Pre-Conference: Politics as Usual
To say that Stan Wankey is up to his old tricks
again would be to imply that he gets paid. But by testing the
limits of academic freedom and the PATRIOT Act simultaneously,
he reminds us again that the trade in oil is not just bloody,
but bloody rough. And this time, the spiked collars were free
to take home. |
Strangely resembling a noted political figure,
this presenter spiked his satisfyingly acerbic presentation
with charts, graphs, and a satellite photo depicting the presidential
id as "a size and shape conducive to a massive Projection
complex." Interesting, but we're awaiting more analysis
before we commit to any aggressive treatment. |
Terrorists is people! |
It was always amazing to me how desperately dorky Rick Steves would always be met in Bern or Madrid by the "intensely personable Ingrid" or "the smolderingly lovely Monique" for a "private tour" of the city's "hidden treasures." But Wright may be right: the Super Skeezix wears better than the Craven Killer Cowboy, no matter how the East Germans may feel about the Marlboro Man. And Wright's free Europasses were a nice touch, as little good as they did us in the Great Desert Down Under. |
As descriptive philosophy it's as on target
as a smart bomb. But what he don't know can hurt us. Welcome
to the age of the Plutoniumocracy. |
Ever since Ronald Reagan, the line has been blurry,
but as the age of the Internet collapses back on the Republican
Revolution, and as teeny boppers steeped in "reality"
TV increasingly see no difference between NCIS and
the CBS News, we should be but little surprised that Bush's
favorite talking head should appear in grassroots neocon Harlequin.
Rumsfeld may know his own mind, though I doubt it. But no matter
how you slice the salami, Rummy's still no Fabio. Come
to think of it, neither is Fabio. |
The ultimate outsider has always been the Midwestern farmer. Unfortunately, he has also always been the only "real" American. To confuse matters, America's shift to the political right has put down-home politics into every home, welcome or not. Neurstate's notion of rebellion as "empowering normalcy" is astute but was overpowered by the Three Dog Night soundtrack and the Joad-level dust storm. Maybe next election cycle? |
To call it Faulkner's fault is to abuse the man's legacy, but Bellum and Compson's thesis has merit if the Dukes of Hazzard and the bizarrely successful careers of Bill Clinton and NASCAR are any indication. When is a Bubba not a Bubba? When he's the boss, dawg. |
SpankTank:
Gitmo and the International Politics of S/M
Bush's
Binary Mood: Peevishness and Truculence as the New World Bipolar
(Dis)Order
Soylent
Guantanamo: America Eats the World
Rick
Steves: America's Euronerd as Antipodian CounterBush,
or Europe Through the Back Door (Wink-Wink, Nudge-Nudge; Say
No More, Squire)
Ignorance
as Ontology: the Bush Doctrine Goes "Newkewler" 
Donald
Rumsfeld FanFic: the (Comp)Action of Politico-Celebrity and
the Rise of the Red State Romance
Outré
is OK! Mainstream Rebellion as Red State Motif
Little
Lord Faulkneroy: How the South Won the War for Literary Supremacy
and Inadvertently Created the NeoCon Aristocracy