WWI In Color
Joerg Colberg’s blog has a nice entry tracking down some of the few color photographs from WWI. Given the ahistorical mindset in the country, as well as the tendency to view war as an abstraction, such documentation can only contribute to the undeniability of “real live” conflict. (Link.) (image:...
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The Only Thing To Fear Is Fear Mongering Itself
It might be a little dated, but I wouldn’t have run it if it wasn’t (still) worth it. Besides the comic relief and, of course, the echo chamber of fear, what struck me was the truly devious way in which Laura Bush was deployed at the Republican Convention. This...
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More Bush Minus the Cue Cards
Here’s still another video clip on the Bush Debate performance. It appears on a site called howbushdidit. It probably runs about 5 minutes. At first, you think it’s a parody–like the DNC clip. However, it just keeps getting more painful and revealing. In most pieces like this, the editing...
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Bush/Satan ’04! (Or, three recommendations for the price of one)
I’m usually more judicious in picking out video clips, but I really couldn’t decide which of these I liked better. The first ad, ‘Fortunate Son’, from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), is the first I’ve seen that (finally!) targets Bush’s military record exclusively from the standpoint of privilege. I...
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F*** New York
Yeah, I’m not sure how this clip got away from me. Let me first admit, I’m far from schooled in hip hop. That said, I think this piece by some young white New Yorkers protesting the coming of the Republican convention is unusually sophisticated. It’s not hard, in the...
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“Pleasureboat Captains” Send “Swift Boat For Truth” Back To The Swamp
A few weeks ago, I posted a list of some of the funniest parodies of the campaign. I would ad this clip to the list. The “Pleasureboat Captains for Truth” are not only every bit as credible as those “Swift Boat for Truth” clowns, they’re much more entertaining. (This...
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Read My Lips — Chapter 2
Although it’s difficult to maintain the highest consistency four nights a week (and some of those Helms, Colbert, Bee pieces make me cringe), The Daily Show was in fine form last week at the RNC. If you’ve been following this blog, you know I’ve been carefully culling the internet...
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It’s a Bombshell, But Don’t Expect a Barnestorm Over It
(Spilling the Thirty Year Old Beans) Although the press never picked up on it, President Bush himself intimated (in his Meet the Press interview earlier this summer) that he used family strings to avoid the Vietnam draft. Now, former Texas lieutenant governor, Ben Barnes, has provided the smoking gun....
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Up in Arms
Playing off of the ‘Bush in 30 Seconds” contest, MoveOn is featuring a new video clip, created by leading directors and actors, each week until the election. Frankly, the more artistic campaign content I look at, the more I appreciate the problem of “creativity on demand.” The first piece,...
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RNC: The Case for Protest
This video, featuring members of the New York Civil Liberties Union, makes the case for public protest during the convention. It outlines the points of contention between police and specific activist groups; traces policing problems since 9/11; and (in the latter portion) provides a primer for conduct and profiles...
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Olympic Coverage: Gypsy Team Kicked Out
I’ve been looking at a number of sites focusing on the human cost of staging the Olympics. Story points include the covering up of so-called “unsightly buildings”, installation of the massive network of surveillance cameras, and the omnipresence of the “big brother” spy blimp. One of the most reasoned...
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“Give us your rich, your upper middle class, your trust fund babies yearning to spend their parents’ money on knock-off tribal jewelry sold by Indians on the side of the interstate.”
…So says the next Governor of Colorado. Afterall, why wouldn’t the rocky mountain state want a Pilager for Governor? On the other end of the subtlety scale from Crosby and Nash, this clever campaign website looks like the real deal. Until you read more closely. Riding the wave of...
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Will Ferrell “Pasturizes” Bush
If you’ve been following this blog, you know how rarely I use the term “hilarious.” This parody of a Bush campagn commercial, starring Will Ferrell, is featured at whitehousewest.com. This spoof site was created by ACT or Americans Coming Together. ACT claims to be creating the largest voter contact...
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A Little Further to the Right… A Little Further… A Little Bit More…. Good! You’re Perfect!
The chart above, from an Op-Ed piece in yesterday’s New York Times (here), shows where our presidential and vice-presidential candidates stand on the ideological continuum from liberal to conservative. Recently, on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart looked at how the media creates “conventional wisdom.” Generally, it seems, the strategy...
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Tired of Bush’s Strong Arm Tactics
Employing a clever interactive device to illustrate the case against President Bush, the website, 10reasonstostopbush.com, suggests we’ve been getting played by this administration. Give it a spin here. (link source: jillian. Her dailykos journal here.)
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George Walker Herbert Hoover: Same Old Song and Dance
As finalists in the “Best Animation” category of MoveOn.org “Bush in 30 Seconds” contest, Tom Neely and Greg Saunders have expanded their original web video into a seven minute short feature. The cartoon, “Brother Can You Spare A Job?”, based on the animation of the ’20’s and ’30’s, is...
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Big Up
From time to time, it is said that the rich white men who rule America live “in a bubble.” They must …if the gang that Ali G lined up for a second season of interviews still hasn’t figured out his shtik. This site has clips of two of the...
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If the Truth be Told
As part of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a photographic exhibition has been created to document the violence, murder and forced disappearance of approximately 60,000 Peruvians in the ’80s and ’90s. Temporarily housed in a crumbling mansion in the town of Chorrillos, the exhibition, titled Yuyanapaq (“To Remember”), has...
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