• Depressing story

    Juan Gonzalez has a column in today’s Daily News about what happened to the only independent Palestinian public television station in the West Bank during Israel’s recent invasion of Ramallah. The head of it, Daoud Kuttab is a respected figure and the first Palestinian journalist allowed exclusive interviews with top Israeli leaders, among them former Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. He has also been imprisoned in the past by Arafat for covering corruption investigations involving the Palestinian Authority.

    Al Quds specializes in children’s programming. Its most acclaimed effort, created with Israeli educational television, is a Middle East version of “Sesame Street.”

    In the series, Israeli and Palestinian children learn to respect and appreciate each other’s culture while playing on two sides of a divided street.

    …

    When the soldiers left, station employees immediately returned. What they found, according to Kuttab, was heartbreaking. Six digital broadcast cameras, VCRs and computers had been stolen. Bullet holes were found in computer monitors. Hard drives, fax machines, video equipment and laser printers had been destroyed. Doors were smashed, furniture overturned.

    Then there was the graffiti. “Instructions: 1. Eat, 2. Drink, 3. Destroy” wason one wall. Other graffiti included, “Palestine, Never” and “Death to Arabs.”

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  • Do you have blacks too?

    Tom Tomorrow’s blog has a story on Bush’s visit with Brazil’s President, in which he asked, “Do you have blacks too?”

    The original story is in Der Spiegel. I’m not surprised this one didn’t make it into the U.S. papers.

    I suppose this could be an urban legend, but the point of the story is that with Bush we’re not sure. I don’t think we could imagine Clinton or Carter or even G. Bush I asking such a thing. With Bush II, it seems possible.

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  • The Bush 9/11 Scandal for Dummies

    I’ve been reading this essay: The Bush 9/11 Scandal for Dummies, by Bernard Weiner, on the always useful Common Dreams web site. While I don’t subscribe to the full conspiracy theory aspect of this, I think there are some things worth considering.

    My take on this is that the Bush administration knew that something was likely to happen, and decided to take a calculated risk that it wouldn’t be too bad. Their other alternative was to panic the U.S. and possibly bring our already shaky economy into a deep recession. Perhaps they feared that if they had warned us and nothing happened, they would have been roundly criticized for “crying wolf”.

    The problematic aspect of this: Apparently administration officials thought the risk was high enough that they changed their behavior over the summer to avoid the risk to themselves of commercial airline-based terrorism:

    It seems they weren’t the only people with advance warning:

    • San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown was warned by “an airport security man” on September 10 to rethink his flight to New York for the next day

    • Many members of a Bronx mosque were warned to stay out of lower Manhattan on September 11

    It would be easier to brush the author off as just another “conspiracy theorist” if the Bush administration hadn’t refused to allow any serious investigation of the intelligence failings that led to September 11. If administration officials felt that the warnings they had were enough to warrant changes in travel plans for the President and members of the cabinet, and failed to warn the American people, I think it’s fair to say their behavior was treasonous.

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  • Queens Pride

    We went to Jackson Heights for Queens Pride today – photos here (automated slide show here). I think the thing that moved me the most was Colega. Colega (Colombian Lesbian and Gay Association) had people dressed as angels, marching in memory of Edgar Garzon.

    The noise level of the crowd was less than I expected, and I think it was because it was the straightest crowd I’ve ever seen at a queer parade – a lot of Latin families out with the kids to see the parade, plus a smattering of South Asians (Pakastani, India, and Bangladeshi). It was cool to see people of all kinds mixing in the crowds for the parade and the festival stages and booths.

    We had a late lunch/early dinner afterward at Jackson Diner. It was quite the crowd, thanks to the parade — including Douglas Crimp. As we told Penny Arcade when we talked with her and Chris Real, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a restaurant where she and Crimp were both present!

    After picking up a few Hindi CDs and DVDs, we headed back home to rest for a few minutes hopping back on the subway to see Tom Donaghy’s new play boys and girls at Playwrights Horizons‘ fabulous new space. I like his plays — I’ve seen Minutes from Blue Route and The Beginning of August. I’m too tired to write more right now, but I recommend going to see it. Good play, great cast, and great direction.

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  • Interview with Paul Davis of ACT UP Philadelphia

    Paul Davis, from ACT UP Philadelphia, has a good interview in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

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  • James – Voice of the People

    A letter by James made the NY Daily News’ Voice of the People section.

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  • Reno

    We saw Reno tonight at the Zipper Theater on West 37th. Cool space, fabulous show. It’s a bit more “produced” than when I saw her at La Mama. I love her, and highly recommend seeing it. She hates Telecharge as much as the rest of us, so you can go buy tickets at the box office instead.

    Afterward we went to Market Cafe. Bargain! $12 entrees, great wine list, and a waitress that reminded me of Amy Sedaris. I ordered a bottle of Morgon (pronouncing it the French way), and she said – oh, you mean Morgon, like Morgon David.

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  • Dogs dogs dogs

    The dreaded annual co-op meeting was last night. I was happy to see other people ask about the explosion of dogs in the last year. We’re one of the only buildings in the area that allows dogs, so many of the people moving in (generally affluent Chelsea fags) have dogs, sometimes two.

    I work at home, so I get to hear all of the little darlings be miserable and bark for, oh, lets say, 6 hours a day. This includes Saturdays while people are at brunch of course.

    At the meeting I heard the most pathological “dog” statement of my life. One of the people admitted that he was one of the people with two dogs. He said he gets anonymous complaints under the door, and he can’t respond to them. He followed this by saying he couldn’t really do anything about his dogs barking, and if the neighbors found them annoying, imagine how bad it was to live with his dogs! This person needs a therapist, not pets. Who gets pets to brag about how much trouble they are?

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  • Tom Waits – Alice & Blood Money

    There’s a nice essay in Salon on the new Tom Waits CDs I just bought – Alice and Blood Money.

    Alice is from a musical theatre work created by Robert Wilson and my friend, the brilliant Paul Schmidt — his Chekhov translations are highly recommended.

    Blood Money is based on Buechner‘s Woyzeck.

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  • Fags and Fings

    The lovely and talented Jesse has a photo of a shop in London called “Fags and Fings”.

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