Motley Moose – Archive

Given the tension of the past week, I thought I’d launch the weekend with an extracurricular open thread regarding other, thought related interests.

A friend sent me a link to an interesting letter one of my heroes wrote about another (keep reading, it’s below the fold). Way back when the 70s turned into the 80s, narrow-minded and dogmatic punks (a perverse contradiction if there ever was one) often snickered that Joe Strummer of The Clash was basically the English Bruce Springsteen. They meant this as a smear of course, because Bruce wasn’t anti-establishment enough for them. Indeed, there were clear resemblances. They did look a bit alike at that point. Both loved to belt and snarl their vocals. Both played telecasters. Both displayed a working-class perspective and a commitment or claim to a certain kind of authenticity. Both had a great ear and love for an uplifting hook (hell, Joe admitted to being a fan). Both shared some of the same heroes, like Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash. Both loved the history of Rock ‘n Roll.  

(This diary began as a comment to the Weekend Open Thread, which I haven’t had time to read through.  But it got too unwieldy.  Hope it doesn’t derail anything else or appear redundant.  Apologies if so.)

Have you read McCain’s comments after the President’s speech?  You should.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

Had Palin published that, or read it to youtube, it would have been one of the best pre-announcement announcements in contemporary presidential politics.  Of course, if Palin had written this, or been able to employ and guide her writers to do so, she wouldn’t be Palin, and the danger wouldn’t be so severe.

Resolutions?  Obligations?  Ambitions?  Apprehensions?

The kids are in bed and I have ten papers on Herodotus and Thucydides left to grade and nine pages left to write by 4:00 PM tomorrow on a 1593 century tract by Thomas Nashe entitled Christes teares over Ierusalem wherunto is annexed a comparative admonition to LONDON, which is based on a 1558 translation of a Hebrew document, itself an 11th century translation of Rufinus Aquileus’s bad Latin translation of Flavius Josephus’s Greek account of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem…but such obligations must be postponed to begin my annual preparation of a turkey.  

(Vegetarians may want to avoid what comes below the fold)

OK. So firedoglake has compiled nominations to primary Obama.  It’s an awesome list!!! (See below the fold).

Here’s a weekend game.  Let’s put our own list together.  Out of the FDL nominations, I’m particularly interested in the notions of a Spitzer/Hagel 2012 campaign, or a Clooney/Affleck fall back.

But my first choice would be two names that that crowd failed to anoint for consideration: A Snoop Dog/Floyd Landis ticket.  Check the list below.  Whaddya think?  Other ideas?  How about David Blaine and some anonymous mathematician from, say, Stanford?   Mark Wahlberg and Lady GaGa?

But only if anyone here wants it.

Consider carefully whether this is worth your time.

Motley Moose. The Blog for the Bully Boys Who Love to Hate MyDD

http://mydd.com/users/changeag…  

by guess who?

Alright.  We had a bad night last night.  We should think soberly and determinedly where and how to commit energy to push back.  But I’m tired.  And tired of compulsively sparring with changevancaulfieldagain2012.  So here’s a game we used to play back in Brooklyn.  Try to come up with the most awkward, disturbing, or unwearable t-shirt slogans.

Note from Ed: You can Generate Your Own T-Shirts here at Jellymuffin.com and just paste the code – though you might want to cut the first center code, and will need to delete the last embed line.  

In the midst of all this impending Tea Party Triumphalism, I popped over to the old D for some nostalgia and comic relief.  If you think that Jack Landsman jumped that place over a few hundred sharks as a frontpager, he’s got nothing on changeagain2012.

The GOP-fueled efforts to whip up hysteria over the “Ground Zero Mosque” (which any one who reads and cares to will find that it’s not at Ground Zero and it’s quite a bit more than a Mosque–it would be just as accurate to call it the “Battery Park Muslim Swimming Pool”) may be failing.  It was inspiring to read Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s brilliant remarks last week after the city decided not to capitulate to the cynical maneuver that tried to block it by declaring the existing structure a landmark, when it is simply old and of no architectural significance.  After tracing the history of religious restriction and toleration in NYC, Bloomberg reminded us that none of the first responders on 9-11, over 400 of which perished in that mass murder, stopped to ask the people they were trying to save: What God do you pray to?  But this morning I read that some adherents of a faith that claims to be about love, mercy, and forgiveness, a religion according to which even a former slave ship captain can be “saved” through its Lord’s “amazing grace,” have announced that they will commemorate 9-11 by ceremonially burning the Koran: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…  

For those of you interested in Jerusalem and its place in this conflict, Akiva Eldar posted an editorial in Haaretz today that I think is spot on: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/s…

Thanks for all of your participation.  My blogging time has been cut to a minimum for a host of pressing reasions and I apologize for neglecting the comments section.

Events in Jerusalem this week have focused on the [re]dedication of a synagogue, aptly named Hurva, a term associated with the destruction of ancient Jerusalem and of both Temples.  The synagogue in question was first built in the middle of the Jewish Quarter of the walled city at the turn of the 18th century, though its location has been linked archaeologically to a series of synagogues dating back to the 2nd century CE.  Soon after its establishment, the community that founded it sought to expand it, but due to expensive bribes to the Ottoman authorities and escalating construction costs, its leaders were forced to borrow from Muslims.  In 1720, after losing patience with their Jewish debtors, these Muslim creditors burned it down.  Its remains became known as the “Hurva,” linking this contemporary catastrophe to ancient ones referred to traditionally as the “hurban.”  In the early 19th century, a group of Jews began a decades long effort to obtain permission from Istanbul to rebuild the synagogue, despite the community’s outstanding debts.  In 1836, Muhammad Ali of Egypt annexed the city and permitted reconstruction, but the Jews built only a small structure at the edge of the ruined compound.  Two decades later, they commenced construction of the synagogue itself.  The resulting domed structure dominated the Jewish Quarter until 1948, when it was demolished along with the rest of the area by the Jordanian Arab Legion after its inhabitants surrendered and left the Old City.