Apparently it's now winter in Knoxville. Temperatures have dropped by twenty degrees over the last few days, which, combined with the end of daylight savings time (or is it the beginning?), has stirred in me an insatiable desire to curl up on a couch and waste my days tending a fire. No such luck. Instead, I spent the morning with my dissertation director, trying to figure out how to get this thing started. The whole process is alternately terrifying and exciting. I'm actually anxious to get started.
One advantage of writing a blog is that friends forward really interesting links:
Like this one. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has compiled quotes from major news sources that neatly illustrate how official rhetoric shapes history. Here are two of the ten examples:
The chief U.N. weapons inspector ordered his monitors to leave Baghdad today after saying that Iraq had once again reneged on its promise to cooperate--a report that renewed the threat of U.S. and British airstrikes.
--AP, 12/16/98
Information on Iraq's programs has been spotty since Saddam expelled U.N. weapons inspectors in 1998.
--AP, 9/7/02
Immediately after submitting his report on Baghdad's noncompliance, Butler ordered his inspectors to leave Iraq.
--Los Angeles Times, 12/17/98
It is not known whether Iraq has rebuilt clandestine nuclear facilities since U.N. inspectors were forced out in 1998, but the report said the regime lacks nuclear material for a bomb and the capability to make weapons.
--Los Angeles Times, 9/10/02
And this one. Michael Moore's weekly postings are wonderful, particularly this open letter to Charleston Heston, which asks that he not attend a gun rally in Tucson just days after another shooting spree. Bowling for Columbine hasn't yet opened in Knoxville, but I'm itching to see it, particularly after reading my friend Doug's excellent review. And on a related note.
And, finally, let's hear it for the fine men and women of The Daily Show, who are once again providing the most entertaining and strangely honest coverage of election season. It probably isn't nearly as funny without Stephen Colbert's straight-laced delivery, but this bit from Monday night killed me. I'm not sure if I've ever heard a more succinct analysis of American soundbite politics.
Well, John, the great jousting tournament that is election day draws nigh. The prize? The building that you see behind me: Castle Congress. But which side shall prevail in this epic electoral tilt? Who shall control the future of Fortress America?
Will we be, as the Republicans desire, a nation of wealthy, heavily armed white men, befouling the air and water in a ceaseless quest for profit, beholden to no laws but those of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?
Or shall we, instead, embrace the Democrats' vision of a namby-pamby, quasi-socialist republic with an all homosexual army, flamboyantly defending a citizenry suckling at the foul teet of government wellfare?
The choice is yours, fair maiden America, for the name of this feudal system is Democracy. Back to thou, John.
Happy Halloween!
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