The God of War

by Bertold Brecht

I saw the old god of war stand in a bog between chasm and rockface.
He smelled of free beer and carbolic and showed his testicles to adolescents, for he had been rejuvenated by several professors. In a hoarse wolfish voice he declared his love for everything young. Nearby stood a pregnant woman, trembling.
And without shame he talked on and presented himself as a great one for order. And he described how everywhere he put barns in order, by emptying them.
And as one throws crumbs to sparrows, he fed poor people with crusts of bread which he had taken away from poor people.
His voice was now loud, now soft, but always hoarse.
In a loud voice he spoke of great times to come, and in a soft voice he taught the women to cook crows and seagulls. Meanwhile his back was unquiet, and he kept looking round, as though afraid of being stabbed.
And every five minutes he assured his public that he would take up very little of their time.

Blogosphere Radio: The Voice of the Blogosphere

BlogosphereRadio.com is a website devoted to the intersection of blogs and Internet radio. We strive to live up to our tagline as the voice of the blogosphere. BlogosphereRadio.com is run by university students in Edmonton, AB, Canada.

Let's finally write that novel, starting Nov 1

November is National Novel Writing Month. And since it's not too late...yet...you and I can finally get that first novel out of our systems. What better time than during the most important election of our lifetime? It should write itself! Just nudge it every so often...

NaNoWriMo

Entrepreneur: "Will Undertake for Food"

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg, author of "Going Nucular", talked about the word, "entrepreneur" today on NPR, and said that today it really just means: "Will undertake for food". An interesting choice of words, as the original meaning of the French word is "to undertake something". Nunberg talks about how "entrepreneurship" grows when jobs decline. An entrepreneur being basically a self-employed person. And he talks about how Bush trumpets the word at every opportunity, as if were some sort of high-fallujan term (oops, did I say Fallujan?) that we all should aspire to embody. In other words, you're gonna lose your job. Suck it up.

Meanwhile over on Rush, there is shuffling of paper, pounding of fists, blovation.

Curse of the Bambino...Eclipsed

Thanks to Tom Priest who would rather I have posted on Salon, but was unable.

Check out Tom's other great work!

The celebration continues here.

A personal note: Did anyone else think that last StLouis pitcher looked like John Malkovich?

Creative Loafing Carolina Writers Night celebrates winners, local talent

CHARLOTTE--Doris Iarovici, A Duke University psychiatrist won the 2005 Novello Literary Award last night for a book called "American Dreaming and Other Stories." She will receive a $1,000 prize and her short story collection will be published next fall by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, through its nonprofit Novello Festival Press.

Iarovici (pronounced YAHR-o-vich) came to New York City from Romania at age 5. She began to publish poetry and essays in Seventeen Magazine at age 15, and she won a fiction-writing prize while an undergraduate at Yale.She attended Yale's medical school and moved to Durham to do her residency training in psychiatry at Duke Medical Center.

The Creative Loafing Carolina Writers Night, part of the Novello Festival of Reading, showcases Carolinian wordsmiths and wordjoneses, of which, according to Bland Simpson, there are many.

Steve Cushman, author of "Portisville" was the first speaker last night, but I sadly missed that part. But I did get to see and hear Judy Goldman, Sharyn McCrumb and Bland Simpson, who not only read marvelously from his works but also entertained us with sung songs and an electric keyboard. A real bundle of disciplined energy!

Sharyn McCrumb, before him, read a section from her soon to be published novel, "St. Dale," . . . a rousing tale of NASCAR fans on a Chaucerian pilgrimage.

Judy Goldman delighted the crowd with visual aids and anecdotes about how and why she wrote her novel, Early Leaving.

Finalists:
Sandra Cimadori of Lincolnton
Julia Nunnally Duncan of Marion, N.C.
Mark Ethridge of Charlotte
Dot Jackson of Pickens, S.C.
Kay McSpadden of Rock Hill.

Read and join the Progressive Blog Alliance

Some interesting work pullulating over at the Progressive Blog Alliance.

Tragedy strikes NASCAR, Charlotte and the Hendrick family

Prayers go out to Rick Hendrick and family, as well as the families of the other victims of the plane crash which took their lives yesterday. Mister Hendrick has already suffered more than most people, but to lose a brother and three children in one day is more than most people could bear. He will need our help and prayers...

North Carolina's New Breed

I tend to get all wrapped up in National politics, and forget to consider what is going on locally.
And with people like Jesse Helms representing the history of NC politics, it is not hard to see why I might want to dissociate from the local scene.

I am pleased to report that North Carolina is on the move. And John Edwards is just the tip of the iceberg. And good people are popping up in both parties. Jim Snyder pops to mind. A gentleman and a scholar, Mr. Snyder is a living legacy of what has long been good about North Carolina. He actually would do better on the stage, as he has a classic look, and classic style.
And why he is running as Republican for Lt. Governor, while Jim Ballentine is at the head of the ticket...is beyond me. It's like Laurence Olivier as understudy to Sean Hannity. Totally ass-backwards.

Also ass-backwards is that Bev Perdue is running for Lt. Governor while Mike Easley is running for Governor. Granted, Easley is already Governor. I'd frankly prefer a Snyder/Perdue joint Governorship.

Beth Troutman, like Bev Perdue, is also a bright new voice for North Carolina. Erskine Bowles is yet another shining light, who not only has White House experience and prowess, he also has the help of the great blogger and human being, Matt Gross. And reality-based Jack Flynn will be a nice addition to the congress after he unseats the rubber stamping Sue Myrick, who has exceeded her usefulness. We need to send Richard Moore back as State Treasurer, who has run the best performing pension fund in the country, and has left NC with the best credit rating in the nation.

These good people join other good folks who are doing right by North Carolinians, like Mel Watt, who has begun his "Trading Places" tour, where he works alongside his constituency, and presumably let's others wear his Hahvard tie.

This is a good time to be a Carolinian. We are finally returning to a sort of Mayberry purity.
Y'all come back now! Heah?

"FOX News: Almost Bad. Far from Outstanding."

Outstanding>Excellent>Great>Good>Fair>Bad "FOX News: Almost Bad. Far from Outstanding."

Fox is fair. Not really good. Certainly not great, excellent or outstanding. Just fair. Practically bad.

Change the channel.