Archive for December, 2008

green bin
(Almost) Daily Linker – 12/31/08

Sorry about the intermittant posting, folks. You know, the ‘holidays’ and all. But here’s what I’ve found for you today.

Canada

World

  • New Year’s celebrations in much of the Arab world have been canceled to show solidarity with Gaza.
  • Women in Naples go on a sex strike to keep their men away from illegal fireworks. Wait, what?
  • John Maynard Keynes is so hot right now. Even the Financial Times thinks so.

Media

Science & Tech

Pop Culture

.

December 31st, 2008 by graeme | | no comments »

pop snark
100 word movie review: Gran Torino

grantorino

Clint Eastwood has made some great movies, with more than a few landing in my top 25. So I was excitied to see Gran Torino, Eastwood’s latest actor/director effort. Internet scuttlebutt billed this as a “Dirty Harry 6″, where Clint goes after ne’er-do-wells in one last shoot ‘em up action flick.

Wrong.

This is a thoughful, quiet film about the decay of traditional America and its succession by a vibrant, if conflicted, new order. Eastwood does a terrific job in simplifying and pacing out this engaging story and delivers a poignant climax. The acting performances are a bit uneven, but the story still shines through. Highly recommended.

December 29th, 2008 by graeme | | 3 comments »

the war on idiocy
Republican shocked, shocked about outrage over racist song

Champion moron and candidate for the RNC chairman Chip Saltsman (also: what grown man calls himself  “Chip”?) has been distributing copies of the song “Barack the Magic Negro” to support his campaign. Here’s a sample of this supremely unfunny and entirely racist ’satire’, written by some white, racist hack named Paul Shankman:

Nice one, Chipster. Like every veiled bigot, you’ve managed to fatally overreach and scupper your chances to be RNC Chair. While the Republican Party is the last, great citadel of privileged white men, they are smart enough to know which way the wind is blowing. This kind of race-baiting is no longer a viable political strategy. Prepare to be set adrift, Chip. You’re too stupid for office, and not clever enough to charm a Republican Party reeling under its own ponderous irrelevance.

December 29th, 2008 by graeme | | no comments »

green bin
Daily Linker – 12/29/08

And we’re back! Christmas was fun, but it’s time I return to the RSS mines.

World

Media

Science & Tech

Pop Culture

December 29th, 2008 by graeme | | no comments »

green bin
Christmas Eve Linker – 12/24/08

Canada

World

Media

Science & Tech

Pop Culture

December 24th, 2008 by graeme | | no comments »

green bin
Low blogging advisory: deck the halls edition

Hello, dear Nunc Scions. As you may be aware/are currently trying to ignore, the holiday week is upon us. Since I’ll be spending the better part of the day on the highway (going to Chicago), there will be no blogging today. I’ll be posting lightly over Christmas, so stay tuned.

And if I don’t see you back here before Christmas, here’s wishing you and yours a very merry holiday.

December 23rd, 2008 by graeme | | 1 comment »

green bin
Be the bigger man, Bush.

Bush

George W. Bush must be getting pretty depressed. I mean, if my legacy were a burned-over wasteland painted with tears, I’d be bummed too.

But amidst disastrous foreign wars and economic collapse, perhaps there is a little solace from an unlikely source: the guy who whipped his shoes at the soon-to-be ex-President.

Muntadar al-Zeidi has had a pretty crummy time since his shoe-nanigans. He’s been arrested, beaten, and forced to apologize for his stunt, and now faces the prospect of a lengthy jail term. I suppose he should have thought about that before hurling his footwear. And, I’m no fan of journalists exploiting their access to make personal political points.  But still, in the grand order of human misdeeds, weaponized Nikes are fairly light weight.

In the wake of the felonious shoe assault, Bush said some pretty laid-back, insightful things, basically that the occassional flying wingtip was a small price to pay for a free society. In that spirit, Bush should intervene on Al-Zeidi’s behalf. Surely, the President of the United States has the clout to bust a lone shoeman out of jail.

Think of it: at the close of an ignominous term, Bush can take the high road. He can say, “Yes, this man threw his shoes at me. But in the interest of democracy and freedom, let him go.” Not only will this make Bush appear magnaminous and actually committed to the liberty-related rhetoric he is fond of quoting in speeches, but it may even win a few points in the Muslim world.  Al-Zeidi is a hero for throwing his shoes. If Bush frees him, he may win a little grudging respect.

Let Al-Zeidi go, Mr. Bush. Let’s be honest: it may be the only good thing you get remembered for.

December 22nd, 2008 by graeme | | 6 comments »

Politics. Media. Culture.
Now you know.

search


about

categories


recent posts









archives

read these

Progressive Bloggers Add to Technorati Favorites Nunc Scio RSS Feed Graeme's BlogTO Articles RSS Feed Join Society Blog Directory
Best Non-Partisan Blog! Best Non-Partisan Blog! Nunc Scio at Blogged