Phil Donahue has a show again. This time on MSNBC. It will nice to see someone who isn’t a lockstep right-wing nutjob on television for once. I remember during the 2000 presidential election Donahue valiantly championed the campaign of Green Party Candidate, Ralph Nader. It was funny watching the talentless pundits trying to make heads or tales of that. They were so fixed on their support of Bush or, on rare occassions, of Gore.
Monthly Archives: June 2002
21
Jun 02
Police: Eggroll carts were fencing front
Pretty weird local news. Turns out an Austin institution, the families that own the carts that peddle eggrolls, pizza, fried rice, and some other things near the University of Texas campus have been arrested for fencing stolen property. Police found sixty thousand dollars in cash and two hundred thousand dollars in stolen property at their homes. Does this mean I won’t be able to buy a veggie fried rice and a cherry lemonade from the ‘roach wagons’ anymore? Sigh.
19
Jun 02
Juneteenth
Today is Juneteenth here in Texas.
Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of the ending of slavery.
From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond.
Today Juneteenth commemorates
African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. It is a day, a week, and in some areas a month marked with celebrations, guest speakers, picnics and family gatherings. It is a time for reflection and rejoicing. It is a time for assessment, self-improvement and for planning the future. Its growing popularity signifies a level of maturity and dignity in America long over due. In cities across the country, people of all races, nationalities and religions are joining hands to truthfully acknowledge a period in our history that shaped and continues to influence our society today. Sensitized to the conditions and experiences of others, only then can we make significant and lasting improvements in our society.
19
Jun 02
Philip K. Dick and the movies
This is originally from the LA TIMES, but I can’t find a link to it.
Casting a Timeless Shadow: Steven Spielberg’s ‘Minority Report’ is only the latest film based on the work of sci-fi author Philip K. Dick
By BILL DESOWITZ, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
It has been 20 years since the seminal sci-fi film “Blade Runner” first burst on the scene with its cyberpunk prophecy of a dehumanized 21st century. The dark and dank depiction of L.A. as a technological wonder and existential wasteland–part noir and part sci-fi–may owe its aesthetic to director Ridley Scott, but its vision is that of the late author Philip K. Dick.
It was Dick who was responsible for the thrust of this much imitated paranoid parable: What is reality? And what does it mean to be human? It’s no wonder, then, that Dick’s fingerprints are all over our science-fiction culture: “The X-Files,” “The Matrix,” “A.I.,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” “Vanilla Sky,” “The Truman Show,” “Waking Life,” “Gattaca,” “12 Monkeys” and the upcoming “Simone,” about a computer-generated actress, all have been influenced by Dick’s sensibility.
19
Jun 02
Become a member of Aramchek
I was talking with George the other day about the significance of ‘Aramchek’ the current title to the fark-like news section of this site:
The pinko capital of the world was not surprised when Senator Fremont was named to a committee investigating un-American activities. It wasn’t surprised when the senator nailed several prominent liberals as Communist Party members. But it was surprised when Senator Fremont made the Aramchek accusation.
Nobody in Berkeley, including the Communist Party members living and working there, had ever heard of Aramchek. It mystified them. What was Aramchek? Senator Fremont claimed in his speech that a Communist Party member, an agent of the Politburo, had under pressure given him a document in which the CP-USA discussed the nature of Aramchek, and from this document it was evident that the CP-USA, the Communist Party of America, was itself merely a front, one among many, cannon fodder as it were, to mask the real enemy, the real agency of treason, Aramchek. There was no membership roll in Aramchek; it did not function in any normal way. Its members espoused no particular philosophy, either publicly or privately. Yet it was Aramchek that was stealthily taking over these United States. You’d have thought someone in the pinko capital would have heard of it. (Radio Free Albemuth, p. 16)
…
Bending down, Nicholas examined a word incised in the cement of the sidewalk, a very old word put there some time ago, when the sidewalk had been wet. It was professionally printed.
“Look!” Nicholas said.
I bent down and read the word.
ARAMCHEK
“That was the original name of this street,” Nicholas said, “evidently. Before they changed it. So that’s where Fremont got the name of that conspiratorial group: from his childhood. From finding it written on the sidewalk. He probably doesn’t even remember now. He must have played here.”
The idea of Ferris Fremont playing here as a little boy — the idea of Ferris Fremont as a little boy at all, anywhere — was too bizarre to be believed. He had rolled his tricycle by these very houses, skipped over the very cracks we had tripped on in the night; his mother probably warned him about cars passing along this street. The little boy playing here and inventing fantasies in his head about people passing, about the mysterious word ARAMCHEK inscribed in the cement under his feet, conjecturing over the weeks and months as to what it meant, discerning in a child’s mind secret and occult purposes in it that were to blossom later on in adulthood. Into full-blown, florid, paranoid delusions about a vast conspiratorial organization with no fixed beliefs and no actual membership but somehow a titanic enemy of society, to be hunted out and destroyed wherever found. I wonder how much of this had come into his head while he was still a child. Maybe he had imagined the entire thing then. As an adult he had merely voiced it.
“Could be the contractor’s name,” I said, “rather than the original street name. They inscribe that too, sometimes, when they’re done with a job.” (Radio Free Albemuth, p. 44)
We have our own ARAMCHEK of sorts here in Austin. There are a number of sidewalks around the older parts of central Austin inscribed with the name ‘MAUFRAIS’. When I first moved downtown to attend the University I found them very mysterious.
19
Jun 02
Ain’t I somethin’?
I’ve been busy helping my web ignorant friends set up websites, and blogs which is the best choice for most of them since it means they don’t have to learn how to write html or anything. I’ve even given them some space to play with on my webhost!!
First is k. with uptighty.com. She’s actually a really great writer.
Second was P. with his site gleeclub.letterneversent.com. Don’t ask me about the name I don’t know anything about it.
Third is one of my best mates, B. with pausebreak.com. He doesn’t like expressing himself to others so don’t expect any blogging at that location. However, show K. and P. some love for me if you have a spare moment.
17
Jun 02
Experimenting
I was getting really annoyed with Fark.com the other day, so I thought I’d make my own news link site. Here it is. It’s just something to try for a while. It is easily updateable via Movable Type. If you’d like to be a moderator there let me know.
15
Jun 02
Acquaintance of ‘dirty bomber’ scapegoat arrested for ‘extremist views’
From Reuters: Boy, those morons in the federal government are really grasping at straws. In another case of thought crime an Islamic Florida man was arrested for alleged ties to the so-called ‘dirty bomber’. His apparent crime is that he has what the FBI considers ‘extremist views’. That and he attended the same mosque as the dirty bomber.
Although the details of Hassoun’s affiliation with Muhajir were unclear, both men attended the same mosque in Fort Lauderdale while Muhajir lived in south Florida from 1991 to 1998.
“We have suspicions; that’s it,” a federal source told the Herald. “We are working hard right now to run this all out. We have reason to believe this man has extremist views. They were friends and they attended the same Fort Lauderdale mosque.”