or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
April 26, 2008
More Goldbergian Goodness
Looking back at it now, I see that in McCain's October 11, 2002 Senate speech supporting the Iraq war resolution, he quoted Jeffrey Goldberg:
This is not just another Arab despot, not one of many tyrants who repress their people from within the confines of their countries. As New Yorker writer Jeffrey Goldberg, who recently traveled across northern Iraq, recently wrote in Slate:There are, of course, many repugnant dictators in the world; a dozen or so in the Middle East alone. But Saddam Hussein is a figure of singular repugnance, and singular danger. To review: there is no dictator in power anywhere in the world who has, so far in his career, invaded two neighboring countries; fired ballistic missiles at the civilians of two other neighboring countries; tried to have assassinated an ex-president of the United States; harbored al Qaeda fugitives...; attacked civilians with chemical weapons; attacked the soldiers of an enemy with chemical weapons; conducted biological weapons experiments on human subjects; committed genocide; and... [weaponized] aflotoxin, a tool of mass murder and nothing else. I do not know how any thinking person could believe that Saddam Hussein is a run-of-the-mill dictator. No one else comes close... to matching his extraordinary and variegated record of malevolence.'
Here's more of what Goldberg wrote in that specific Slate article:
There is not sufficient space...for me to refute some of the arguments made in Slate over the past week against intervention, arguments made, I have noticed, by people with limited experience in the Middle East (Their lack of experience causes them to reach the naive conclusion that an invasion of Iraq will cause America to be loathed in the Middle East, rather than respected)...The administration is planning today to launch what many people would undoubtedly call a short-sighted and inexcusable act of aggression. In five years, however, I believe that the coming invasion of Iraq will be remembered as an act of profound morality.
Too bad McCain didn't use that.
(Goldberg aficionados may also want to read a recent article by Spencer Ackerman about Goldberg and Stephen Hayes.)
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at April 26, 2008 09:37 AMSo much for profound morality, that's why I'm voting for Mike Meyer. (and any other internet candidate)
Posted by: Mike Meyer at April 26, 2008 11:54 AMGoldberg aficionados...
If I click the link, am I a Goldberg aficionado? I'm not sure I can afford the entry fee on this one.
Now, had you said, "Goldberg connoisseurs..." -- because like fine wine, the passage of time really brings out the essence of Goldberg...
Posted by: angryman@24:10 at April 26, 2008 12:40 PMPlease help italians! We have Silvio Berlusconi again! Please do something! Invade Italy!
http://ilpopolosovrano.splinder.com/
Posted by: Ermes at April 26, 2008 01:51 PMErmes: WE're busy right now, perhaps the British or French?
Posted by: Mike Meyer at April 26, 2008 03:06 PMFor shame, Mike--such willingness to shirk our responsibilities. Yes, we're a little short on ground troops, but perhaps a few months worth of aerial bombardment would be enough to liberate the Italians from their government.
Posted by: Donald Johnson at April 26, 2008 05:47 PMIf it's any consolation, Berlusconi can't live forever. I'm sorry to say things like that cheer me up sometimes.
Posted by: Save the Oocytes at April 26, 2008 06:16 PMBesides, Bush and Cheney have conceded that Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, as has the whole Bush Administration and the military. How so? They had Saddam Hussein in their custody for years and never bothered to charge him with 9/11. That silence is telling.
Posted by: Diamond LeGrande at April 26, 2008 10:51 PMWe are deserving of Silvio Berlusconi, maybe...
all italians are assholes..
you can traslate my blog, with the botton of english' flag, it is google's traslate..better than nothing
bye
hope against hope
http://ilpopolosovrano.splinder.com
Ermes,
Berlusconi's return is unsettling, but at least you have the possibility of getting rid of him again before his full term is over.
That is, assuming your parliament has more spine than our Congress...
Posted by: Nell at April 27, 2008 01:49 PMErmes: Have YOU thought about starting YOUR OWN political Party based on VOTER INITIATIVE ON THE BUDGET AND TAXES? That YOU THE TAXPAYER have total control of how much TAXES comes out of YOUR pocket and YOU also have a final say-so vote, a yes or no vote, a go or no go vote, on any and all BUDGETS those TAXES contribute toward.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at April 27, 2008 02:02 PMErmer: YOU AND YOUR FELLOW TAXPAYER probably have a great deal of money tied up in YOUR treasury and budgets, and Silvo has access to the USE of it but YOU AND YOUR FELLOW TAXPAYERS don't. That's probably a major part of YOUR problems with Silvo.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at April 27, 2008 02:20 PMSilvio Berlusconi has information in his hand. He has 3 televisions and keeps a check on other 3 televisions (we have 6 principal televisons). He has information. He can take a journalist and expel him without problem.
This is the real problem.
http://ilpopolosovrano.splinder.com/
Posted by: Ermes at April 27, 2008 03:50 PMErmes: Perhaps working through the Net. One finds much more information of superior quality to mainstream media. I feel the Net is the best tool YOU will find in opposing Berlusconi. Corporate News has simply become nothing more than propaganda machines for government over here and The Net is fast giving a run for the money.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at April 27, 2008 09:17 PMoh surely: internet is our only information.
Berlusconi also has a lot of newspapers or controls them by "friends"...
(And the newspapers cost 1 billion of euros a year: we pay the disinformation)..
Thanks for the answers and the comments in my blog (if are your)
;)
http://ilpopolosovrano.splinder.com/
