January 10, 2008 archive

Docudharma Times Thursday January 10

This is an Open Thread: Call Anytime

Thursday’s Headlines: Millions of youths use cold meds to get high: Ashcroft Deal Brings Scrutiny in Justice Dept.: Chinese man killed after filming protest: Bodyguard testifies against Taylor at war crimes trial

For U.S., The Goal Is Now ‘Iraqi Solutions’

Approach Acknowledges Benchmarks Aren’t Met

In the year since President Bush announced he was changing course in Iraq with a troop “surge” and a new strategy, U.S. military and diplomatic officials have begun their own quiet policy shift. After countless unsuccessful efforts to push Iraqis toward various political, economic and security goals, they have decided to let the Iraqis figure some things out themselves.

From Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to Army privates and aid workers, officials are expressing their willingness to stand back and help Iraqis develop their own answers. “We try to come up with Iraqi solutions for Iraqi problems,” said Stephen Fakan, the leader of a provincial reconstruction team with U.S. troops in Fallujah.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

Trying to expain Dylan to a foreigner

What, precice

Bush on Bush

Or, how to be delusional about ones legacy.

George Bush last week gave interviews to various Middle East news outlets in preparation for his visit this week to the Middle East. In answering the questions its clear that George W. Bush is living in a parallel universe of his own construction.    

Tech Talk – An Interview w/ NewsCorpse

Recently NewsCorpse decided to start posting on Docudharma.com.  NewsCorpse runs a site by the same name http://newscorpse.com/ and I’ve been a fan for a while.  The site combines amazing original graphics with hard hitting important stories.  So I took the opportunity to request an interview and this is the result:

Thanks for your reply and invitation to get in touch.  I’m a back-end developer mostly and am interested in who links to what and why…recently I signed Docudharma up on Blogburst and that system has been placing our headlines onto sites like the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Reuters etc.  

I saw your headlines from another Wall Street Journal story and when I did it reminded me of other times I saw your news on Google News and places reserved, usually, for News Sources not mere blogs.

Until we registered on Blogburst I thought it was nearly impossible to get linked from the top dogs.  You were able to do it much earlier than most.  Until recently I was just submitting links anywhere possible, hoping that would raise the site’s rankings.  Once I got into news feeds I realized there is a lot of hidden potential on the development side.

You appear to understand the concept of a blog/website as a dot com….I am just getting to that point now so here are some questions (below the fold):

 

“Body of War”

A Call To Action for Anyone in or near Washington DC on Friday January 11 2008

CounterPunch has a post there today that asks a Request, from Russell Mokhiber, to join him outside of the DC Offices of the New York Times.

I’m going to place the whole request below, why, because I want to make sure that whoever visits this Reads The Whole Thing, everyone of Russells words, and not just selected cuts without clicking through.

This Request Is Important

Rasmussen on the NH Mistake, and the Power of Story

In this post I relay Rasmussen’s preliminary report on why they got New Hampshire wrong.  Their explanation is not simple or single-faceted.  I also offer some reflections on the power of simple narratives.

I don’t like “stories” when it comes to campaigns.  I don’t like, for example, to be told that “the women of New Hampshire” were “moved” by Clinton’s “teary-eyed moment.”  This is too quick, too easy, too lazy, and too insulting.  It makes too many people’s jobs — pundits, reporters, campaign staffs — less taxing for me to believe it is really getting at the truth.  The truth might be more mundane, less psychological, messier . . . and above all, the truth might not fit into anyone’s “story” about this or that “campaign”.

Pony Party: Cary Grant

How do I talk about Cary Grant without using all the expected words… suave, sophisticated, sexy, charming, dapper, handsome, dimple-in-chin, tall, great in a suit, great voice/cadence/rhythm, great walk. And fucking funny. A vaudevillian heart more than a heart throb… he could fall, tumble, crash into things, drop things, and act like a nerd. His confused was both endearing and comical. He had a darkness as well. It always took me by surprise; it was incredibly intriguing.

But you knew he smelled good. If your nose could only find its way to his neck and nestle right below his ear. You knew he could kiss… every time I saw him, it was easy to imagine kissing him. But not just serious kissing. Flirty kissing. Laughing kissing. Eyes wide open kissing.

And… He was one of the best actors I’ve ever seen.

Do you think I had a thing for Cary Grant?  And I don’t care if he was gay or bi. No bearing on how I felt, well, still feel. And you want to know something even funnier? ej is a little Cary Grant-like. Not in looks. But the nerd part for sure and he’s funny and charming. Mostly, it’s those Grantesque “everything that can go wrong will go wrong” moments. Like going into an American supermarket and asking for chocolate bars. the guy told him they didn’t have any. of course, he eventually found them and then, in true ej style, his voice pitched as he complained that not only were there chocolate bars, but there was a whole aisle of them…  it’s hard for him to accept that sometimes, people don’t understand his accent.

I got to see Cary Grant once. He was going around the country, sitting on stages small and large, and answering people’s questions. “An Evening with Cary Grant” I think he called. When I saw him (he was 82 then), Liz Smith introduced him. And guess what? I was the first one he pointed to in the audience to ask a question.

Here’s the way I remember it…

“Mr. Grant… Cary. I just wanna hear you say my name.” And the audience erupted with laughter… he smiled, put his hands over his eyes to cut the spot lights to look at me.

“What’s your name?”

Fighting the swoon… i said p… pfiore8. And he said, “Hello pfiore8. How are you this evening?”

One of my best ever moments…

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