- P.S. 504 (8/21/2006) - The elites in this country used to have shame, or, at least, you could shame them when they did the wrong thing. Those days are long-gone, as evidenced by the naked power grab of the Katrina recovery in New Orleans, where, shortly after the hurricane, the state legislature took over most of the city's schools and voided the teacher's union contract. How utterly shameless must a politician be to view an unprecedented natural disaster as… …
- Gender, Identity and the Grey Lady (8/19/2006) - Like a brontosaurus trudging into a tar pit, the New York Times just blundered into a debate that up to now has been best left to feminist journals and Queer discussion groups, in the Fashion & Style section, no less. With the nuance of a brickbat and the keen understanding of someone who has watched "The L Word," writer Paul Vitello takes a look at lesbian response to transmen and finds (surprise!) some unease. Unhip… …
- No Comment (8/17/2006) - The website is undergoing some technical problems. The server, which I like to picture as a little old computer sitting in Don Doumakes' closet, needs some hardware and software upgrades and will be back to its sprightly self in a few weeks. When the website is here, the Blarg has not been. Excessive comment spam (hundreds and thousands of posts about boner pills and online gambling) were overwhelming the server, resulting in error messages. Regrettably,… …
- Scoop (8/1/2006) - Like all of Woody Allen's movies since his "early, funny ones,""Scoop" has received pretty uneven reviews. One camp considers it a loose, freewheeling trifle. The other, a plodding, boring mess. Count me in the former camp. "Scoop" is silly fun. It's got Woody being Woody - stammering, neuroses, card tricks and Vaudeville humor - minus the distasteful groping of young ladies (a Herculean feat for any man when you are the Director and the delectable… …
- Selling Us Down the Kentucky River (7/15/2006) - Leaving for school tomorrow, now seems a good time to reflect upon the greatest current threat to labor unions: the group of cases that are collectively called "Kentucky River." Jonathan Tasini efficiently sums them up: In a normal, sane world, these cases (involving nurses) would not pass the smell test: the employers are seeking to classify these nurses as "supervisors" because they exercise "independent judgement" ("yes, that patient is going into cardiac arrest so I… …
- More Notoriety (7/11/2006) - You can't even pump your gas in this town without people interviewing you for a newspaper article (See next to last paragraph). A YELLOW LIGHT FOR POLICE'S RACE PLAN Experts and LI drivers say Suffolk police should proceed with caution in project to record race of those stopped for traffic violations BY JENNIFER MALONEY Newsday Staff Writer July 12, 2006 Law enforcement experts and Suffolk residents reacted with skepticism yesterday to the Suffolk police department's… …
- Frank Zeidler, Greatest Living American, Is Dead (7/8/2006) - Frank Zeidler, former Mayor of Milwaukee and Chairman Emeritus of the Socialist Party USA, died last night at the age of 93. Frank occupies a unique place in history as the last bona-fide Socialist mayor of a major American city, serving three terms between 1948 and 1960. To the rest of the country, Milwaukee in the 1950's seems so bland, so middle-American and middle-class that it was the setting of the tv sitcom "Happy Days."… …
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- Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman (6/27/2006) - Given my relentless campaign to promote "the Q" (that's the totally rad nickname that all the hipsters will soon be calling my neighborhood, Kew Gardens), I was delighted to find that Hollywood produces blocked off much of the intersection of Austin St. and Lefferts Blvd. this past weekend to shoot scenes for Spiderman 3 (there's already a teaser trailer, even though the movie won't be out until next summer). Hopefully, Spidey will swing past the… …
- Goal. (6/18/2006) - I was at the H Mart buying creatures of the deep for a Fathers Day meal when I was startled by the sudden roar of cheers and a polite, but enthusiastic, burst of applause. The Japanese and Korean checkers and baggers were gathered around a teevee that had a terrible reception of Telemundo. Korea had just scored against France to tie the match. Oh, that's right. The rest of the world is intensely focused on… …
- Jim Hurd, 1955-2006 (6/8/2006) - It is a special peculiarity of our time that it is possible write an obituary for a friend that you have never met. I think I first heard about Jim Hurd, the Hoosier Socialist, from Jen Ray bitching about him (Hell, she bitched about everyone, so why not him?) ten years ago. Jim was a gadfly on the Socialists Unmoderated mailing list and a member of the Socialist Party. Jim quit the party over some… …