Visiting Frameshop is always an educational experience. While I'm a little less of a George Lakoff fan than I used to be, I do believe much can be learned by examining the ways news and information is framed.

One recent story is about FOX Using Bush's Phrase For Terrorists--On Democrats. The turn of phrase ("Democrats and those who support them") is possibly intended to address all the people who don't identify as Democrats but still think the Dems are the closest mainstream option available. Still, it's a remarkably identical construction and doesn't strike me as coincidental.

(Soundtrack: The First Cut is the Deepest by The Koobas)

Labels: deconstruction, Dems, frames

My restless mind was doing a little Menken reading for amusement and edification. The following comes from Damn! A Book of Calumny (link goes to the Project Gutenberg version):

PATER PATRIAE

If George Washington were alive today, what a shining mark he would be for the whole camorra of uplifters, forward-lookers and professional patriots! He was the Rockefeller of his time, the richest man in the United States, a promoter of stock companies, a land-grabber, an exploiter of mines and timber. He was a bitter opponent of foreign alliances, and denounced their evils in harsh, specific terms. He had a liking for all forthright and pugnacious men, and a contempt for lawyers, schoolmasters and all other such obscurantists. He was not pious. He drank whisky whenever he felt chilly, and kept a jug of it handy. He knew far more profanity than Scripture, and used and enjoyed it more. He had no belief in the infallible wisdom of the common people, but regarded them as inflammatory dolts, and tried to save the republic from them. He advocated no sure cure for all the sorrows of the world, and doubted that such a panacea existed. He took no interest in the private morals of his neighbors.

Inhabiting These States today, George would be ineligible for any office of honor or profit. The Senate would never dare confirm him; the President would not think of nominating him. He would be on trial in all the yellow journals for belonging to the Invisible Government, the Hell Hounds of Plutocracy, the Money Power, the Interests. The Sherman Act would have him in its toils; he would be under indictment by every grand jury south of the Potomac; the triumphant prohibitionists of his native state would be denouncing him (he had a still at Mount Vernon) as a debaucher of youth, a recruiting officer for insane asylums, a poisoner of the home. The suffragettes would be on his trail, with sentinels posted all along the Accotink road. The initiators and referendors would be bawling for his blood. The young college men of the _Nation_ and the _New Republic_ would be lecturing him weekly. He would be used to scare children in Kansas and Arkansas. The chautauquas would shiver whenever his name was mentioned....

I haven't read much Menken but I find this bit ineffably sublime, sweetly redolent of wit and humor. And astonishingly current and apt for today's political tableaux. But that's me: word wonk.

Labels: humor, Menken, politics

A book project that has dominated my time and energy is mercifully almost done. Just waiting for the proofs to come back from the printer. Approval confidence is high, despite exceptional perfectionist tendencies in play. Perhaps I will be able to return to the land of bloggers soon. Until then, another throwaway post to prove I'm not dead yet.

1. Slow Ride by Foghat
2. Slide Machine by the 13th Floor Elevators
3. Search and Destroy by The Red Hot Chili Peppers
4. Wings Wetted Down by Blue Öyster Cult
5. Lake of Fire by Meat Puppets
6. Lucille by Pee Wee Crayton
7. The Fight by Ryuichi Sakamoto
8. Firecracker by Nada Surf
9. On My Way to Heaven by Waterboys
10. Recall by PG&E (nee Pacific Gas and Electric)

Bonus track: Requiem for an Angel by Jorma Kaukonen

Labels: lists, songs

Yet another in a series of embarrassing and semi-revealing posts listing some of the musical detritus contaminating my computer.

1. Amateur by Nada Surf
2. What We All Want by Gang of Four
3. Junco Partner by the Clash
4. Greenfuz by the Cramps
5. Night Falls on London by the Waterboys
6. Cold Turkey by Icicle Works
7. Let It All Bleed Out by Rob Zombie
8. Rock and Roller's Lament by PG&E
9. New Dawn Fades by Joy Division
10. You're Gonna Miss Me by 13th Floor Elevators

Bonus track: If the Day Was Any Longer by Taste

Labels: lists, songs

Gut feeling? Sure, that works for me...

No details? Of course I trust the Bush administration to tell the truth...

Labels: Bushies, Chertoff, graphic