The Propagandist

you better shape up and start shitting me tiffany cufflinks or i will definitely fuck you up.

tell me i'm
3.27.2003
 
well, four page views from 207.173.14.ca.gov

that means someone in california government has found this blog.

unfortunately, it also means that this blog goes away. all links will be disabled very soon and the archives deleted.

bye.

 
hey - i made it on the mirror project.

 
TO: Ari Fleischer
CC: GWB
FR: The propagandist
RE: FYI

hey guys.

wanted to give you a little foundation for your media strategy, just in case anybody asks. as a fellow propagandist, i understand that sometimes just saying something enough makes people believe it. while i personally am loathe to deploy this tactic, especially when what is being repeated is false, you folks seem to be institutionalizing it.

so you have the etymology correct for the cornerstone of your foreign (and for that matter, domestic) policy:

TAUTOLOGY

SYLLABICATION: tau·tol·o·gy

PRONUNCIATION: tô-tl-j

NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. tau·tol·o·gies

1a. Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy. b. An instance of such repetition.

2. Logic: An empty or vacuous statement composed of simpler statements in a fashion that makes it logically true whether the simpler statements are factually true or false; for example, the statement Either it will rain tomorrow or it will not rain tomorrow.

ETYMOLOGY: Late Latin tautologia, from Greek tautologi, from tautologos, redundant : tauto-, tauto- + logos, saying; see –logy.
OTHER FORMS: tauto·logi·cal (tôtl-j-kl) , tauto·logic (-k) —ADJECTIVE
tauto·logi·cal·ly —ADVERB




3.24.2003
 
"We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient -- that we are only 6% of the world's population -- that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94% of mankind -- that we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversity -- and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem."

President John F. Kennedy





3.21.2003
 
so our soldiers go to fight, kill and die, and our president...

...goes on vacation.

hey, we can't really expect him to stick around washington just for the war, can we? i mean, camp david would just sit there empty, right? he might lose his deposit.

this guy makes me sick. at least he's not even trying to pretend to be brave, ala the texas air national guard.

see you at the federal building, or wherever you have to go.

just go.

3.20.2003
 
back when i worked for the , i didn't have a lot to do because i was mostly waiting to be sent out on campaigns.

so i started a "quote of the day" email list. it was sort of a proto-blog, kind of the same useless and non sequitur crap i post here, but with the added benefit of a "reply" button next to the posting.

this poem by Wilfred Owen, sent on armistice day, received the most responses by far. and it is the one that is most appropriate today.

das, thanks for introducing me to owen's work.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori is latin for "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country."

Owen was wounded in WWI, and returned to war after recovering. He was killed by a german machine gun just 7 days before the armistice.



Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And toward our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick boys! An ecstacy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

-Wilfred Owen






 


TO: ari "mealy mouthed" fleischer
FR: the propagandist
RE: my questions for your press evasion, er, conference

1. other than the military brass, how many of the people, yourself included, on bush's "military council of advisors" actually ever served in the regular military?
2. have those people ever seen combat, or at least witnessed it?
3. do any of the members of the military council have children in the military?
4. on the remote possibility that answer may be yes, how many of those children will actually potentially see combat?
5. other than diplomatic missions, have any members of the military council actually visited or traveled in the middle east?
6. have they ever met an iraqi?
7. how many of the military council members drive suvs?
8. have they ever seen a person killed in combat?
9. besides bush and cheney, did any of them actively dodge the draft when THEY were called upon to defend "democracy"?
10. bush claims hussein is not democratically elected and therefore not a legitimate leader; is it not a fact bush was made president by an act of an unelected body after losing the popular vote?
11. does that mean he will support any attempts by the nonaligned movement to implement regime change in the US?
12. three cows are not a herd. three fish are not a school. how are three countries a coalition? aren't we more an "axis of the willing?"

something tells me my raised hand would go unheeded.

3.18.2003
 
package in the mail today. man, s. just keeps it coming.

even though i realize it is a thinly veiled attempt to get mentioned on the site.

but hey, i'm sure all 4 of you out there don't mind.

so the package: a coffee cup with the imprimatur:

"i'm registered as a potential terrorist with the U.S. Government."

i better mail my gift out to her. we both grew up in the o.c., so i got here a t-shirt with a harley davidson logo, only instead of harley davidson it sez "Orange - fucking - County."

selah.

3.17.2003
 
well, he did it.

our appointed president and his fratboy diplomacy succeeded in plunging us into war.

he did it by lying, misrepresenting the facts, bungling diplomatic opportunities (come on, if Clinton AND GHWB could build coalitions, so could this little punk - he's like ziggy marley: younger voice, same band) and not letting little things like the truth get in his way.

and the most disturbing thing is that the public is buying it.

it depresses me beyond belief when i think that all you have to do is lie convincingly to succeed in politics.

makes me want to quit.

3.15.2003
 
now that i think about it, maybe there IS a better name for french fries, one that better describes congress and the president and the new weltanschuung.

pompous frittes.

3.12.2003
 
you know, i've changed my mind on this whole war thing.

saddam may be only weeks away from acquiring a rubber band big enough to power this plane.

we better take him out now.

hey bushies: not only does your propaganda suck, but next time, make sure your "weapon of mass destruction" isn't a fucking balsa wood wind-up plane held together by duct tape.

this is even more embarassing than our elected officials in congress - i refuse to use the word "leaders" anymore since they are obviously craven followers - in a fit of pique eradicating the word "french" from their cafeterias.

"freedom fries," my ass.

 
favorite political t-shirt of the week:

"FREE TIBET (with purchase)"

3.11.2003
 
during world war ii, albert camus carried on a correspondence with a friend in germany. the letters are reprinted in resistance, rebellion and death. this line seemed appropriate as i read it the other night.

No, I didn't love my country, if pointing out what is unjust in what we love amounts to not loving, if insisting that what we love should measure up to the finest image we have of her amounts to not loving.

-Camus, Letters to a German Friend



 
lost dog poster from Lost:

"LOST BLACK LAB

No Collar, No legs,

NEEDS MEDICINE!!!"

i hate it too when my dog rolls away.

3.10.2003
 
the skiing was so good this weekend i didn't even mind the reckless driving ticket.

those highway patrol people get soooooo upset when you break that 20 mph over the speed limit barrier.

3.05.2003
 
email from s, regarding link to shitty military propaganda pamphlets (and SECOND, count it, second comparison of karl rove to goebbels):

"you are on every single cia, fbi & nsa list imagineable."

propagandist response:

"nah."

IP Address on stat counter this morning:

WCS2-PENT.NIPR.MIL

yes, the pentagon.

hi, mr. ashcroft! mr. poindexter, be sure to say hi to your parole officer for me!


3.04.2003
 
as we were sitting in bob's frolic room on hollywood blvd, drinking away the last 2 hours of election day, i thought of something brilliant to write for the blog.

but grey goose has stolen my inspiration. so you are left with the shadow and suggestion of a very funny remark.

 
i may be a hack writer and designer, but my stuff kicks ass on this shit.

losers. this is a sad day when this is the best propaganda our regime can produce for international consumption.

where the hell was karl rove?

 
today is election day in los angeles.

"if men were angels, there would be no need for government." or something like that.

jefferson

vote 'em if you got 'em.