Austin Dispatches | No. 166 | Aug. 18, 2013 |
After
I speculated my
graduating class wasn’t holding a 25th
anniversary reunion, the organizers e-mailed me July 22, at the wrong
address, about the same thing over three days at August’s start. I guess they
wanted the reunion to seem as interminable as doing time in government school.[1]
Such short notice was another reason not to attend.[2]
Same as last time, I still
don’t recognize the reunion organizers.
I briefly thought the main correspondent was some punk I provided a pugilistic
primer to in seventh grade, but a check of the photos in my dusty senior
yearbook dispelled that notion.[3]
Of course, since the bruises on his noggin would’ve healed by then, I could’ve
guessed right the first time. Maybe it’s someone else I drubbed.
Also, three weeks later, I can’t find any online proof
anybody else attended, even the twits who tweeted about it beforehand. Maybe
they developed the same reservations about enduring formulaic nostalgia for
entertainment.[4]
Cultural Canapés
Daria Morgendorffer lookalike Jodi Arias faces a possible
death sentence in Arizona court for the slaying of her boyfriend, and worse, has
been turned into the subject of a Lifetime channel movie, which sounds like a
premise for Daria to sarcastically critique on her show.[5]
I was wary already about the movie adaptation of “The
Copperhead” because the director previously filmed an epic about the War of
Southern Secession wherein the deathbed soliloquies lasted longer than the real
war, and the scriptwriter frequently mistakes decentralization and particularism
with extolling the village idiot because she’s a
village idiot, instead of an idiot
commenting on NPR.[6]
Regrettably, my suspicions were correct. “Copperhead” combines the worst
features of a folk festival, a hipster microbrewery, and well, a Bill Kauffman
essay. To watch the movie, you’d never know it was based on a better novella.[7]
This is the third libertarianistic film flop in two years, which isn’t helping
the case for libertarians who advocate influencing the
culture through culture instead of electoral politics.[8]
Hollywood, an entertainment arm of the American power
elite, still puts out better product.[9]
Media Indigest
Several retail chains refused to stock Rolling Stone’s Aug.
1 issue, with one of the foreign Muslim Boston butchers
on the cover. The real matter here: Does anybody still
read Rolling Stone?[10]
The same question increasingly applies to Reason magazine.
Reason celebrated its 45th anniversary by posting hitherto
unavailable articles from the days before it had a Web site and a blog, which
may partially explain why it’s been in steady, obvious decline for about 25
years. The current staff and contributors have everything to lose when you
compare their work to their predecessors, who were more interested in critiquing
the status quo and offering alternatives thereof to
brownnosing their counterparts at statist media outlets.[11] Moreover,
the same contributors and the same attitudes I
castigated as the cause of decline 10 years ago are still there. When Kurt
Loder, Boomeroid rock critic and Beavis and Butt-Head foil, is the best writer
on the staff, the magazine has problems.[12]
Chronicle columnist Michael Ventura crossed the line by
praising the Ninth and Tenth Amendments and concluding, “The Constitution exists
to define and limit government.” This view puts him fully at odds with that
rag’s worldview. We’ll see how long he remains on staff. And Ventura? I wouldn’t
recommend trying to work at Reason with those beliefs.[13]
Tentacles of Empire
The local papers report the feelings of a Round Rock
mosque’s members were hurt when the organizer for the Round Rock Sertoma Club’s
Independence Day parade denied them permission to march. The organizer gave a
mealy mouthed and yet frustrating close-to-the-point response about doing so:
“It was all about Muslims. It isn’t what the July 4 parade is all about.”[14]
Exactly. Islam and Independence Day commemorations, rooted
in Enlightenment principles, themselves rooted in the Christian faith, are
incompatible, notwithstanding the efforts of Dean Ahmad and his Minaret of
Freedom.[15] Just up
the freeway from Round Rock, another Arab Muslim is on trial for murdering
unarmed American servicemen at Fort Hood.[16]
Further north, a Moroccan foreign trespasser, Abdelkrim Belachheb, sits in state
prison after committing mass murder in Dallas in 1984.[17]
One could believe freedom of expression to an Arab means killing
publicly.[18]
The real scandal is why these people are allowed in our country in the first
place. Let them express themselves where they came from.
Recently, my utilities, insurers, and creditors have mailed
form letters assuring me of their commitment to protecting my privacy. However,
as we know from preceding revelations, when the U.S. government’s executive
police agencies trawled for data, these same companies kowtowed, in violation of
statutory law, ethical responsibilities, and American principles. Their
reassurances mean nothing.[19]
Austin Death Watch
The July 15 Daily Texan reports the biggest threat to the
campus’ 4,900 trees, valued at $25 million, comes from squirrels, who chew on
their natural habitat, thereby depriving the trees of nutrients. In other words,
nature is nature’s biggest problem.[20]
The Aug. 16 Business Journal reports the city government is forsaking $3.1
million in future taxable revenue by insisting the developer preserve some big
oak trees at a downtown skyscraper project. Remember that when city government
whines about a budget shortfall.[21]
The July 19 Business Journal reports that city regulations
and high property taxes scourge attempts at urban farming, which in turn
undermines Austin’s foodie reputation and attempts to “keep Austin weird.”[22]
The Statesman discovered two Capital Metro board members have run up $60,000 in
travel bills.[23] The July
19 Chronicle reports a city maintenance site in East Austin violates the city’s
own zoning rules.[24]
Neighborhood opposition quashed a proposed
trailer park for street bums at McKalla Place and
other Austin sites, so poverty pimps specializing in
street bums want to dump them outside city limits near Walter E. Long
Municipal Park in a relatively inaccessible place.[25]
Homos are hyperventilating over being turned away from one
of their downtown hangouts that apparently doesn’t want to be regarded as a gay
bar anymore. Perhaps more shocking, the club insisted on an upscale dress code,
including neckties for the men.[26]
Limeys and Muslims
and Nazis, Oh My!
Enough aristocrats paused their groveling before
dominatrices and buggering strangers in public lavatories to don outfits that
make them resemble aging drag queens and attend a session of the House of Lords,
where they legalized homosexual “marriages,” both civil and religious, in Great
Britain.[27]
Imams for the swelling foreign Muslim hordes within the nation that once
resisted the Nazis were unavailable for comment.[28]
On the Town
July 18: My first
excursion after the Zimmerman verdict, I noticed the blacks subtly behaved
better in general, not just around me.[29]
July 20: For a
stretch, the organizers of a salsa social at Uptown Dance Studio encouraged
everyone to dance with someone they hadn’t before. For me, this was a challenge.
After several numbers, I danced again with a newcomer to Austin. If she does and
says the right things, you might be reading about her more in the future. “Are
we still supposed to be dancing with strangers?” she asked.
“I don’t think so. Anyway, do you want to follow the rules,
or do you want to have a good time?”
She became flustered as she considered my question’s double
entendre implications, but allowed that she preferred the latter. Good answer.
July 26: The new
H-E-B in the Mueller neighborhood incorporates a lot of the yuppie chow aspects
of Central Market. The store’s potential problem, as with the neighborhood at
large, is the diversity: The nonwhites will soon perturb the new white
residents/customers, who’ll wonder why they paid to live in a house right by the
street where at all hours they can hear a passing car blaring bilingual rap.[30]
Aug. 2: I finally saw “Slacker 2011,” as part of a double bill with “Slacker,” at the Marchesa Hall & Theatre. Turned out to be a good way to see the remake, since it riffs so much off the original.[31] That was the first time I’d seen a movie in public since March and discovered some free Web sites that eliminate traveling for televisual entertainment.
Neighborhood News
After two years, work has resumed on a pedestrian path
between Balcones Community and Walnut Creek Metropolitan parks.[34]
On Aug. 2, the power to my apartment complex ceased for about 30 minutes in the
early evening. Meanwhile, the Public Utility commissioners disagree about how to
fix the problem.[35]
Home | Archives |
NOTES
[1] The
Twelve-Year Sentence: Radical Views of Compulsory Schooling. Ed. William
F. Rickenbacker. 1974. Rpt. San Francisco: Fox & Wilkes, 1999.
[2] Eisler,
Dan. “Fire the DJ.” E-mail to Dennis Lucey et al., 3 Aug. 2013.
[3] Fairbairn,
William Ewalt. Get Tough!: How to Win in Hand-to-Hand Fighting, as Taught
to the British Commandos and the U.S. Armed Forces. 1943. Rpt. Boulder,
Colo.: Paladin Press, 1974.
[4] AD No. 163n34
(May 5, 2013).
[5] AD No. 99n6
(Aug. 10, 2007); AD No. 134n49
(July 10, 2010); Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh. “Daria.” The
Complete Directory to Prime Time Network & Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present,
8th ed. New York City: Ballantine Books, 2003: 278-279; “Raging Sex &
Murder.” NYDN 18 Aug. 2013: 20-21.
[6] AD No. 31n26
(Nov. 17, 2001); Copperhead. Swordspoint Productions, 2013; EAD No. 9n17
(Oct. 23, 1999); Gods and Generals. Turner Pictures/Antietam
Filmworks, 2003; Kauffman, Bill. “A Globe of Villages.” Liberty Mar.
1995: 34-37.
[7] Harold
Frederic's Stories of York State. Ed. Thomas F. O'Donnell. Syracuse,
N.Y.: Syracuse UP, 1966: 3-110.
[8] AD No. 140
(May 2011); AD No. 165 (July 12, 2013).
[9]
Brownstein, Ronald. The Power and the Glitter: The Hollywood-Washington
Connection, rev. ed. New York City: Vintage Books, 1992.
[10] Dinges,
Gary. “Retailers Shun ‘Bomber’ Rolling Stone.” AAS 19 Jul. 2013: B6; Draper,
Robert. Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History. New York
City: Doubleday, 1990.
[11] Welch,
Matt. “Making the World a Better Place Since 1968.” Reason Aug./Sep.
2013: 2-4.
[12] Loder,
Kurt. Bat Chain Puller: Rock & Roll in the Age of Celebrity, rev. ed.
New York City: Cooper Square Press, 2002; Loder. The Good, the Bad, and
the Godawful: 21st-Century Movie Reviews. New York City:
Thomas Dunne Books, 2011; “Thanksgiving ’97.”
MTV, 27 Nov. 1997.
[13] Ventura,
Michael. “An Arbitrary Nation, Part 6.” AC 26 Jul. 2013: 20.
[14] Stutzman,
Brad. “Mosque Barred From Parade.” AAS 13 Jul. 2013: B1
[15]
Cavanaugh, Tim. “Revealed Libertarianism.” Reason.com 28 Jul. 2003 <
http://reason.com/archives/2003/07/28/revealed-libertarianism/print >;
Evans, M. Stanton. The Theme is Freedom: Religion, Politics, and the
American Tradition. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 1994.
[16] Schwartz,
Jeremy. “Judge to Rule on Religious Evidence.” AAS 17 Aug. 2013: B1.
[17] AD No.
144n21 (Aug. 6, 2011).
[18] Fregosi,
Paul. Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests From the 7th to the 21st
Centuries. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1998; Pryce-Jones, David.
The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs, rev. ed. Chicago:
Ivan R. Dee, 2002.
[19] Jones,
Alex, and Paul Joseph Watson. “NSA: Spying, Intimidation, Censorship.”
Infowars Jul. 2013: 10-11.
[20] Ayala,
Christine. “Spreading Roots.” DT 15 Jul. 2013: 6-7.
[21] “Downtown
Trees Worth a Lot of Money to City.” ABJ 16 Aug. 2013: 11.
[22] Grattan,
Robert. “City Code Puts Damper on Urban Farming.” ABJ 19 Jul 2013: 12.
[23]
Plohetski, Tony. “Pair’s Travel Bills Near $60,000.” AAS 14 Jul. 2013: A1+.
[24] Pagano,
Elizabeth. “City Promises to Obey Law … Eventually.” AC 19 Jul. 2013: 14-15.
[25] Smith,
Amy. “Sunshine for the Homeless.” AC 26 Jul. 2013: 8.
[26] Watson,
Brandon. “No Room for Gays at the Red Room.” AC 26 Jul. 2013: 14.
[27] “Gay
Marriage Bill Clears House of Lords.” The Daily Telegraph 16 Jul.
2013: 2.
[28] AD No.
152n32 (July 4, 2012).
[29] P.J.
Watson and Jones. “Social Engineering & Racial Division: The Trayvon Martin
Tragedy.” Infowars Aug. 2013: 10-12.
[30] Buchholz,
Jan. “At Mueller, It’s Full Steam Ahead.” ABJ 16 Aug. 2013: 17-19; Buchholz.
“First Look.” ABJ 2 Aug. 2013: 6; Ross, Robyn. “From Runways to Sidewalks.”
AC 9 Aug. 2013: 20-22+; Wood, Virginia B. “Food-O-File.” AC 2 Aug. 2013: 29.
[31] “Slacker
1991 vs. Slacker 2011.” AC 2 Aug. 2013: 53.
[34] AD No.
144n35; City of Austin. Public
Works Deparment. Notice of Filing of Application for Administrative
Approval of a Site Plan 17 Jul. 2013.
[35] Copelin,
Laylan. “Tackling Blackout Divides Board.” AAS 10 Aug. 2013: A1+.