I've been reading for some time, both blog and comments, and have decided that I am too often replying in my own head and should probably take to the keyboard now and then.
But the first comment among established commenters can be an awkward thing! So I thought I'd use an open thread to just say: Hey, I'm about to de-lurk. I like this place a lot.
Congratulations on de-lurking! I'm a big fan of TNC's posts and the comments, too, and this place is quickly becoming my go-to political/current events blog. But I'm still not brave enough to comment most days,So many people here are articulate and thoughtful about what's going on--I just have to take it all in.
I posted something on this yesterday in the Open Thread. It's really insulting and stupid. Of course, I'm starting to read/hear all the contrary voices actually accusing the people taking offense of being racist for associating the characters with black stereotypes. Sigh.
I think there's a certain type of sterotypical racism in some science fiction and fantasy. I'm thinking primarily of Barret in FF7. I'm not sure why, but it's definitely there.
I know a lot of white folks who have been following this are now very scared of getting it wrong, of being called out on their internalized, unsuspected racism by the scary PoC. And all I can say to you is — this stuff is hard, and with the best of intentions, you will get it wrong sometimes. I do too. That sucks, but racism is a huge, painful, intractable problem deeply embedded in our society, so it’s not surprising that the fix isn’t going to be easy. But the answer is never going to come from white folks or people of color sitting back on their hands and refusing to participate in the discussion. Come on in and talk about it. We’ll figure this out together.
I'll let the AP speak on it until I think up something more cogent after lecture.
Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact Chevys, constantly brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They're forced to acknowledge that they can't read. One has a gold tooth.[...]Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman said they followed Bay's lead in creating the twins. Still, the characters serve no real purpose in the story, and when the action gets serious, they disappear entirely, notes Tasha Robinson, associate entertainment editor at The Onion.
"They don't really have any positive effect on the film," she said. "They only exist to talk in bad ebonics, beat each other up and talk about how stupid each other is." Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues
The scene about them not being able to read is really a killer, I literally looked around the theater to see if anyone else noticed.
(it was dark, that was pointless :P)
Wow. Nice. I hate how the sheer cluelessness of people in power -- be in politics, culture, media, whatever -- always come around to astound me again. You would think that people might have taken note of, oh, I don't know, that whole Jar-Jar Binks episode a few years back?
Well, I'd like to introduce you all to one of my favorite writers, and one of best film essayists around. His name is Walter Chaw. Here's his review of Transformers 2 (electric boogaloo).
Man, I haven't seen it yet, but everything I'm hearing is bumming me out. I think it's pretty clear that Michael Bay is a culturally ignorant, sexist, juvenile douche...but is that douchery so great that it ruins the movie?
That's a loaded question isn't it? HRMM.
The wife has already said she won't see it, but I still have to, the inner geek demands it. He must be fed a steady diet of giant robots smashing stuff. Will the coming meal make him sick though... I guess that's the question.
I switched off Transformers I right about the time the "black" robot did a headspin. It was so corny I couldn't take it. Why couldn't they just be robots like the cartoon?
Godawful movie and I feel bad for the kids who never got to see the cartoon before that peice of computer animated crap.
Thanks everyone! I feel I have managed to thread-jack on my first dip into the pool, though, so here's a thing I've been thinking about, from recent posts: The limitations of idolization.
Before TNC's post, I had never read any of the contents of those FBI tapes from Dr. King's hotel rooms. And I was frankly surprised by how taken aback I was. I knew he had betrayed his wife, I knew he wasn't perfect, but he has been one of my two or three people I have held as heroes in my entire life, because some things matter more than others. "I am not a Negro tonight," though. Man. That hit me. And I'm white. I don't know why it hit me, but it did. I guess I want to believe that our heroes, even in their imperfection, are able to consistently hold on to the thread of their finest self. Even -- maybe especially -- in those moments when humans are in their id.
Yeah, it hit me too. But you gotta cut him slack. People say the weirdest shit in bed. Commenter Lcrawfty, who's a white woman, had a hilarious response. She was talking about what the woman must have been thinking, and said she could see her saying, "What is his problem? I shoulda picked Malcolm."
Um, holy crap. Hi? Kind of daunting for my first day of commenting! But I digress into fangirldom....
I know, I mean - I say weird shit in bed. But then, I'm not idolizing myself! And I can also sort of see how "I am not a Negro" can mean all kinds of things that I can only begin to grasp, not least: Tonight I'm not forced into that role that so much of the world still puts me in, even though I really am who I really am. I mean "Negro" as a signifier of a social position, rather than a statement of self-pride. Or maybe I'm thinking too much. Which wouldn't be a first.
LCrawfty is a white woman? (like me). Wow, see, I never would have guessed that! I was picturing her as a late thirties black guy. That is one of the things I love about this blog.
Okay - now I have to go back to trying to get my jaw back off the floor after the Governor's press conference.
Laughing my head off. At least in bed you still want to stay black? White men should be shouting "I am Negreo tonight" while fucking. And we can all see Malcolm at it: "I'm going to ... you. By an means necessary". Or "What's my name?"
From what I can gather - Malcolm screwed his brains out with white women when he was younger and later went back to black. MLK went the other way?
The most frustrating thing for me about that situation is how ignorant people like to think those few moments somehow invalidate everything he accomplished.
WTF?
Get me a robed up paragon of virtue, some nosey-ass FBI agents and some of that new-fangled spy tech that can snoop your everything and I guarantee you we can get some nice muddy spots on that crystal clean robe.
I think it all comes down to historical narrative, really. Those comments (and the accusations of plagiarism) would put a damper on his importance to the Civil Rights movement. Collectively, we made an important and wise decision not to let King's faults define him.
We need heroes, and unlike fiction, we can't just make them up, exactly. King's perception doesn't include his infidelity because he's an important character in a story. However, IMO, life almost never follows a narrative, we just project one on to it.
I didn't comment on that thread, but I definitely thought about it.
The only thing that disturbs me about those tapes of Dr. King is the invasion of his privacy.
And perhaps there is some point to be made about idolization, because we are all subject to human failings. Maybe what is needed here is some differentiation between extraordinary accomplishment and sainthood.
I grew up in the civil rights era, and I can't watch film clips of Dr. King or even think about him without tears in my eyes. But this is not about idolizing him or worshiping him, because I have never needed to look back through that long tunnel of time to understand what he accomplished. I understood it in real time and I was just a little kid. That is how profound it was, there in the deep south, witnessing history.
So now, having the advantage of that telescopic lens, we can all see a man who was a visionary leader who knew his exact moment in history, and his accomplishments are crystal clear, but he was as human as anyone else.
I'm amazed that such extreme callousness exists among rulers in a "modern" nation - most particularly in the face of the technology & open-source "coverage" onslaught.
They still think they can cover it up - but who's buying anymore? Maybe the various "official" & MS media outlets around the world but, come on - who do the people really believe - other people just like them, or a bunch of talking heads?
I think this is what Obama is getting at by saying "the world is watching." Iran really seemed to be trying to give the impression to the Middle East that they were really advanced, almost Israel's exact counterpart. By pulling this stuff, they've really set themselves back.
They're screwing themselves by overreacting. Islamists always overreach. This particular uprising may fail, since the state has the most guns, but this is the beginning of the end for them, because it's no longer about electoral fraud. They've put the lie to their whole system of government, this faux Islamic Republic where even a sham election for a second-fiddle seat of power well below a mullah-chosen Divine Leader For Life must be fixed and any dissent must be murderously cracked down upon. A couple of those videos Sullivan posted are so awesome. I despise any of the violence going on and I wish they'd hash it out honorably, as unlikely as that is, but still, it's a thrill to see police-state thugs running for their lives.
Just wanted to come out of lurk mode and say hello to everyone. I usually listen more than I talk, so I've been having alot of fun. I can't say that I'll dive right in all the time, but I'm looking forward to participating more. :-)
Also -- USA v. Spain in the Confederations Cup, today at 2:30 ET. I'm at work but I think ESPN2 is replaying it at 11 PM tonight. (for those of you who can do this, you can probably also catch it on rojadirecta.com live.) Spain is the best team in the world, basically, but I think the US will play well against them. I'm a bit afraid of ref bias. I didn't see the games we played against Italy and Brazil but we were a man down for the majority of both games. Well let me not throw accusations out there, I'm just saying, after World Cup '06... But regardless, we're looking good after that Egypt game. Anyway -- GO USA!!!
hey Sv, check out ESPN 360 if you can, the stream is normally very good. I watched all Champions' League matches at work, unfortunately including watching Barca knock out Chelsea...anyway, depending on your ISP, it'll probably be on there live.
Spain's just too good right now. If they had Iniesta, we'd be totally screwed. The US are going to have to catch something lucky on Pique, or maybe when Puyol and Busquets get forward. Otherwise, I don't see it happening, I have a feeling Villa and Torres are going to be scoring for fun.
But yeah, in '06 that Italy match was ridiculous officiating. Especially considering that Italy just had the Serie A match fixing controversy.
I didn't see Italy, but let me tell you, being a man down had no effect on the Brazil game. They were just too damned good, hell they were down 2-0 before the 20th minute. It will be a good test though, Spain is awfully loaded, The Gooch and Bocanegro are going to have their hands full with David Villa and Torres.
Since their is not alot of soccer talk on this here blog, I gotta say, what's up with Real Madrid??? They are now after Ribery, yikes they are loading up. I was feeling down about soccer until the Confed. Cup. I decided this past year I was going to support a team in the English Premier Lg. After days of soul searching and research, I decide to join the Toon Army and follow Newcastle United. And they promptly got relegated. So, needless to say I have beened bummed out on all things soccer. But, thanks to the US for getting the bug going again.
I hear you about Real Madrid, although between Kaka, Ronaldo, Ribery, Robben(one of the most underatted players in Europe), Sneijder, and Raul...they sure can kick that one ball around to each other. Look at how Barca beat Man U, they just killed them with possesion. But it will be interesting to see if they can make it all work. By the way, I hear Chelsea is going after Pato hard, that kid is something else!
I'd be happy if we just got Pato and that was the end of it. The guy is a one man 19 year old army. Milan have reportedly rejected the first bid (I'm guessing in the range of 35mil). We should just throw up 45mil and Drogba.
Other than that, I'm curious to see where Sneijder ends up. I'm a huge fan, and I'd be happy if Chelsea took him off their hands.
Thanks Dan W - I don't think I can get away w/ watching a whole feed at work like that, and I'd rather catch it at home, if i can, anyway.
also don't you have to pay for ESPN 360 unless you have Verizon Cable/IP, or something? not sure if that's what you were getting at by saying "depending on your ISP" but that is what i heard from a friend.
anyway.. i saw parts of the US-Italy game, not the whole thing, and i actually thought the US played very well. (I wish I had seen the US-Egypt game.) I don't really hold out much hope of us beating Spain (don't they also have a whole bunch of Barca players?), but I think they will surprise people, maybe even score a goal.
I don't follow much league soccer. My friends and I, being that we live up around here, are Red Bull NY fans. Worse than being a Jets fan, let me tell you. getting to the final game in MLS last year *was* really awesome, though. I think I heard about Real loading up...
haha yeah, watching the whole stream can be tricky. I've never had to pay for 360--it doesn't work for me at home with Comcast, but it did when I was in college and and my workplace, not sure what type of ISP they have.
Howard is qaulity. He may be a deciding factor in my supporting Everton this coming year...or at least until my Magpies can get back in the EPL...fucking Kinear, ugh!!!
wow - Sanford's presser was awesommmeeeeeeeee! I wouldn't have been more shocked if he came out and said he liked wearing the gimp masks with the zippered mouth. Talk about a confession...just sort of spilled his guts. I give him credit for fessin up, but deduct a million DKP for being a cheating D'bag and ditching his kids for some strange on Father's Day...wtg Gov GG
wow....that was unexpectedly expected.....affair? sure, but bouncing to Argentina and not expecting people to ask where....wow...he upped the game, who can top that?
That was Tee Vee at its very best! I loved how he rambled for about ten minutes before he finally came out and said he was meeting a hottie in Argentina. And the tears. And the almost tears. It was truly dramatic.
I thought that
this article needs consideration for those interested. It's about a certain group of evengelical chaplains in the military. Now it doesn't square entirely with my personal experience but it is interesting.
yep sad to but Manifest Destiny is alive and well and (still) going global, unlikely that there is a growing connection between the military and evangelical christianism probably just more dissent and press coverage of it, Duke prof. St.Haeurwas(sp?) has been writing for years about the dangers of Constantinian/Empire/christianity/nationalism and making a moral case that pacifism is central to being faithful to Jesus and contrary to marriages of church and state but not many takers left right or center for this kind of turn the other cheek love the enemy style religion, Onward Christian soldiers?
where/when do you see the break between the christianists and the military happening? seems like christianizing the pagans rhetoric/justification goes right from the colonialist/Indian/Native wars through the cold war into the neo-con war on "facist-Islam", hard to imagine our current army without the Southern Baptist Convention(the twisted history of racism, Empire, and missionaries is a whole other bit of nastiness, just listen to comtemporary right-wing pols talking up the need for the world-wide freedom of religious expression), it's not an accident that the megachurches and our military bases have a high degree of 'positional correspondence', so to speak, again no conspiracy theories just a mutually benefical relationship of means-ends.
This is experience and anecdote talking not statistics or research so take it with a grain of salt.
In many ways the U.S. Military is the most tolerant section of our society. At least as an institution. Religiously, all creeds are tolerated and given space to function. Personaly I've seen a muslim chaplain's assistant help oficiate at an episcopalian service. The base chaplain on Doha when I was there in 2002 was a Rabbi. Coming from a relatively Christian tradition with strong Indian Roots --the crow have traditional songs written around the turn of the century in Absalooke (absalaaka)-- the first real contact I had with people of other faiths was in the service. I know personal experience doesn't count for everything, but I know that most chaplains I have seen operate take great pains to be universalist, and understanding when it comes to religious preferences. Again during my deployment the Company Chaplain not only held services every day for those who wanted to come but helped a wiccan soldier to obtain the things needed to set up an altar.
I rember watching a book tv interview with someone --who was I think-- the former head of navy chaplains who was a rabbi, and he recounts a story where he flew out to a carrier to preform a service for a few sailors. While there he had a discussion with the muslim sailors oboard to resolve an issue with the cooks who had been ignorantly cooking the sausage first thing in the morning. Needless to say the sailors were tired of eating cold cereal and they opted to speak with the rabbi because they knew he would understand.
On the whole I don't know how much creedence I put in the intolerance of evengelical chaplains in the military. The issue derserves further study, but I know from personal experience that eveyone is a soldier first.
glad to hear that you were treated well and that there is growing respect for differences in services, i'm sure that in the field being a soldier first is the rule that people live by, but through my work with vets-VA's in NY,CA,KS, and now in TN, I have known many chaplains, and officers/enlisted folks, like the ones in the report and as I mentioned the history of missionaries and our military is a longstanding one which was the other aspect of the article that you linked, you may be interested to look into some of the theologians working at right-wing thinktanks and of course the whole don't ask don't tell fiasco, well that's more than enough for this poor "noontime" thread and paperwork calls, a pleasure as always.
Here's a piece no one cared about. Meh, whatever, probably the most enjoyable article I did during my stint at TIME. Premiered a month before I got laid-off. The nail in the coffin? Ya think?
Here's me going after Al. I didn't so much have a problem with him, as I had a problem with media acting like this dude was the go-to guy for everything black.
This was my first real story at time. I was writing for the Business section, a real change of direction for me. At any rate, it's about Wal-Mart's attempts to colonize the inner-city. As much as I enjoyed this piece, I mostly enjoyed going out to Chicago, which is a beautiful, beautiful city.
This a piece I did about the cops just outside our nation capitol, in Prince George's County, a few years back. I wanted to offer a counter to the dumb, conventional wisdom that if you paint your police force black, you could eradicate police brutality. In fact, Prince George's--one of the richest, blackest counties in the country--also had one of the most brutal police force's in the country.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
I've been reading for some time, both blog and comments, and have decided that I am too often replying in my own head and should probably take to the keyboard now and then.
But the first comment among established commenters can be an awkward thing! So I thought I'd use an open thread to just say: Hey, I'm about to de-lurk. I like this place a lot.
:)
Welcome. Grab a cup of coffee, there's beer in the fridge, but don't put your sneakers on TNC's couch. :)
meant to reply to elaesther.
No beer for me? What beer would be in the Atlantic's fridge, I wonder...
If I ruled the world there'd be beer for everyone.
What's in the Atlantic's fridge? Now that's a deep philosophical question. Pabst?
I made the similar plunge not too long ago. Welcome!
Congratulations on de-lurking! I'm a big fan of TNC's posts and the comments, too, and this place is quickly becoming my go-to political/current events blog. But I'm still not brave enough to comment most days,So many people here are articulate and thoughtful about what's going on--I just have to take it all in.
And clearly I'm still figuring out how to use the Reply button, too.
I don't know if I'm just bringing up froth, but did anyone see that new Transformers yet?
I mean I give the technical team all the credit in the for making this a very entertaining film.
Though it was also remarkably brain-dead, I shudder to think what future scholars might think of our society were that to be dredged up.
...but the stupid I can stand, hey it's summer I I like popcorn as much as the next guy.
...Why did I we have to crank the racism knob up so many notches from the last movie? Wasn't "Jazz" enough for them?
I feel sorry for people who took their kids (well on at least two levels really) but especially black parents.
It really was a slap in the face.
I posted something on this yesterday in the Open Thread. It's really insulting and stupid. Of course, I'm starting to read/hear all the contrary voices actually accusing the people taking offense of being racist for associating the characters with black stereotypes. Sigh.
I think there's a certain type of sterotypical racism in some science fiction and fantasy. I'm thinking primarily of Barret in FF7. I'm not sure why, but it's definitely there.
You might find this educational.
The Final Fantasy games are doubly complicated because they're produced in Japan, which has it own set of issues and stereotypes.
Thanks persia.
Always a pleasure.
I thought this was especially poignant.
I know a lot of white folks who have been following this are now very scared of getting it wrong, of being called out on their internalized, unsuspected racism by the scary PoC. And all I can say to you is — this stuff is hard, and with the best of intentions, you will get it wrong sometimes. I do too. That sucks, but racism is a huge, painful, intractable problem deeply embedded in our society, so it’s not surprising that the fix isn’t going to be easy. But the answer is never going to come from white folks or people of color sitting back on their hands and refusing to participate in the discussion. Come on in and talk about it. We’ll figure this out together.
How so? I haven't seen it and I really don't intend to, so if you don't tell me, I'll never know!
Yesterday's thread has a link. Basically there are two jive-talking, monkey-looking bots. And...yeah.
I'll let the AP speak on it until I think up something more cogent after lecture.
"They don't really have any positive effect on the film," she said. "They only exist to talk in bad ebonics, beat each other up and talk about how stupid each other is."
Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues
The scene about them not being able to read is really a killer, I literally looked around the theater to see if anyone else noticed.
(it was dark, that was pointless :P)
Wow. Nice. I hate how the sheer cluelessness of people in power -- be in politics, culture, media, whatever -- always come around to astound me again. You would think that people might have taken note of, oh, I don't know, that whole Jar-Jar Binks episode a few years back?
Well, I'd like to introduce you all to one of my favorite writers, and one of best film essayists around. His name is Walter Chaw. Here's his review of Transformers 2 (electric boogaloo).
Man, I haven't seen it yet, but everything I'm hearing is bumming me out. I think it's pretty clear that Michael Bay is a culturally ignorant, sexist, juvenile douche...but is that douchery so great that it ruins the movie?
That's a loaded question isn't it? HRMM.
The wife has already said she won't see it, but I still have to, the inner geek demands it. He must be fed a steady diet of giant robots smashing stuff. Will the coming meal make him sick though... I guess that's the question.
I switched off Transformers I right about the time the "black" robot did a headspin. It was so corny I couldn't take it. Why couldn't they just be robots like the cartoon?
Godawful movie and I feel bad for the kids who never got to see the cartoon before that peice of computer animated crap.
Thanks everyone! I feel I have managed to thread-jack on my first dip into the pool, though, so here's a thing I've been thinking about, from recent posts: The limitations of idolization.
Before TNC's post, I had never read any of the contents of those FBI tapes from Dr. King's hotel rooms. And I was frankly surprised by how taken aback I was. I knew he had betrayed his wife, I knew he wasn't perfect, but he has been one of my two or three people I have held as heroes in my entire life, because some things matter more than others. "I am not a Negro tonight," though. Man. That hit me. And I'm white. I don't know why it hit me, but it did. I guess I want to believe that our heroes, even in their imperfection, are able to consistently hold on to the thread of their finest self. Even -- maybe especially -- in those moments when humans are in their id.
Yeah, it hit me too. But you gotta cut him slack. People say the weirdest shit in bed. Commenter Lcrawfty, who's a white woman, had a hilarious response. She was talking about what the woman must have been thinking, and said she could see her saying, "What is his problem? I shoulda picked Malcolm."
Sorry. Not very PC. But I thought it was funny.
Um, holy crap. Hi? Kind of daunting for my first day of commenting! But I digress into fangirldom....
I know, I mean - I say weird shit in bed. But then, I'm not idolizing myself! And I can also sort of see how "I am not a Negro" can mean all kinds of things that I can only begin to grasp, not least: Tonight I'm not forced into that role that so much of the world still puts me in, even though I really am who I really am. I mean "Negro" as a signifier of a social position, rather than a statement of self-pride. Or maybe I'm thinking too much. Which wouldn't be a first.
No conclusions drawn, still thinking.
LCrawfty is a white woman? (like me). Wow, see, I never would have guessed that! I was picturing her as a late thirties black guy. That is one of the things I love about this blog.
Okay - now I have to go back to trying to get my jaw back off the floor after the Governor's press conference.
Laughing my head off. At least in bed you still want to stay black? White men should be shouting "I am Negreo tonight" while fucking. And we can all see Malcolm at it: "I'm going to ... you. By an means necessary". Or "What's my name?"
From what I can gather - Malcolm screwed his brains out with white women when he was younger and later went back to black. MLK went the other way?
The most frustrating thing for me about that situation is how ignorant people like to think those few moments somehow invalidate everything he accomplished.
WTF?
Get me a robed up paragon of virtue, some nosey-ass FBI agents and some of that new-fangled spy tech that can snoop your everything and I guarantee you we can get some nice muddy spots on that crystal clean robe.
I think it all comes down to historical narrative, really. Those comments (and the accusations of plagiarism) would put a damper on his importance to the Civil Rights movement. Collectively, we made an important and wise decision not to let King's faults define him.
We need heroes, and unlike fiction, we can't just make them up, exactly. King's perception doesn't include his infidelity because he's an important character in a story. However, IMO, life almost never follows a narrative, we just project one on to it.
I didn't comment on that thread, but I definitely thought about it.
The only thing that disturbs me about those tapes of Dr. King is the invasion of his privacy.
And perhaps there is some point to be made about idolization, because we are all subject to human failings. Maybe what is needed here is some differentiation between extraordinary accomplishment and sainthood.
I grew up in the civil rights era, and I can't watch film clips of Dr. King or even think about him without tears in my eyes. But this is not about idolizing him or worshiping him, because I have never needed to look back through that long tunnel of time to understand what he accomplished. I understood it in real time and I was just a little kid. That is how profound it was, there in the deep south, witnessing history.
So now, having the advantage of that telescopic lens, we can all see a man who was a visionary leader who knew his exact moment in history, and his accomplishments are crystal clear, but he was as human as anyone else.
The stuff out of Iran is breaking my heart.
I'm amazed that such extreme callousness exists among rulers in a "modern" nation - most particularly in the face of the technology & open-source "coverage" onslaught.
They still think they can cover it up - but who's buying anymore? Maybe the various "official" & MS media outlets around the world but, come on - who do the people really believe - other people just like them, or a bunch of talking heads?
No secrets anymore motherfuckers!
/that's all for the moment. SIGH.
I think this is what Obama is getting at by saying "the world is watching." Iran really seemed to be trying to give the impression to the Middle East that they were really advanced, almost Israel's exact counterpart. By pulling this stuff, they've really set themselves back.
They're screwing themselves by overreacting. Islamists always overreach. This particular uprising may fail, since the state has the most guns, but this is the beginning of the end for them, because it's no longer about electoral fraud. They've put the lie to their whole system of government, this faux Islamic Republic where even a sham election for a second-fiddle seat of power well below a mullah-chosen Divine Leader For Life must be fixed and any dissent must be murderously cracked down upon. A couple of those videos Sullivan posted are so awesome. I despise any of the violence going on and I wish they'd hash it out honorably, as unlikely as that is, but still, it's a thrill to see police-state thugs running for their lives.
Hear-hear!
Just wanted to come out of lurk mode and say hello to everyone. I usually listen more than I talk, so I've been having alot of fun. I can't say that I'll dive right in all the time, but I'm looking forward to participating more. :-)
Hello!
Also -- USA v. Spain in the Confederations Cup, today at 2:30 ET. I'm at work but I think ESPN2 is replaying it at 11 PM tonight. (for those of you who can do this, you can probably also catch it on rojadirecta.com live.) Spain is the best team in the world, basically, but I think the US will play well against them. I'm a bit afraid of ref bias. I didn't see the games we played against Italy and Brazil but we were a man down for the majority of both games. Well let me not throw accusations out there, I'm just saying, after World Cup '06... But regardless, we're looking good after that Egypt game. Anyway -- GO USA!!!
hey Sv, check out ESPN 360 if you can, the stream is normally very good. I watched all Champions' League matches at work, unfortunately including watching Barca knock out Chelsea...anyway, depending on your ISP, it'll probably be on there live.
Spain's just too good right now. If they had Iniesta, we'd be totally screwed. The US are going to have to catch something lucky on Pique, or maybe when Puyol and Busquets get forward. Otherwise, I don't see it happening, I have a feeling Villa and Torres are going to be scoring for fun.
But yeah, in '06 that Italy match was ridiculous officiating. Especially considering that Italy just had the Serie A match fixing controversy.
I didn't see Italy, but let me tell you, being a man down had no effect on the Brazil game. They were just too damned good, hell they were down 2-0 before the 20th minute. It will be a good test though, Spain is awfully loaded, The Gooch and Bocanegro are going to have their hands full with David Villa and Torres.
Since their is not alot of soccer talk on this here blog, I gotta say, what's up with Real Madrid??? They are now after Ribery, yikes they are loading up. I was feeling down about soccer until the Confed. Cup. I decided this past year I was going to support a team in the English Premier Lg. After days of soul searching and research, I decide to join the Toon Army and follow Newcastle United. And they promptly got relegated. So, needless to say I have beened bummed out on all things soccer. But, thanks to the US for getting the bug going again.
haha, sorry about Newcastle. Madrid are pretty weak at the back 4 though, so they can have Ribery for all I care. There's only one ball on the pitch.
Yeah don't get me started on The Tooon...
I hear you about Real Madrid, although between Kaka, Ronaldo, Ribery, Robben(one of the most underatted players in Europe), Sneijder, and Raul...they sure can kick that one ball around to each other. Look at how Barca beat Man U, they just killed them with possesion. But it will be interesting to see if they can make it all work. By the way, I hear Chelsea is going after Pato hard, that kid is something else!
I'd be happy if we just got Pato and that was the end of it. The guy is a one man 19 year old army. Milan have reportedly rejected the first bid (I'm guessing in the range of 35mil). We should just throw up 45mil and Drogba.
Other than that, I'm curious to see where Sneijder ends up. I'm a huge fan, and I'd be happy if Chelsea took him off their hands.
Thanks Dan W - I don't think I can get away w/ watching a whole feed at work like that, and I'd rather catch it at home, if i can, anyway.
also don't you have to pay for ESPN 360 unless you have Verizon Cable/IP, or something? not sure if that's what you were getting at by saying "depending on your ISP" but that is what i heard from a friend.
anyway.. i saw parts of the US-Italy game, not the whole thing, and i actually thought the US played very well. (I wish I had seen the US-Egypt game.) I don't really hold out much hope of us beating Spain (don't they also have a whole bunch of Barca players?), but I think they will surprise people, maybe even score a goal.
I don't follow much league soccer. My friends and I, being that we live up around here, are Red Bull NY fans. Worse than being a Jets fan, let me tell you. getting to the final game in MLS last year *was* really awesome, though. I think I heard about Real loading up...
haha yeah, watching the whole stream can be tricky. I've never had to pay for 360--it doesn't work for me at home with Comcast, but it did when I was in college and and my workplace, not sure what type of ISP they have.
PS, wtf, we're winning?! Altidore!
excellent goal...stupid yellow card....this is what happens when you're not used to the world stage....hopefully the boys can hold on for the win.
2-0!!!! USA!USA!USA!
USA!!!! USA!!!! WOOO!!!! Man DID I enjoy watching this game....
Howard is qaulity. He may be a deciding factor in my supporting Everton this coming year...or at least until my Magpies can get back in the EPL...fucking Kinear, ugh!!!
AND ITS A FINAL!!!!
USA!!!
wow - Sanford's presser was awesommmeeeeeeeee! I wouldn't have been more shocked if he came out and said he liked wearing the gimp masks with the zippered mouth. Talk about a confession...just sort of spilled his guts. I give him credit for fessin up, but deduct a million DKP for being a cheating D'bag and ditching his kids for some strange on Father's Day...wtg Gov GG
wow....that was unexpectedly expected.....affair? sure, but bouncing to Argentina and not expecting people to ask where....wow...he upped the game, who can top that?
That was Tee Vee at its very best! I loved how he rambled for about ten minutes before he finally came out and said he was meeting a hottie in Argentina. And the tears. And the almost tears. It was truly dramatic.
I thought that
this article needs consideration for those interested. It's about a certain group of evengelical chaplains in the military. Now it doesn't square entirely with my personal experience but it is interesting.
yep sad to but Manifest Destiny is alive and well and (still) going global, unlikely that there is a growing connection between the military and evangelical christianism probably just more dissent and press coverage of it, Duke prof. St.Haeurwas(sp?) has been writing for years about the dangers of Constantinian/Empire/christianity/nationalism and making a moral case that pacifism is central to being faithful to Jesus and contrary to marriages of church and state but not many takers left right or center for this kind of turn the other cheek love the enemy style religion, Onward Christian soldiers?
perhaps, I don't know entirely.
where/when do you see the break between the christianists and the military happening? seems like christianizing the pagans rhetoric/justification goes right from the colonialist/Indian/Native wars through the cold war into the neo-con war on "facist-Islam", hard to imagine our current army without the Southern Baptist Convention(the twisted history of racism, Empire, and missionaries is a whole other bit of nastiness, just listen to comtemporary right-wing pols talking up the need for the world-wide freedom of religious expression), it's not an accident that the megachurches and our military bases have a high degree of 'positional correspondence', so to speak, again no conspiracy theories just a mutually benefical relationship of means-ends.
This is experience and anecdote talking not statistics or research so take it with a grain of salt.
In many ways the U.S. Military is the most tolerant section of our society. At least as an institution. Religiously, all creeds are tolerated and given space to function. Personaly I've seen a muslim chaplain's assistant help oficiate at an episcopalian service. The base chaplain on Doha when I was there in 2002 was a Rabbi. Coming from a relatively Christian tradition with strong Indian Roots --the crow have traditional songs written around the turn of the century in Absalooke (absalaaka)-- the first real contact I had with people of other faiths was in the service. I know personal experience doesn't count for everything, but I know that most chaplains I have seen operate take great pains to be universalist, and understanding when it comes to religious preferences. Again during my deployment the Company Chaplain not only held services every day for those who wanted to come but helped a wiccan soldier to obtain the things needed to set up an altar.
I rember watching a book tv interview with someone --who was I think-- the former head of navy chaplains who was a rabbi, and he recounts a story where he flew out to a carrier to preform a service for a few sailors. While there he had a discussion with the muslim sailors oboard to resolve an issue with the cooks who had been ignorantly cooking the sausage first thing in the morning. Needless to say the sailors were tired of eating cold cereal and they opted to speak with the rabbi because they knew he would understand.
On the whole I don't know how much creedence I put in the intolerance of evengelical chaplains in the military. The issue derserves further study, but I know from personal experience that eveyone is a soldier first.
glad to hear that you were treated well and that there is growing respect for differences in services, i'm sure that in the field being a soldier first is the rule that people live by, but through my work with vets-VA's in NY,CA,KS, and now in TN, I have known many chaplains, and officers/enlisted folks, like the ones in the report and as I mentioned the history of missionaries and our military is a longstanding one which was the other aspect of the article that you linked, you may be interested to look into some of the theologians working at right-wing thinktanks and of course the whole don't ask don't tell fiasco, well that's more than enough for this poor "noontime" thread and paperwork calls, a pleasure as always.