Décor

the height of arrogance

not to mention stupidity. Rudy's talking again. He won't have much of a legacy after 08 if he keeps this up.

via the politico:

Giuliani warns of 'new 9/11' if Dems win

By: Roger Simon
April 24, 2007 08:29 PM EST
Updated: April 24, 2007 11:20 PM EST

Republican presidential hopeful, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani responds to a question at a town hall meeting during a campaign stop at New England College in Henniker, N.H. Photo by AP

MANCHESTER, N.H. —- Rudy Giuliani said if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001.

But if a Republican is elected, he said, especially if it is him, terrorist attacks can be anticipated and stopped.

“If any Republican is elected president —- and I think obviously I would be the best at this —- we will remain on offense and will anticipate what [the terrorists] will do and try to stop them before they do it,” Giuliani said.

The former New York City mayor, currently leading in all national polls for the Republican nomination for president, said Tuesday night that America would ultimately defeat terrorism no matter which party gains the White House.

“But the question is how long will it take and how many casualties will we have?” Giuliani said. “If we are on defense [with a Democratic president], we will have more losses and it will go on longer.”

“I listen a little to the Democrats and if one of them gets elected, we are going on defense,” Giuliani continued. “We will wave the white flag on Iraq. We will cut back on the Patriot Act, electronic surveillance, interrogation and we will be back to our pre-Sept. 11 attitude of defense.”

He added: “The Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorist war against us.”

maybe spring

here's an idea

listen close.

i've found more interesting stuff looking backwards in the last few days than i have when trying to force myself to look ahead. it's all the same, but if you think you'll only find it one way, you won't find it, no matter how hard you look.

also, happy president's day. guess who will never have a coin all his own.

happening elsewhere

if you like the pictures more than the words, neither of which there have been very much of lately, you may want to look here from now on: quickstuff


(i'm kind of starting over)

hmm...

People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history.
  - Dan Quayle

downtown

i may be moving near here for work. i decided to get acquainted with the neighbor-
hood.

smiling. happy

i'm digging in the archives, in hopes of starting up again with something. unfortunately -- midterm elections aside -- i could've written this yesterday.

Date: Jun 4, 2004 11:12 AM

- Hide quoted text -

Last night, I was reminded why I'm so fascinated and frustrated by
politics, the media, and the way things work in this country today.

I was watching "Journeys with George", and HBO film by Alexandra
Pelosi, daugther of the house minority leader Nancy Pelosi, one-time
NBC news producer, and a woman with a freakish devotion to the color
purple, in all manner of dress, accessories, and nail polish.

[sidebar: she is not alone in this personal habit, however. next to
me lives the woman referred to by fellow neighbors as "the green
lady", who ups the ante by wearing ONLY green. everything. even her
hair.]

colors aside, pelosi is really shrewd and funny, and her strangely
wonderful documentary about the rise of our current monkey president
is well worth a screening. as a member of the press corps assigned to
the bush primary campaign, and his subsequent battle with gore leading
up to the recount, she basically captures life on the trail -- that of
the candidate, and that of those journalists obliged to follow bush
from diner to bowling alley to stump speech.

all in the film are far more candid and unguarded than you'd think
they ever be capable of [bush eating cheese doodles while talking with
his mouth open? yep. joining the press party to have a buckler's beer?
yep], perhaps because no one at the time thought her little project
would turn into much.

watching it, i was reminded of something that's often easy to forget,
that bush is far more clever and charming than most people would like
to believe. these are qualities that are alluring in the people we
often find ourselves attracted to, and it's clear that he exerts a
kind of magnetism on those around him. they're drawn to something,
even if they don't know what it is. clever, of course, is different
than thoughtful or intellectual.

and that said, he's still a fucking idiot. a dangerous, fucking idiot.

there's a scene near the end of the film, and near the end of the
campaign, where pelosi corners one of bush's advisors, who's just
beaming dury a rally of the party faithful. she asks him why he can't
stop smiling, and he replies that bush makes people happy. and he'll
make the whole country happy. and won't it be so nice to see people
smiling. just imagine people walking down the streets of new york.
smiling. happy.

and my mind fast-forwards, post-election, post-recount, post-9/11.
and i think how firmly convinced they all were then, and are now.. and
i think how nothing could be further from the truth. and i just
shudder.


--
Posted by Timothy to on a trifle at 6/4/2004 12:12:46 PM

about damn time [even drudge picks a better picture]

slightly better, anyway... here's to better times.


HERE COME THE DEMOCRATS!

about time

ABC MAP...


HERE COME THE DEMOCRATS!

if i had a better camera

this picture from the times [by barton silverman] had me remember an intentionally [or necessarily?] blurry zoomed shot from the yanks a few weeks ago [it's below].

funny how something can be just sharp enough to pull you back.

oh, completely unrelated... i'm reading a sports blog these days. no, i can't believe it either. go check out what a classical southern education can do to liven up the New York Sports Page of the most expensive pinstripes in baseball.

take me out to the something

out of towners in this weekend. it's funny how you look at a city you know so well - or think you do - when you have another reason to share it.

Not a bad life at all

from the NYT
May 16, 2006

Stanley Kunitz, Poet Laureate, Dies at 100

By CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT

Stanley Kunitz, who was one of the most acclaimed and durable American poets of the last century and who, at age 95, was named poet laureate of the United States, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 100 and also had a home in Provincetown, Mass.

Mr. Kunitz wrote slowly, usually on an old manual typewriter, sometimes holding on to a poem for years before letting it go. He preferred to work at night, perhaps reflecting the restless nights he endured as a child. He insisted that the secret to his longevity was his attitude: "I'm curious," he told People. "I'm active. I garden and I write and I drink martinis."

In an interview in The New York Times last year, he said he had become reconciled to death and gave little thought to his legacy. "Immortality?" he said, "It's not anything I'd lose sleep over."

Of his work, he told People: "The deepest thing I know is that I am living and dying at once, and my conviction is to report that self-dialogue."

In the concluding stanza of "The Long Boat" he wrote:

Peace! Peace!
To be rocked by the Infinite!
As if it didn't matter
which way was home;
as if he didn't know
he loved the earth so much
he wanted to stay forever.

None Shall Pass

(without prominent display of pre-approved lobster bibs)

springtime's coming

actually, i guess it's nearly summer, but whatever. back are the days when you can see the following things in just a few hours time. i'm glad.

hey you. yeah, you.

where's isaac?

a meandering return to red hook this weekend, seeing familiar things, seeing new things, and seeing a ocean liner the size of a skyscraper unload some very confused europeans in brooklyn.