From Small Town Misfit.
On the occassion of the US holiday of Memorial Day, the essay of the day, by guestblogger Darryl, over at Jesus' General.
I watched the documentary, Control Room, again last night. One of the scenes featured an Al Jazeera reporter, Hassan Ibrahim, discussing the run-up to the war with a number of Iraqi intellectuals. He told them that he did not believe that the American people would allow the war to happen. He said that we were a rational people and a people who revered justice above all else. I once thought that too. With all of our faults, I believed that we were a people who truly believed in reason, justice, and the principles of democracy, and maybe we did, but it is no longer true.We became vengeful and bloodthirsty, striking out against the innocent and the weak to ease our groundless fears. We are now Fox News. We are a nation of Malkins, Hewitts, and Charles Johnsons, frightened of everything that is different or alien to us and reacting violently.
My America is dead. Or perhaps more accurately, The America I believed in, and the people Ibrahim thought he knew, never existed. As saddened as I am at this realization, I now understand that I must fight even harder to ensure that we do not lose our way again.
Thanks to PerezHilton. A followup to the greatest moment in fandom. Indeed, what a feeling!
Oh fine. TAKE YOUR VIDEO DOWN, SEE IF I CARE. (replaced…for now) Instead, I present Michael Sandecki and Clay Aiken performing “A Spoonful of Sugar” from Mary Poppins.
Those people at the Generator Blog find the neatest little thingies. Such as:
From James' Japanprobe site, which is a cabinet of curiosities not to be missed by those who encounter the Japanese on a daily basis, and which I shall blogroll immediately.
In any case, it appears that what Americans are to Canadian tourist sites, so Koreans are to the Japanese. Bringing your own food to restaurants does indeed beat out the Yanks's hearty bellows of, "Y'all got chicken-frah'd stay-uk?" in the tackiness stakes. Read on for more tales of unspeakable gaucheness.
Vulgarity: the one true international language.
Behold, the island of Tsushima: a small Japanese island near Korea. Ten years ago only a few hundred Korean tourists visited the island each year. For some reason that number has increased to 40,000 Korean tourists each year! Let’s focus on the rude ones!
raincoaster 