satellite". 17. Right now I am drinking Kusmi brand tea (Prince Wladimir blend) out of a Tweety Bird mug. 18. I don't sing or play an instrument. 19. I've only had three serious boyfriends in my life. 20. I still haven't been to Ground Zero.

2002-09-08T13:09:00.000-04:00

Oh boy. New York bloggers, we've got a lot to live up to on the 20th. Can't let the Brits have a better party than us!

2002-09-08T11:41:00.000-04:00

Nice review of Covent Garden's new Ariadne auf Naxos in the London Times.

2002-09-08T10:43:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I posted a bread recipe on my site in tribute to Vodkapundit. Since it's been a while, I shall give you another recipe for your delectation. These sweets are not really cookies, definitely not cheesecake, and they're a few generations removed from fudge. I guess they're sort of mutant brownies. But LAWDY are they ever sinfully delicious! They're rich, dense, not too sweet, and fairly easy to make. I adapted them from a recipe in Ken Haedrich's Country Baking Sasha's Weird Yet Delicious Brownie-Like Chocolate Thingies CRUST/TOPPING: 3/4 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs ( about 6 whole crackers) 2/3 cup finely chopped pecans 2/3 cup flour (the recipe specifies "unbleached", but who gives a shit really) 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/4 pound butter, cut up into small pieces FILLING: 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup molasses 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate 1/2 pound cream cheese, softened 1 egg 1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla extract 1 teaspoon espresso powder or instant coffee 1. Grease an 8x8 baking pan and preheat your oven (350 for a metal pan, 325 for a glass one). 2.Combine the cracker crumbs, pecans, flour, and brown sugar in a mixing bowl.Take the chunks of butter with your fingers and cut them into the cracker mixture. When you're done, you'll have a bowlful of what appears to be wet sand. Measure out a cup of this and reserve in the fridge. Press the remainder into the bottom of your baking pan, forming the bottom crust. Bake for 15 minutes, then set aside. Don't turn the oven off. 3. Heat the molasses and honey in a small saucepan. Add the chocolate and hold the pan slightly over the flame (chocolate doesn't like direct heat, and believe me you do NOT want to deal with burnt chocolate). Swirl the liquid over the chocolate until it's completely melted. Place the whole pan in your fridge or freezer to cool. 4. Beat the cream cheese and eggs together (BAD eggs! Naughty cream cheese!) until they're smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla and espresso powder. When the chocolate mixture has cooled enough that it won't curdle the egg, slowly beat it into the cheese mixture. 5.Pour the filling over the crust. Take the reserved cracker crumbs and sprinkle over the top. Bake the whole thing for about 35-40 minutes or until it looks a little puffed-up. (The standard toothpick test won't work). Cool on a rack, and then refrigerate for several hours before slicing into 1-inch cubes. Resist the temptation to eat them all at one sitting.

2002-09-08T09:42:00.000-04:00

This is a very special moment for La Blogatrice. With pride and joy, I would like to announce...I am a blogmother! Longtime reader and correspondent Arthur Silber has started his own blog,Light of Reason. Written from an Objectivist point of view, it promises to be fascinating and worthy. I urge you all to add it to your bookmarks and check it out frequently.

2002-09-07T12:05:00.000-04:00

Another Blair (Prime Minister Tony) is also speaking truth about Iraq. Here's an excerpt from his press conference last Wednesday: Now in relation to all these other issues, in relation to regime change, look the key objective for us is to deal with the threat. What is the threat? The threat is an Iraq that carries on building up chemical, biological, nuclear weapons capability. And some of the talk about this in the past few weeks, I have to say has astonished me. Let's just be clear about the nature of the regime that we are dealing with. You would think from some of the discussion that we were dealing with some benign liberal democracy out in Iraq. We are dealing with a regime that routinely tortures and executes its political opponents, that probably was responsible for up to 100,000 Kurdish people dying in a brutal campaign in order to enforce Iraqi rule, we are talking about a regime that was responsible for a million people dying in the Iran-Iraq war, the annexation of Kuwait and that we know, because this is why the resolutions are there, was trying to develop these appalling weapons and indeed actually used these weapons against their own people. Now the issue is making sure it is not a threat and either the regime starts to function in an entirely different way, and there hasn't been much sign of that, or the regime has to change. That is the choice, very simply. Link via LGF.

2002-09-07T10:48:00.000-04:00

Tim Blair points up a conundrum in the war on terrorism. As usual, he's ahead of the rest of us (it is tomorrow where he lives, after all). I plan to use this in my next argument about why we should attack Iraq. The article Tim quotes is also very worth reading.

2002-09-06T15:47:00.000-04:00

I've been hearing some blather about how we Americans are dwelling too much on 9/11, the event and the anniversary both I will address this issue in a later post, but for now, read this and ask yourself if these folks ever had a choice.

2002-09-06T15:34:00.000-04:00

Short, sweet and to the point: Peter Briffa takes his Fisking tweezers to the eyebrow hairs of the enviro-loonies.

2002-09-06T14:51:00.000-04:00

Big changes afoot! I'm very very excited. Sometime next week, this site will have a new look and format. (and address, but I don't know what it is yet.) Bear with me... posting will be light until then, but it'll be worth it!

2002-09-05T22:45:00.000-04:00

I know I say this every week, but I think that this week's Mark Steyn column is one of his very best. The Flight 93 hijackers might have got lucky. They might have found themselves on a plane with John Lahr (‘You guys are working for Bush, right?’) or an Ivy League professor immersed in a long Harper’s article about the iniquities of US foreign policy. They might have found themselves travelling with Robert Daubenspeck of White River Junction, Vermont, who the day after 11 September wrote to my local newspaper advising against retaliation: ‘Someone, someday, must have the courage not to hit back but to look them in the eye and say, “I love you.’’ ’ But, granted these exceptions, chances are any flight full of reasonably typical Americans would have found a group of people to do the right thing, to act as those on Flight 93 did. When you face these terrorists, when you ‘look them in the eye’, you see there’s nothing to negotiate. Flight 93’s passengers were the first to confront that — to understand that what they were up against was not ‘courage’ (as I erroneously identified it a year ago) but a psychotic death-cultism in which before committing mass murder one carefully depilates and cleans one’s genitalia because paradise is a brothel. They are dangerous only insofar as they’re used by wily dictators, cheered on by their fellow Muslims and regarded ambivalently by much of the rest of the world. But, on Flight 93, Todd Beamer, Jeremy Glick, Thomas Burnett, Mark Bingham and others did not have the luxury of amused Guardianesque detachment. So they effectively inaugurated the new Bush Doctrine: when you know your enemies have got something big up their sleeves, you take ’em out before they can do it. Everything that mattered after 11 September — Bush’s moral clarity, the decision to hit back hard, the spirit of innovation, and the crystal-clear understanding that this is an enemy beyond negotiation —was present in the final moments of Flight 93. They’re the bedrock American values, the ones you don’t always see because everyone’s yakking about Anna Nicole or the new ‘reality-based’ ‘Beverly Hillbillies’. But we know that, like the Minutemen of the Revolutionary War, when you need them in a hurry they’re always there.

2002-09-05T17:07:00.000-04:00
DANG there are a lot of good blogs out there. Here's a handful for you to check out. Redneck with Books Scrappleface Major Ramblings Hot Buttered Death Sabertooth Journal

2002-09-05T16:58:00.000-04:00
Patriot Day. It's a great idea. I'll be celebrating and remembering.

2002-09-05T16:46:00.000-04:00
I LOVE this. Bruce Hill pays me a very nice compliment. So far this week I've been compared to an alcoholic beverage and a gun store. What could possibly lie ahead?

2002-09-05T16:38:00.000-04:00
Opera buffs who are in or near San Jose, CA will definitely want to check out Opera San Jose'sLa Cenerentola, which opens this week. Make sure you get to a performance with my buddy Rob McPherson as Ramiro.

2002-09-05T13:56:00.000-04:00
Quote of the day, found at Liberty Log: "An Asian peasant who labors through all of his waking hours, with tools created in Biblical times - a South American aborigine who is devoured by piranha in a jungle stream - an African who is bitten by the tsetse fly - an Arab whose teeth are green with decay in his mouth - these do live with their 'natural environment,' but are scarcely able to appreciate its beauty. Try to tell a Chinese mother, whose child is dying of cholera: 'Should one do everything one can? Of course not.' Try to tell a Russian housewife, who trudges miles on foot in sub-zero weather in order to spend hours standing in line at a state store dispensing food rations, that America is defiled by shopping centers, expressways and family cars." - Ayn Rand

2002-09-05T09:35:00.000-04:00
THE RETURN OF BOY CUOMO WATCH: Bob Herbert's op-ed/ interview in the Times today. It's beyond Fisking, so I'll just offer a few excerpts at random. Remember, this man seriously thought he would be the best possible governor of New York State. Snicker. "I believe in my heart that if I did a negative ad I would have won," said Mr. Cuomo. "I could argue it's not even negative. Why is it negative to say Carl McCall says he's going to fix the Board of Education, but when he was the head of the Board of Education, scores went down?" ... I asked Mr. Cuomo several times if his personality — or at least the public's perception of his personality — didn't have something to do with his low standing in the polls. He did not buy that at all. "The negative here," he said, "is that I was running against the first African-American. It was his turn." When I suggested that the public's view of him might have been the same even if he had been running against a white candidate, Mr. Cuomo said, "No. No. It was about this. I was an arrogant interloper, interfering on his turf. I came from Washington. Came here. Didn't wait in line and came here and said, `I'm going to run.' And got in the way of the first African-American. ... Mr. Cuomo was reasonably gracious Tuesday afternoon when, in an appearance in Midtown Manhattan with former President Bill Clinton and Representative Charles Rangel, he pulled the plug on a campaign that had become a debacle. Mr. Cuomo said he was abandoning the race in the interest of party unity, and he urged his supporters to vote for Mr. McCall. So far, so good. But later that afternoon he called me, and soon he was talking too fast and talking too much in that almost compulsive manner he has when the subject is politics. He did not place much blame for his humiliating defeat on himself. In Mr. Cuomo's view, he lost not because the voters didn't take to him, but because he had to pull his punches against Mr. McCall, who is black and could make history by becoming the first black governor of New York. "I believe in my heart that if I did a negative ad I would have won," said Mr. Cuomo. "I could argue it's not even negative. Why is it negative to say Carl McCall says he's going to fix the Board of Education, but when he was the head of the Board of Education, scores went down?" I mentioned that he had said exactly that during the campaign. "I know, but say that in an ad. They say that's a personally derogatory ad and that would create racial problems." I asked Mr. Cuomo several times if his personality — or at least the public's perception of his personality — didn't have something to do with his low standing in the polls. He did not buy that at all. "The negative here," he said, "is that I was running against the first African-American. It was his turn." When I suggested that the public's view of him might have been the same even if he had been running against a white candidate, Mr. Cuomo said, "No. No. It was about this. I was an arrogant interloper, interfering on his turf. I came from Washington. Came here. Didn't wait in line and came here and said, `I'm going to run.' And got in the way of the first African-American." His analysis of the campaign was frequently inconsistent. At times he said it was Democratic Party insiders, nearly all of whom supported Mr. McCall, who undermined his campaign. Other times he said it was his own ads. "I was 16 points up in late July, early August," he said. "I went from 16 points up to eight down in about three, four weeks. That was the exact three, four weeks that his ads went up and my ads went up." "His ads," said Mr. Cuomo, "were very good. Mine stunk." "You think it was wholly a function of the ads?" I asked. "It couldn't be anything else," he said. He denied that he was hurt by his decision to boycott the State Democratic Party's nominating convention last spring. (His last-minute decision to pull out of the convention rather than experience a decisive defeat by Mr. McCall prefigured this week's abrupt decision to abandon the primary race.) And he even denied that he paid a price in the polls for his now-notorious description of Gov. George Pataki as someone who merely held the coat of Rudolph Giuliani in the aftermath of Sept. 11. ... Toward the end of our conversation, he acknowledged that he is widely viewed in a negative light. "It is generally negative," he said. "But I think it was situational. How could I go against Carl McCall? How could you do that? Don't you like black people? Aren't you a progressive? Aren't you a liberal? You young, arrogant s.o.b." He seemed to believe that if Mr. McCall were not in the picture, the problem would go away.

2002-09-05T09:14:00.000-04:00
"Friedrich" of 2 Blowhards does a little research on Social Security, and the results aren't pretty.

2002-09-05T08:46:00.000-04:00
"How To Be The Perfect Anti-American in 9 Easy Lessons", courtesy ofTex. Excerpts: TIP #5: Faking geopolitical relevance There are ample opportunities to carp about Americans taking action on the world stage, even when you are (after great pain) forced to accept they are justified in doing so. The way to do this is to insist that the Americans ask for and receive international approval and support for these actions, regardless of the complete lack of alternatives put forth by our non-American brethren. Of course, some uncultured American swine may ask "why the fuck do we need you in the first place?". Merely respond with accusations that this is proof of their arrogance (under no circumstance should you attempt to answer their crude question). Priceless. You should go read the whole thing.

2002-09-04T21:26:00.000-04:00
John Hawkins has assembled the most outrageous collection of environmental-wacko quotes. It would be hilarious if these wretches weren't so deadly earnest. Here are some of the choicest tidbits from the Khmer Vert: We advocate biodiversity for biodiversity’s sake. It may take our extinction to set things straight -- David Foreman, Earth First! So when you're gone Dave, who's going to take over the job of protecting the planet? Parakeets? If I were reincarnated, I would wish to be returned to Earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels. -- Prince Phillip, World Wildlife Fund Prince Phillip? THE Prince Phillip? We, in the green movement, aspire to a cultural model in which killing a forest will be considered more contemptible and more criminal than the sale of 6-year-old children to Asian brothels. -- Carl Amery Say Carl! Lovely little girl you got there. What is she, 5? 5 and a half? ...and my personal favorite, Free enterprise really means rich people get richer. They have the freedom to exploit and psychologically rape their fellow human beings in the process . . . Capitalism is destroying the earth. -- Helen Caldicott, Union of Concerned Scientists

2002-09-04T18:18:00.000-04:00
The funny farm is in full-rehearsal swing, and my secret opera gossip correspondent Eddie Pensier promises to have some excellent dish in the next few days. I'll post it as soon as I get it.

2002-09-04T18:14:00.000-04:00
The most important returnee of all: my dad is back from China, safe and sound and dying for a good old-fashioned American meal.

2002-09-03T20:48:00.000-04:00
James Taranto is also back from hiatus with a brand spankin' new Best Of The Web that features our very own blue-collar slob, Nick Marsala. UPDATE: Yet another blogger returns: John ofIberian Notes is back from big, beautiful Kansas City. He's also updated his blurb on the left side of this page I like being compared to a wine.

2002-09-03T20:34:00.000-04:00
Richard Goldstein in today's Voice: I will never hear a bagpipe playing "Amazing Grace" without thinking of its performance at a funeral for dogs that died at ground zero—attended by their canine survivors. In fact, I will flee from any bagpipe in the hands of a kilted civil servant for some time to come. The memory of girder crosses raised from the ruins, books with titles like Chicken Soup for the Soul of America, and endless evocations of the phrase "Let's roll!" makes me want to move to France, where they know how to put on a good funeral and get on with dressing well. Mourning in America never ends until the last commemorative coin is sold. Closure is another word for nothing left to show. And this man has the temerity to call himself a New Yorker? Let the French have him. They deserve each other.

2002-09-03T15:59:00.000-04:00
It's done. He's gone. Now, who the heck am I gonna make fun of next? Oh, and Mr. Dreher? "Boy Cuomo" is a registered trademark of this here site. Lay off it unless you want me to come over to East Midtown and whack you upside the head with a rolled-up Cuomo campaign poster.

2002-09-03T13:08:00.000-04:00
David Artemiw is back from holiday and blogging again.

2002-09-03T12:48:00.000-04:00
BOY CUOMO WATCH, AGAIN (BUT PERHAPS NOT FOR MUCH LONGER) Reader (and Bronx neighbor) Bill C. passes on this story: Cuomo May Drop Out of Governor's Race Faced with a growing deficit in the polls, Andrew Cuomo may drop out of the governor’s race, according to sources, less than a week before his matchup against Carl McCall in the Democratic primary. Sources say Cuomo is trying to secure a prominent position in McCall’s campaign in exchange for conceding the race. Cuomo’s gap behind his rival widened to 22 points in the latest poll, released Tuesday morning, and now the 44-year-old former federal housing secretary is looking to secure his viability for a future run at political office. "Secure his viability for a future run at political office"? Hmmm, where have we heard that before? However, the McCall campaign, confident of victory, was initially unreceptive to accepting such an offer, according to sources. Talks on conditions acceptable to both sides are continuing, though, and an announcement of Cuomo’s departure from the race could come as early as Tuesday afternoon. Why should McCall do anything? He's already got the primary practically sewn up. Both Cuomo and McCall have already pulled their remaining television campaign ads with Time Warner Cable, NY1’s parent company, and they have both canceled campaign appearances previously scheduled for Tuesday. So this means no more ads boasting about how the Boy protected us from the KKK? I weep, truly. Cuomo’s first doubts about his campaign may have surfaced 10 days ago, when he admitted he thought his opponent’s ads were better than his. Then at the end of last week, his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo, called prominent Democrats looking for an exit strategy. "Daddy, I don't want to play anymore!" McCall, the current state comptroller, has built up the support of virtually all of the state’s prominent Democrats, leaving Cuomo to run as the outsider. The one notable exception had been Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who remained neutral. But on Monday, despite insisting she was not making an endorsement, Clinton marched with McCall in the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn. Bill: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman". Hill: "I did not endorse that candidate". Additionally, former President Bill Clinton is said to be involved in the discussions for Cuomo to leave the race, as is Charlie Rangel, the senior member of New York’s Congressional delegation, who has made no secret about his distaste for Cuomo. AAAUGH! I'm agreeing with Charles Rangel!!! Red heifer!

2002-09-03T11:58:00.000-04:00
Did anyone else see the clip of Fred Thompson debuting his new "Law & Order" character on "Meet the Press" this Sunday? CNN describes Thompson's character, Arthur Branch, as a "politically conservative district attorney" Sounds more like a libertarian to me: "With all the money we spend on the so-called war on drugs, we could buy all the poppy fields in the world and burn them to a crisp. But do we do it? No. And why? Because without a war on something, people in Washington wouldn't get elected." Bravissimo!

2002-09-03T10:36:00.000-04:00
*sigh* Ya te extraño, querido... (Update: I wasn't trying to be cryptic... this is Spanish tennis babe Alex Corretja, who lost to the pipsqueaky Andy Roddick in the US Open last night.)

2002-09-03T10:25:00.000-04:00
Best blog lead of the day, courtesy of Colby Cosh: Just came back from watching the traditional Labour Day football game between the Eskimos and the Calgary Stampeders.... This almost makes me want to read about football.

2002-09-03T09:29:00.000-04:00
Want to read a first-rate, high-class bit of music criticism? Check out this review of Helmut Lachenmann's opera "Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern" ("The Little Match Girl") at the Salzburg Festival, by the Times' pathetically under-utilized B-team critic, Paul Griffiths. No wonder Peter G. Davis hates him.

2002-09-03T09:13:00.000-04:00
Andrew Sullivan is back, with thoughts on Iraq, jabs at the Times (duh), and words of high praise for lots of bloggers, including long-time SC fave Oxblog and short-time fave 2 Blowhards. Hey kids, when you get rich and famous, you'll still remember me, right? Right?

2002-09-03T08:52:00.000-04:00
BOY CUOMO WATCH: The Times examines the Boy's record at HUD... and it's not as sparkling as he claims it is. And here's an (unintentionally?) hilarious article about the Boy's celebrity endorsements.

2002-09-02T22:10:00.000-04:00
Hunter S. Thompson gets the business end of Tim Blair's Fisking stick. Ouch!

2002-09-02T22:00:00.000-04:00
Excellent news on a slow news day: Richard Poe has a blog!

2002-09-02T10:38:00.000-04:00
Happy Labor Day everyone!

2002-09-01T19:32:00.000-04:00
Hilarious article in today's Times by playwright Terrence McNally, about the strange business of libretto writing and other topics.

2002-09-01T19:27:00.000-04:00
This might make changing trains at Times Square slightly more bearable. Only slightly, mind you.

2002-08-31T22:11:00.000-04:00
Welcome the newest Sasha-approved links:Julian Sanchez, The Kolkata Libertarian, James Morrow, and Public Interest.

2002-08-31T17:37:00.000-04:00
HA... spoke too soon, apparently. Browsing my comments, I discovered that the enterprising folk who run SullyWatch have finally gotten around to responding to my tirade about their sullying (sorry) my reputation. My original post about the Great Gay Debate apppeared on June 28th. The Sullywatch post I cited also appeared on the 28th . I wrote my responseto said post on July 7th. Now bear with me here. I took particular exception to the following statement of Sullywatch's: If you go back there, and scroll down to earlier in the week where he first advertised the debate, you’ll see the name “Carmen Vasquez” written out quite plainly. Hard name to forget ... I think it's even a character in Starship Troopers (the movie, at least). We did it. Sasha Castel and Clay Waters must have (assuming they hadn’t disdainfully chosen to forget it). Why can’t Sully? I think that anyone with a modicum of English comprehension will read the last statement in the above paragraph and conclude that "they" refers to me and Clay. And yet in today's post, SW concludes with the following baffling paragraph: He[Dawson] also includes a link to Sasha Castel’s early response to us and our comments on the actual Great Debate when it took place. All we can say is what we said in the comments: that “disdainfully” was meant to apply to Sullivan, not him. Now go back and read that first excerpt again. Is there ANY WAY that "disdainfully" in that paragraph could possibly be construed as applying to Sullivan and not me and Clay? I'm not a grammarian but I'm pretty sure that it can't. Back to today's post... “disdainfully” was meant to apply to Sullivan, not him. Who is this "him"? It took me a minute of scratching my head to realize that "him" is ME. Okay kids: Sasha is a WOMAN. Something every other reader of this site seems to realize except Sullywatch.

2002-08-31T17:01:00.000-04:00
I came close to tears reading this tremendously moving article on post- 9/11 New York by Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt. You really should read it, even if you don't think you want to. (Thanks to the Group Captain for the link.)

2002-08-30T17:02:00.000-04:00
UPDATE TO BOY CUOMO WATCH: Ivy-jumping race-baiter Cornel West has endorsed the Boy because, apparently, Carl McCall isn't "black enough".

2002-08-30T15:56:00.000-04:00
BOY CUOMO WATCH: Even the Financial Times is needling him, with this story about him shamelessly using his daughter as a campaign tool (and I use "shamelessly" with caution, since this man has long since demonstrated that he has, in fact, no shame). Even the former First Couple is keeping their distance. Incidentally, are there any four words in the English language that have more capacity to inspire terror than "Former Clinton housing secretary"?

2002-08-30T12:03:00.000-04:00
I believe this may be the first interview with Kathleen Battle I've ever read. The notoriously bad-tempered diva does little to salvage her reputation. I remember when she was famously fired from the funny farm several years ago. One of her co-stars said to me, "I don't know if I could live with myself knowing that I'd caused so much ill will among so many people." (Full disclosure: Way back in the day when I worked for Columbia Artists, KB's manager's office was right down the hall from my desk. I had a few occasions to chat with her and she was never anything but scrupulously polite to me personally. But enough people I know and trust have verified the horror stories to remove all doubt about their veracity.) Thanks to my partner-in-crime V.C. Darte for the link.

2002-08-30T11:49:00.000-04:00
As good a Fisking as you're likely to read all day:Bruce Hill takes on lefty Australian academics. Poor woman (NOT).

2002-08-29T22:11:00.000-04:00
I spent an hour this afternoon browsing one of my favorite bookstores,East West Books on 14th Street and 5th Avenue. It's not a physically large place, but it's packed from top to bottom with books about religion, philosophy, esoterica, ancient history, yoga, meditation, and a zillion other topics. It's run by the Himalaya Society so naturally the sections on Buddhism and Hinduism are particularly good. The clerks are very knowledgeable, and they don't bug you if you decide to curl up in the corner with a John Dee biography.If you have some spare time in NYC, I highly recommend it. (Unless you've got allergies: they do burn incense.) Another great boookstore with a similar selection is Quest Books and Gifts on East 53rd, run by the Theosophical Society.That's where I picked up my current read,The Rosicrucians by Christopher McIntosh.

2002-08-29T21:51:00.000-04:00
A friend of Radley Balko's has just returned from a clandestine trip to Cuba, and guess what? SHHH.... don't tell anyone... .... it's not the paradise that lefty Castro apologists claim it is. Jay Nordlinger has some more Castro news in today's Impromptu.

2002-08-29T21:37:00.000-04:00
Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs comes up with this delightful item: Johannesburg - African and Asian farmers, and hawkers from across South Africa handed over a "Bullshit Trophy" (yes, that is the trophy's real name) to Greenpeace, the Third World Network and BioWatch for their contribution to the "preservation of poverty" in developing countries. The trophy comprises of a piece of wood on which two heaps of dried cow-dung - "unfortunately not elephant dung" - are mounted. Barun Mitra of the Sustainable Development Network (SDN), a coalition of non-governmental organisations which believes, among other things, that sustainable development is attainable only through free trade, officiated at the symbolic handing-over in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Mitra denounced the three NGOs as parasites which "prey on the blood of the poor" and did not help to improve agricultural productivity in the Third World. "They are not interested in famine or poverty. This lot is concerned only about their own interests. "They sit here at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in their rich man's hotels and romanticise everything," he said. Amen, brothers!