arse poetica

Yaay! + Damn!

Wow! Mary Gaitskill's been nominated for a National Book Award for her novel, Veronica. Gaitskill's swift, lean, dark portraits are thrilling in their intensity and moments of recognition. And not the kind of recognition that has us going, "Oh, yeah, me too" in a smiling, happy cloud sort of reassuring way; rather, the kind that has us saying (wishing) "Not me!" and wanting to run and hide under the bed. Gaitskill, precisely because her themes are difficult and oftentimes unpleasant, because she shows the desperate (under)side of human nature, is not the kind of author one would necessarily expect to make the shortlist of a mainstream prize. But good on her! I love her books.

[Some may remember the film Secretary, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader, which was based on Gaitskill's short story of the same name. I do not have time to go ON AND ON about that film and Gaitskill's original intent in the story, but let's just say that were I to go ON AND ON you'd get a healthy dose of the following words: patriarchy, hegemonic domination, sex class, and bodily (and pyschic) sovereignty.]

I think the headline below is silly, but I'm sure headline writers are overworked and underpaid at the Times. Being a writer of malaise means sweet f.a. about one's finding happiness, acclaim, or happiness in acclaim, and I know I'm just being picky, but I can't help it. I have to take issue w/ "acclaim." Though I'm sure many are interested in "acclaim," I'd venture that writers would rather their work were recognized, which is different, but what do I know? Neither acclaimed nor recognized here, thankyouverymuch. Moving on.

Loving an author's books is one thing, loving an author is another. I'd much prefer that we lived in a simple world in which the twain met and one guaranteed the other. This is pure fantasy, of course. I don't love any group of people indiscriminately because they are members of whatever category they fall into; I love them individually as I take them. I should expect the same from authors. But I don't. That's why the last two paragraphs of the otherwise oddly interesting article just deflated my balloon.

Can a Writer of Malaise Find Happiness in Acclaim?

Ms. Gaitskill had never intended to marry though she had imagined herself spending her life with someone. "I often thought of marriage as rather dull," she said. When Mr. Trachtenberg proposed, she laughed. But she is not cavalier about her choice. "There's a deep level of support that I never knew I was missing," she said, "because I'd never really had it."

And she has enjoyed the kind of social assimilation that marriage affords. "You know, if you're an older woman and you're not married, I think it makes people uneasy," Ms. Gaitskill said. "It was a comfortable feeling to become a recognizable member of the herd."

Oh, hell. I completely understand the need for and value of the deep level of support that comes from a committed relationship. Bless her. But this is a woman who writes about women who are f*cked up and f*cked over by a culture predicated on making someone the prey and who carve out a sort of solace in their outsider status and remain unapologetic about their needs, be they unattractive or untenable or wholly compromised.

It is none of my damn business, but I wish Gaitskill weren't conforming to the bullshit of "the herd." Who gives a flying flip if people are uneasy about older women's marital status? A little perspective, please. Society villifies (older) women in 1001 ways. Why retreat into "social assimilation" (read: safety) now after having stood up for so many of those villified women in one's fictional work? I am of two minds about this: 1) I reject the culture that ostracizes older women and engenders insecurity in those who are not assimilated into social institutions like marriage, and 2) women artists (ugh) face a whole host of risks, disadvantages, and outright attacks to live the creative life, so if Gaitskill has found security after a lifetime of insecurity, I'm happy for her. I wish she's chuck the whole herd life, but like I said, it is none of my damn business. I'll cheer, instead, the fact that she's up for a National Book Award. Why do we need s/heroes anyway?

B*sh is the weakest fraud of a commander in chief in the history of the republic.

I've been giddy w/ happiness all weekend at the prospect of the scales finally falling from Murkan eyes. After the "second banana w/ the child's name" was indicted on 5 counts -- perjury, perjury, making false statements, making false statements, obstruction -- I naively thought the truth would come out! But I've seen the anti-democratic soft-shoeing over in the old guy pundit camp starting from the moment my new personal hero, Paddy Fitz, walked away from the press conference podium. Anyone who argues this is not a big deal hates America. There. I said it. Two can play that game. Though some would argue that we should forgive the spinmeisters, they know not what they do, I won't forgive their trespass agin our democracy. F*ck 'em if they can't handle the truth. And the truth, the hallowed, much vaunted, never uttered truth?

B*sh is the weakest fraud of a commander in chief in the history of the republic.

That's it. Simple and sweet. And now it is irrefutably out in the wide damn open.

What sort of power, authority, or command does a chief who "learns" (though, actually, I'm sure there's no need for snark quotes there; they barely tell the Boy Blunder what's going on) that there has been a breach of national security and the suspected culprits are TWO DOORS DOWN FROM THE OVAL OFFICE, then says nothing about it until his hand is forced, then makes the faux grand gesture of bringing the power of the presidency to bear on this (hahhahahahhahahahaha! oh, you), then has his spokesmonkey grunt and fling the poo that Rove and Libby did not have sex with that wom-- er, did not have anything to do w/ the leak and, furthermore, anyone who did have anything to do w/ the leak would be fired, and now we learn that Rove and Libby did have everything to do w/ the leak, and not only that, but it's obvious that Darth Ch*ney was orchestrating half or all of this, so, like, fired? I'm still waiting.

[Crickets chirping.]

Weak, weak, weak.

1. B*sh runs such a shoddy operation that his supposed staff acts with impunity, leaking a CIA operative's name to the press in a craven maneuver for cheap political gain following criticism of the rationale for war. Why isn't he in control of his staff?
2. B*sh won't appoint an independent counsel; the CIA finally requests an investigation into the leak. Why won't B*sh lead? Why won't he defend the country?
3. B*sh, after a sabre-rattling PR stunt, can't get Ch*ney, R*ve, or the second banana to fess up. Why is he so unable to assert that his directives be obeyed?
4. Independent counsel finds a spidernest of wrongdoing pointing to Ch*ney, R*ve, and Libby, who is indicted on 5 counts. B*sh doesn't fire anyone. Does B*sh's word mean anything?
5. B*sh is "saddened" by Libby's resignation, continuing his defense of those in his employ who make colossal errors (Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Bremer, Tenet, Brownie's "heck of a job," and so on). Why can B*sh never admit a mistake? More importantly, why does B*sh surround himself w/ incompetents and criminals?

Will B*sh fire anyone connected to this leak as he loudly proclaimed he would? Not bloody likely.

Unless, of course, there was never any intention of firing either his own brain or his own real preznit, in which case B*sh is not only a weakling, a fraud, and a liar, but a treasonous cretin who has damaged our national security, shat upon the office of the presidency, mocked democracy, and, as an added bonus, rendered us reviled the world over and less safe to boot.

To recap, B*sh is the weakest fraud of a commander in chief in the history of the republic. [And if the consensus is that he is not un-able but unwilling to act, then he is a criminal against whom impeachment proceedings should begin immediately. He may be a criminal in either instance, as this high office would dictate a need for competence, and his actions could rightly be considered negligent at the very least.]

We're #1! We're #1!

Murka's the best country in the world! Our democratic freedoms are unparalleled! They're sooo unparalleled that we've taken it upon ourselves to "bring democracy to the Middle East." Cos they need it! And their poor, poor women. They don't have it as good as we do over here! Why? Cos Murka's #1!

A little country like Iceland knows it's not #1. How could it be? Where is it anyway? They're so not #1 that their women have taken to the streets, taking the day off to protest their unequal status in society. Poor, poor Icelandic women. They've got it so bad. Check out their gripes here. They don't look familiar at all. Good thing we've solved all of these problems! We're #1! We're #1!

Women's Day Off.

1. women’s salary in Iceland is only 64.15% of men’s
2. women get 72% of men’s salary for working the same number of hours
3. having children has a negative effect on women’s salary, but a positive effect on men’s
4. many women live in fear and insecurity in their own homes
5. one out of three women becomes victim of gender related violence in her lifetime
6. women do not get credit due for their education
7. women in business have less access to finance
8. responsibility for upbringing of children and domestic work is still largely on women’s shoulders
9. jobs involving caretaking are among the lowest paying jobs in the job market
10. women’s voice is still not loud enough in the media
11. women’s bodies are treated as merchandise
12. a woman has never been prime minister, bank manager or bishop
13. women have never occupied half the seats in parliament
14. women are not treated as equal to men

Oh.

Looks like maybe we're still up against it, um, a little bit. You know, like points 1 through 14.

[Thanks to TN Guerrilla Women]

Cabal!

I honestly do not know where to begin w/ this amazing article by former Colin Powell chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, in the LAT. For those of us who've been yelling 'cabal!' for 5 years, I highly recommend reading the whole thing. Actually, I recommend it more highly for those who didn't yell 'cabal!' for 5 years. Read 'em and weep.

The White House cabal.

IN PRESIDENT BUSH'S first term, some of the most important decisions about U.S. national security — including vital decisions about postwar Iraq — were made by a secretive, little-known cabal. It was made up of a very small group of people led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Pardon me while I weep for my sanity. According to Lawrence Wilkerson, I am not crazy.

When I first discussed this group in a speech last week at the New America Foundation in Washington, my comments caused a significant stir because I had been chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell between 2002 and 2005.

But it's absolutely true. I believe that the decisions of this cabal were sometimes made with the full and witting support of the president and sometimes with something less. More often than not, then-national security advisor Condoleezza Rice was simply steamrolled by this cabal.

Its insular and secret workings were efficient and swift — not unlike the decision-making one would associate more with a dictatorship than a democracy. This furtive process was camouflaged neatly by the dysfunction and inefficiency of the formal decision-making process, where decisions, if they were reached at all, had to wend their way through the bureaucracy, with its dissenters, obstructionists and "guardians of the turf."

But the secret process was ultimately a failure. It produced a series of disastrous decisions and virtually ensured that the agencies charged with implementing them would not or could not execute them well.

[snip]

It takes firm leadership to preside over the bureaucracy. But it also takes a willingness to listen to dissenting opinions. It requires leaders who can analyze, synthesize, ponder and decide.

The administration's performance during its first four years would have been even worse without Powell's damage control. At least once a week, it seemed, Powell trooped over to the Oval Office and cleaned all the dog poop off the carpet. He held a youthful, inexperienced president's hand. He told him everything would be all right because he, the secretary of State, would fix it. And he did — everything from a serious crisis with China when a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was struck by a Chinese F-8 fighter jet in April 2001, to the secretary's constant reassurances to European leaders following the bitter breach in relations over the Iraq war. It wasn't enough, of course, but it helped.

Today, we have a president whose approval rating is 38% and a vice president who speaks only to Rush Limbaugh and assembled military forces. We have a secretary of Defense presiding over the death-by-a-thousand-cuts of our overstretched armed forces (no surprise to ignored dissenters such as former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki or former Army Secretary Thomas White).

It's a disaster. Given the choice, I'd choose a frustrating bureaucracy over an efficient cabal every time.

Cabal, dictatorship, handholding, inexperienced president, no leadership, ignored dissenters, a disaster. Yep, that about sums it up.

Wilkerson was a loyal workerbee under Geo H.W. B*sh, a person for whom he professes to have great respect. Another who has great respect for Geo H.W. B*sh is Brent Scowcroft (they're best buds), who filets Dim Son in the current NY'er (no link but this interview w/ article author Jeffrey Goldberg gives a taste). Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and the stench is finally, finally, finally wrinkling the delicate noses and permeating the let-them-eat-cake good time of those who don't live in the Reality-Based Community.

Good Smell Perplexes New Yorkers

It's headlines like this that make me miss NY. Ha! Don DeLillo must've laughed his ass off reading that.

Good Smell Perplexes New Yorkers.

An unseen, sweet-smelling cloud drifted through parts of Manhattan last night. Arturo Padilla walked through it and declared that it was awesome.

"It's like maple syrup. With Eggos. Or pancakes," he said. "It's pleasant."

The odor had followed Mr. Padilla and his friend along their walk in Lower Manhattan, from a dormitory on Fulton Street, to Pace University on Spruce Street, and back down again, to where they stood now, near a Dunkin' Donuts. Maybe it was from there, he said. But it wasn't.

Mr. Padilla was not alone. Reports of the syrupy cloud poured in from across Manhattan after 9 p.m. Some feared that it was something sinister.

There were so many calls that the city's Office of Emergency Management coordinated efforts with the Police and Fire Departments, the Coast Guard and the City Department of Environmental Protection to look into it.

Only in NYC could a good smell be suspicious. Having spent my share of time in the subways, I'd be inclined to wonder myself.

First the Graft, Then the Shaft

Preznit Dimwit's "Statement" about his crumbling criminal madministration's first indictment. Please note the Dimwit's highly attuned grasp of the obvious (GOTO).

PREZNIT DIMWIT: Today I accepted the resignation of Scooter Libby.

GOTO #1. Duh. That's why they told you to stand here, idjit.

Scooter has worked tirelessly on behalf of the American people and sacrificed much in the service to this country.

Yeah, like sacrificing our National Security. Thanks for nothin', Scooter. Feh.

He served the vice president and me through extraordinary times in our nation's history.

GOTO #2. Can this guy do anything more than stand there and describe the most accessible, barefaced, bright, clear, conclusive, conspicuous, discernible, distinct, distinguishable, evident, explicit, exposed, glaring, in evidence, indisputable, lucid, manifest, noticeable, observable, open, outstanding, overt, palpable, patent, perceivable, perceptible, plain, precise, prominent, pronounced, public, recognizable, self-evident, self-explanatory, straightforward, transparent, unconcealed, undeniable, understandable, undisguised, unmistakable, unsubtle, and visible facts at hand? No? Alrighty then.

Special Counsel Fitzgerald's investigation and ongoing legal proceedings are serious. And now the proceedings -- the process moves into a new phase.

GOTO #3. "Legal proceedualizing is hard. It's hard work. We're phasing the work into a new phase, because it's ongoing and it's hard, and there's proceedings and phases to it. Heh heh heh." Shut up, assh*le!

In our system, each individual is presumed innocent and entitled to due process and a fair trial.

Unless you're a) Jose Padilla, b) currently reside in Guantanamo Bay, or c) were unceremoniously extraordinarily renditioned to liberal democracy hotspots like Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and Jordan. But why nitpick? Also, GOTO #4. F*cker.

While we're all saddened by today's news...

Who's this "we," white man? I haven't been this happy since yesterday when the Times announced that indictments were pending. Tra la la.

... we remain wholly focused on the many issues and opportunities facing this country.

Bwaaahahahaahhahaha! Hoo, that was a good one. I mean, don't go changin' to try 'n please us now.

I got a job to do, and so do the people who work in the White House. We got a job to protect the American people, and that's what we'll continue working hard to do. I look forward to working with Congress on policies to keep this economy moving. And pretty soon, I'll be naming someone to the Supreme Court.

I just can't. It's too easy. Friends, your thoughts?

Thank you all very much.

Translation: F*ck you all very much. Heh heh heh.

QUESTION: Mr. President...

QUESTION: Are you embarrased by these charges?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... at the White House, sir?

QUESTION: Are you embarrased by these charges?

END

[Crickets chirping.]

Embarrassed? Em-bare-assed?? What do these journalists think the Boy in the Bubble is? A superhuman feeling machine? That he's got sense and sympathy and shame enough to feel an emotion as complex as "embarrassed"?? Do not make me cackle mirthlessly.

Well, It's a Start

Though it has been said that it is difficult to feel sorry for anyone named "Scooter," I do have a twinge of 'aww, he don't look too happy' seeing this pic. Oh well! Them's the breaks for crim'nals! Buh-bye, liar and cheat!

You know, I just "remembered," Scooter works right.next.to Darth Ch*ney, the (Vice) Preznit of the United States of America. But I'm sure they'd never be in cahoots about anything illegal. Nevah!

Aide to Cheney Is Indicted on 5 Counts in C.I.A. Leak Case.

Vice presidential adviser I. Lewis "Scooter' Libby Jr. was indicted Friday on charges of obstruction of justice, making a false statement and perjury in the CIA leak case.

Karl Rove, President Bush's closest adviser, apparently escaped indictment Friday but remained under investigation, his legal status a looming political problem for the White House.

Is it so wrong to be practically orgasmic over this information? This is like, well, it IS Fitzmas!!

The indictments stem from a two-year investigation by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald into whether Rove, Libby or any other administration officials knowingly revealed the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame or lied about their involvement to investigators.

UPDATE: Scooter has resigned!

Let's Fast Track This

[More Nicole Hollander here and here.]

Any U.S. Democrat over Bush

Whaaa? Doth mine senses partake of sanity among the ranks?

Poll: Any U.S. Democrat over Bush.

A snap U.S. election would see a Democrat replace President George Bush, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll published Wednesday said.

Of 1,008 people polled, 55 percent of the respondents said that they would vote for a Democratic candidate if Bush were running again. More than half -- 57 percent -- said they don't agree with the president's views on issues that are important to them, while 41 percent said their views are in line with those of Bush on important issues.

Friends, who ARE these 41%ers?? What ARE their "important issues"? Let me guess: Jeebus, Jeebus, and methinks a dribble, a dram, a dollop more Jeebus.

Somebody Pinch Me

I'm sorry, am I actually watching G. Gordon Liddy on television commenting on the Rove/Libby leak? Imagine me scrubbing out my eyes a la a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Liddy just tried to sell the idea that the break-in he orchestrated was REALLY an effort to investigate a call girl ring used by some members of the DNC. What a creep.

I don't know the name of the host on this show, but as Liddy moved on to presumably lie about something else, she came back to say that Carl Bernstein wanted to respond to Liddy's call girl comment. Bernstein's segment had just ended, and he was already off air. Liddy then claimed that he wanted to preemptively respond to Bernstein's response, and Ms. Host went to commercial in efforts to have everyone miced and ready to let their freak flags fly.

We're back, and Ms. Host is giving both parties 30 seconds.

Bernstein: It's utter nonsense. Watergate was about political espionage and sabotage, including the burglaries that Mr. Liddy committed. It was an unprecented campaign of obstruction of justice that exlploded way beyond just a break-in. There is nothing like it in our history and hopefully no men like Mr. Liddy will ever work for another president again.

Sounds fair. Bernstein smiling at start, not smiling at the end.

Liddy: The espionage call girl ring case is documented in a District of MD court in a trial which I won.

Hunh? That's his whole statement. He does not elaborate. Who's got access to Lexis-Nexis?

==========

UPDATE: I'll tell you who's got access to Lexis-Nexis: Lance McCord does! Read his explanation of the Liddy claim here. Now it all makes sense. Well, insofar as G. Gordon Liddy can make sense.