NEWS FLASH: Muskogee, Oklahoma schools run by morons

From CNN: An 11-year-old Oklahoma girl has been suspended from a public school because officials said her Muslim head scarf violates dress code policies...

The stated reason is "to stem gang-related activity." I guess Muskogee must be having a lot of trouble with menacing gangs of 11-year-old Muslim schoolgirls. I wonder what kinds of problems they've been causing. Koran smuggling? Drive-by gossipping? Conspiracy to acquire an education?

Of course, this is the same benighted state where school officials in Broken Arrow recently filed suit against a student for allegedly "casting magic spells" at a teacher. And Duncanville, Texas, persists in thinking that "ejjikashun" consists of suspending straight-A students because their shirts aren't tucked in tightly enough to please some pinhead administrator who couldn't spell cat if you spotted him the "C" and the "A".

Anyone who judged Oklahoma and Texas by the quality of these public school administrators would conclude that H. L. Mencken was right to dismiss everything south and west of his beloved Baltimore as a "Sahara of the Bozart" populated solely by drooling, illiterate yokels. But it's worse than that. These so-called "schools" are using their inescapable, taxpayer-funded monopoly power over children, not to teach them how to be functioning, responsible, educated citizens, but to indoctrinate them into habitual, abject submissiveness to pompous administrative drones. Let's be honest. These aren't schools. They're madrassahs of mindless bureaucratic conformity.

(For further reading, in case anyone's interested: John Taylor Gatto's The Six Lesson Schoolteacher and Dumbing Us Down.)

Who, me?

The pseudonymous "Ms. Mentor", in her October 6 column in the Chronicle of Higher Education, advises students and academic bloggers to be "canny and pseudonymous" lest their blogs "hamper [their] chances of getting a job."

Gee, I wish I'd thought of that.... [grin]

Too good to be true?

While doing some (ahem) research on the webpage of the one, the only Joe Bob Briggs, I discovered that he'll be hosting movie night at the Alamo Drafthouse bar'n'theater during the 2003 Texas Book Festival in Austin. From their schedule for November 7 :

• TBF at the Movies
Midnight
Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, 409 Colorado St.
Books and film merge seamlessly at this soirée at the Alamo Drafthouse. Enjoy a Q&A with Festival author Joe Bob Briggs, followed by the screening of a film featured in his new movie Profoundly Disturbing:The Shocking Movies That Changed History.

One of you Texas-type folk better give me a report. Book fu, tacky movie fu, beer-and-nacho fu. Does it get any better than this?

Well, actually, it does. The famous Rock Bottom Remainders (or at least some of them) will be playing the Festival, too.

O, those wacky televangelists....

... what will they think of next?

This is the same fellow who, you might remember, has claimed that God steers hurricanes according to his directions, and that the September 11 attacks were acts of God because he was mad at homosexuals, abortionists, and the ACLU. (Pretty poor aim for an omniscient God, if you ask me. How many ACLU members work at the Pentagon?)

Then again, Hurricane Isabel just hit this guy's home town dead center. Maybe God's aim isn't so bad after all.

The world turned upside down

I've discovered further proof of the total chaos into which the world of American politics has fallen since 2001. In this column, published in the December 6, 2002 issue of the Texas Observer, Molly Ivins, the reigning doyenne of Texas liberalism (and yes, Virginia, there is such a thing), she of the perky smile and the razor-edged pen, actually said Nice Things about hardcore right-wingers such as Barry Goldwater, William Safire, and longtime Texas nemeses Dick Armey and Ron Paul. (Well, to be fair, she has been known to grudgingly acknowledge that Armey is at least more consistent than some other politicians. But only to call him consistently "mean".)

The uniting factor? Opposition to what Ms. Ivins rightfully calls "Total Information Creepiness", the same issue that has brought together habitual opponents like the National Rifle Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, et al.

More of Miss Molly's words of wit-n-wisdom can be found here. She's one of the few people who really understands the weird & wacky world of Texas politics. Too bad she's such a habitual lefty.

Miss Molly on Texas redistricting circa 1971:

In the process of screwing all the Speaker's enemies, the redistricters inadvertently screwed a few of his friends as well, one of whom was Rep. Bill Finck, a cigar manufacturer from San Antonio. Brother Finck rose to protest the butchering of his district. "Lookahere, Dell-win," he began plaintively. "Look at what y'all have done to my dis-strict. You have drawn a great big, ol' ball at the one end, then it runs in a little-bitty ol' strip for 300 miles, and then there's a great big ol' ball at the other end. The damn thing looks like a pair of dumbbells." Finck's voice rose in pain. "Now the courts say the districts have to be com-pact and con-tiguous. Is this your idea a com-pact and con-tiguous?".

Dell-win pondered deeply at the front mike. At last he replied, "Whale, in a artistic sense, it is...."

Bipartisan disgust

Judicial Watch first came to most people's attention by filing numerous lawsuits against the Clinton administration, alleging misuse of FBI files and other abuses. They're generally regarded as conservative in orientation. But that hasn't kept them from pursuing information about the Bush administration's secrecy and suspicious corporate ties. (Stories here, here, and here....)

As I said before, it's not just the usual liberal suspects who are getting tired of the Bush Administration's coverups and connections. Are those trees marching up the hill?

D'oh.

I've been absent from the blogiverse for the past couple of days. On Tuesday morning I realized to my horror and disgust that the standard letter I had used as the basis for virtually every cover letter I sent out in the past two months included a stupid, stupid error which needed to be corrected as soon as possible. (Bad form, old chap.) Two days, a ream of paper, and about $15.00 in postage later, I've managed to send out corrections for all the applications from October and September. Next, I get to go back and check the August letters to see if the same error lurked in them.

The Doctor regenerates again

Apparently the BBC has gotten over its recent aversion to science fiction. A September 26 announcement states that they will revive Doctor Who, but is somewhat vague about the timeline. I'm not quite sure what I think about Thursday's report, attributed to none other than Tom Baker, that "cross-dressing comedian Eddie Izzard will be the new Dr Who". Is fandom ready for a cross-dressing Doctor? Better than no Doctor at all, I guess.

If that proves too hard to enjoy, I can always look forward to the Blake's 7 miniseries announced back in July, and hope they don't stuff Paul Darrow into one of Jacqueline Pearce's old outfits.

Political ponderings

Am I the only one who finds it morbidly funny that the Bush Administration appears to think national security is so important it's necessary to destroy it in order to save it? Or, to be more accurate, in order to wreak petty personal vengeance on someone who criticizes the Bush Administration?

Unfortunately, this is a distinction which the Bushies seem incapable of perceiving. The whole Plame fiasco is further proof, in case anyone needs it, that this administration adheres to no principles whatsoever, conservative, nationalistic, or otherwise, save the Machiavellian lust for power at all costs.

I doubt that very many conservatives outside of the Bushies' own insular neo-conservative faction of Enron and Halliburton alumni will feel much inclination to defend them in the long run. Bush speechwriter David Frum's hysterical, chest-beating March 19 National Review article, "Unpatriotic Conservatives", in which, with rabid saliva practically flying in all directions, he furiously denounced libertarians, Patrick Buchanan, Robert Novak, Llewellyn Rockwell, Samuel Francis, Thomas Fleming, Scott McConnell, Justin Raimondo, Joe Sobran, Charley Reese, Jude Wanniski, Eric Margolis, Taki Theodoracopulos, and any other conservative who deviated from the War Party's dictates as "traitors" who "hate their country", pretty well ensured that.

From Frum's article: "War is a great clarifier. It forces people to take sides. The paleoconservatives have chosen — and the rest of us must choose too. In a time of danger, they have turned their backs on their country. Now we turn our backs on them."

He's right about one thing. These traditional conservatives and libertarians chose to follow their consciences at a time when it was politically dangerous to do so. (Novak, of course, has had several miraculous retroactive changes of heart after being threatened with the loss of White House favors and tipoffs.) But what they turned their backs on was the War Party's corrupt maneuvering and dishonest dealing, not "their country". As the Bush Administration begins floundering in the morass of its own corruption, it should expect no help from this quarter, any more than MacBeth could expect help from MacDuff or any of the other people he climbed over en route to his short-lived reign.

Of course, the favorite refuge of scoundrels is always an option. As the 2004 election approaches, perhaps the Administration will find it useful to once again manufacture a war.

(Note: For a less biased idea of what the much-vilified libertarians and paleoconservatives actually say and think, check out websites such as www.lewrockwell.com, www.antiwar.com, the Libertarian Party, or Buchanan's "The American Cause".)

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light....

It's good to read that the U.S. of A. still has one strong export: jobs.

Job Search Follies of 2003

It turns out that not only am I unable to compete with other job applicants, I'm unable to compete with an empty chair. "Westover" politely informs me that, rather than hire me, they've decided to leave the position vacant.

The grapes were probably sour, anyway.

No honkies need apply.

A pseudonymous writer in the Chronicle of Higher Education sadly bemoans the lack of suitable candidates for tenure-track positions at his unnamed college. What measures of suitability are they looking for?

From the article: "We won't discriminate, but let's be honest here, we were not looking for a white male Protestant...."

Let's try this on for size. How about "We won't discriminate, but let's be honest here, we were not looking for a woman." "We were not looking for a Mexican." "Not looking for a homosexual." Fill in the blank with whatever convenient label might happen to be attached to you, Dear Reader. See how it sounds.

And academics wonder why rational people accuse them of being quota-obsessed bigots. Perhaps this unnamed college would have better luck finding good hires if it actually looked at job-related qualifications.

Michigan wine laws declared unconstitutional

Bytes in Brief reports that the 6th Circuit Court has declared unconstitutional those portions of Michigan's wine-regulating regime which discriminate between in-state and out-of-state wineries. More details at FindLaw.

Earlier this year, there was a similar case in New York.

Perhaps there is hope yet for Carlos and others who pine for exotic vintages.

More on the "PATRIOT" Act

Ashcroft sez it's never been used to seek information from libraries. Hmm. That's odd, considering that in May the Justice Department acknowledged having contacted about 50 libraries as part of investigations.

I wonder where those 50 inquiries disappeared to between May and September. Down the memory hole? The rabbit hole? An oubliette in Guantanamo Bay?

Ig Nobel Prizes announced.

Yay. Research that "can not or should not be reproduced."

The "PATRIOT" Act:

It's not just for terrorists anymore!

But I thought the war was over.

After all, our esteemed President said so.

So what on earth is Riverbend writing about? Or Salam Pax? Or Moja?

You know, I have to remind myself from time to time that the situation could be worse. Instead of being out of work in a nation run by a cynical War Party that can't be bothered to pay attention to anyone outside its own little ideological clique, I could be living in the nation that it is paying attention to.

Thanks to Louise for the link to Riverbend's blog. Without it I never would have discovered this amusing search result.

Yet another librarian role model?

Tori Amos seems to have librarian fantasies. From an interview: "I've always said the songs are alive and I'm really a librarian. I admit I'm a well paid librarian with great shoes. (laughs) You have no idea how unglamorous it can be sometimes but if you think of me as a librarian from a different dimension, these are books that come to me in sonic form and I have to stay focused or I am manipulated."

Um.... right. It's nice that she's thinking of us, but are we really sure that's Tori talking, and not Delirium of the Endless?

Open Range

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to forgo a couple of the History Channel's back-to-back-to-back documentaries about the World Trade Center and see the only Kevin Costner movie in recent history to receive a positive review. Overall, I enjoyed it, despite the presence of a few annoying cliches. (At one point, so help me, one character tells another to "Rustle up some grub.")

The basic scenario of the film is a blend of two common western themes: (1) free-ranging cowboys clash with greedy, evil town boss, and (2) man with mysterious past must face down both an external evil and his own dubious background.

It's a truism of frontier history that many early settlers were simply people who couldn't get along with their neighbors in civilized territory. Many of them were on the run from the law, from inconvenient family obligations, or from creditors. In the American west in the late nineteenth century, the situation was further complicated by the social and psychological aftermath of the Civil War, and especially of the ruthless bushwhacking and banditry that characterized the frontier border states. After the war, hundreds of men, desensitized to violence, socially rootless, economically destitute, well-armed and trained to kill, were loosed on the frontier. Some became lawmen, some became outlaws, and some tried to forget it all. One such man is Charlie (Kevin Costner), who has taken refuge in an isolated existence herding cattle on the unclaimed open range in the employ of "Boss" Spearman (Robert Duvall).

Unfortunately for Charlie, the open range of unclaimed land upon which freelance cattlemen could graze their herds is giving way to the development of towns and the inevitable attendant political and economic power grabs. The open range is becoming more and more constricted by the demands of civilization, and free-ranger herders like Charlie and Boss are doomed to clash with those who want to enclose the commons as private property.

There's a romantic subplot, too, although it develops slowly and somewhat unobtrusively.

The scenery and cinematography in Open Range are gorgeous. The movie was filmed in Montana and/or western Canada, and unlike the arid landscape of John Ford's classic Monument Valley westerns, this land looks lush enough to be capable of growing salable cattle. It's land productive enough to be worth fighting over.

As one might suspect, there's a substantial amount of violence in the film. It's not glamorous. It's chaotic and brutal and ugly. Open Range, like many historians, attributes the effectiveness of the most "successful" killers to their sociopathic desensitization to killing, their ability to unhesitatingly murder others in the blink of an eye, seizing the initiative and then taking advantage of the resulting disorientation to further decimate, intimidate, and disorganize the enemy. At one point in the film, as a threatened showdown looms, Charlie matter-of-factly analyzes the opposing side's "soldiers", identifying which ones are likely to freeze up or react slowly, who's likely to panic or fire wildly, and who poses the greatest threat and thus must be pre-emptively eliminated. Such men have difficulty fitting into the world of rose-patterned teacups.

Interestingly, the townspeople in Open Range are not mere props who stand around like bystanders and conveniently disappear once the bullets start to fly; depending on the situation, they flee the town, hide, or shoot back with rifles and shotguns. When necessary, they drag bodies off the street and tend to the wounded.

Some aspects of the romantic subplot seem forced. It's hard to imagine that an attractive woman with no apparent prejudice against men, such as Annette Bening's character, would have remained single for very long on the frontier, given the unbalanced ratio of men to women. But it is refreshing to, for once, see a 40-something year old male lead slowly and haltingly develop a relationship with a believably 40-something woman, rather than promptly tumbling some 19-year-old sexpot. Bening is both authentically windworn and powerfully attractive in her role as an independent-minded and educated woman who quietly chafes against the social customs that keep her from achieving her ambitions, but has to live with them nonetheless. Just why she would be attracted to a borderline sociopath is not explained, but there's a nice teacup motif that helps ease things along.

Blooper alert: Be on the lookout for a close-up shot of a character standing next to a broken-down barbed wire fence which is totally absent from the long-angle shots immediately before and after. I felt sure that someone, sometime in the movie, was going to refer to the conflict between those who wanted to enclose land with barbed wire and those who wanted to move herds freely across it, but only this short blooper and one or two store signs in town even acknowledge the stuff. If there was a subplot here, most of it got left on the cutting-room floor. Perhaps Costner decided that portraying "good guys" Charlie and Boss vandalizing fences would cost them audience sympathy.

Rumors of the Winter King's approach

I awoke this morning to a city lightly frosted with snow. It's very pretty. It's also a harbinger of things to come, a casual flourish of the Winter King's sceptre betokening more of his icy attentions in the coming months.