Category: World at Large

Immigrant Song.

“If you believe that government should be accountable to the people, not the people to the government, then you are a Republican.” If you believe that rich people deserve tax breaks while the middle-class struggle harder and the poor send their kids to war, then you are a Republican. If you believe that cutting First Responder, Homeland Security, and Nunn-Lugar funding, lying bald-faced to our allies before the UN, letting Osama Bin Laden disappear into the caverns of Afghanistan, and contriving a casus belli to start a war in Iraq that has further alienated the moderate Muslim world is sound anti-terror strategy, then you are a Republican. If you believe an extramarital blow job is an impeachable offense, but dissembling to the American people about war is hunky-dory, then you are a Republican. If you believe God loves you, but He hates gays, liberals, and foreigners, then you are a Republican. If you’re an immigrant bodybuilder who made it to the top of his field through hard work, discipline, and the judicious application of enough steroids to kill a small horse, then you are a Republican. And if you’re a serial groper who was befuddled enough to think Nixon was a good idea in 1968 and who somehow earnestly believes that the GOP hasn’t moved much further right since the days of Tricky Dick, then you are Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So far, so good.

Aside from one burning float (and poor mask-wearing Rosario Dawson), the first protests against the GOP Invasion Force were both plentiful and peaceful. (I thought the Billionaires for Bush bit was a particularly nice flourish.) I just hope the rest of the protesters this week are better than I am at restraining their anger and contempt over the 9/11 graverobbing about to ensue.

Fortress: MSG.

The board is set, the pieces are moving, and a host of sweaty, overweight middle-aged white guys in short-sleeve dress shirts marches forth to hold our fair city siege. (You think I’m kidding, I was surrounded by a gaggle of ’em earlier this afternoon outside Artie’s Deli…they all had matching GOP 2004 name tags, along with their designated rank in the Noble and Benevolent Order of Somesuch, and they were all sizing up passers-by with sneers that suggested equal parts suspicion, fear, and disgust. Look, buds, the feeling’s mutual. People are strange when you’re a stranger, and y’all are most definitely strangers.)

Meanwhile, it already looks like a 5-Star Grand Theft Auto rampage down at the Garden, with cops everywhere, choppers overhead, and black SUVs with police lights zooming back and forth. 33rd St. is completely cordoned off, Herald Square has become Hardball central, and concrete cinder blocks have been placed at all corners of MSG. Not much of a protester presence at the venue yet, although some forces seem to be gathering around Union Square (where I picked up the button at right.) Oh, yes, it should be a hot time in old New York town next week.

Empire Falls.

After two previous losses to Puerto Rico and Lithuania, the US Men’s Basketball team are knocked out of gold medal contention by Argentina (and Manu Ginobli.) I saw some of the earlier games, most notably the US-Germany scrimmage which A.I. won on a buzzer-beater 3, and the team definitely seemed confused. I don’t really see this as the death knell of American basketball it’s being made out to be, though. As many others (including Mark Cuban) have noted, the team was just poorly constructed…it needed less All-Stars and more NBA-level role players in the worst way.

Busted.

“[O]n close examination, the accounts of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth prove to be riddled with inconsistencies. In many cases, material offered as proof by these veterans is undercut by official Navy records and the men’s own statements. Several of those now declaring Mr. Kerry ‘unfit’ had lavished praise on him, some as recently as last year.” The Times ably dissects the Swift Veterans smear-job, complete with a spiffy graphic linking its moneymen to Dubya. “Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family – one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove’s, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush’s father’s presidential library.“

Offsides.

Iraq’s Olympic soccer team ask to be removed from Bush re-election ads. “‘My problems are not with the American people,’ says Iraqi soccer coach Adnan Hamad. ‘They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything.'” Sorry, y’all…it’s just that Dubya has very little to fall back on these days. It’s not like he can campaign on his domestic record.

Missing Manhattan.

“It’s easier to leave than to be left behind…” The boys in Athens (REM, not Michael Phelps) release “Leaving New York”, the first single from Around the Sun, on BBC Radio. (Mirror/Mirror 2.) All in all, I’d say it’s growing on me. One part “Parakeet,” one part “Wrong Child,” maybe a dash of “E-Bow the Letter,” it’s definitely REM jingly-jangly without being as self-consciously imitative as “Imitation of Life,” the first single on the last album. And it’s got a very catchy chorus, particularly when Stipe also comes with the backing vocals (must’ve been Mike Mills’ off day.) At any rate, the rest of the album is listed here. Update: Bowing to the inevitable, the official site is now streaming the full song, if all the previous links go down.

The Doctor Meets the Grid (and the Matrix).

Filming on the new Doctor Who runs afoul of British anti-terrorism forces. The article also has one of the first pics up of Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor. Between this and the Batman post above, I know I’m starting to sound like the fanboy Joan Rivers…but what’s up with the lousy costume? Surely, any Time Lord worth his salt would wear something a mite more quirky.