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There will be a ritual tonight to give thanks to the gods of medicine for the benedictions of husbands, taxis, late-night chemists, and cough syrup. My place, clothes optional.

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I love playing with subtitles. I'm watching The French Connection, and the phrase "Encore de shopping?" was subtitled "More shopping?" That's the correct English equivalent, but does the French phrase literally (and wonderfully) mean "Again with the shopping?" :-)

ETA: He really does say "shopping", too, pronouncing it without the terminal g. Must be a loanword.

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I feel a little better, though how much of that is only symptomatic relief thanks to Jon's mercy mission and Lemsip and cough syrup remains to be seen. In any case I managed to crawl forth from the bed, take a bunch of towels and undies to the laundry, re-wash the horrible Fungus Kingdom living in the washing machine, and do a little washing up. If my luck holds I may be able to make dinner tonight. My brain is up to little more than reading OotP or watching the TV, though, and poor Jon's desperate for feedback on a couple of our writing projects.

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Dear Frank. Could you please not park your ass between the keyboard and the screen? I thank you.

Outfoxed

Well.

I'd heard of Fox's Bill O'Reilly, but I'd never had the pleasure until a few minutes ago, when I listened to an interview with the producer of
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. A clip was played of O'Reilly heaping hysterical abuse on the fourteen-year-old son of a 9/11 victim. The dignity and determination shown by the kid in the face of a frothing, vicious lunatic deserves a medal.

I have got to see this film. Because I want to see that raving bully take a four-hoof beatdown.

(Does the DVD cover remind anyone else of that Groenig panel about "very weird dreams"?)

Conservative vs Liberal

How meaningful are these terms?

In the interview re Outfoxed, producer Robert Greenwald made the obvious but easily forgotten point that to be a conservative in the US right now is not necessarily to be a supporter of Bush's every policy or an extremist. O'Reilly accused Greenwald of being an "ultra-liberal", whatever the fuck that is. Are these terms past their sell-by date? Have they become meaningless insults? What of the difference between an economic conservative and a social conservative? Do people self-identify as "conservative" or "liberal"*, or are we each aware that our own politics is too complex, and "our side" too diverse, to be summed up in a word? I only use the term "liberal" to describe myself jokingly as a "wishy-washy liberal", largely to distinguish myself from, say, Hothead Paisan.

Let me give you an example - over at Sticker Giant you can buy slogans from various political angles**, they're not fussy. One of the stickers says:

ANNOY A LIBERAL
Work hard and be happy

What does it *mean*? Is there anything more here than a vague insult - "Liberals are lazy whiners", the equivalent of the merely rude "Lobotomies for Republicans - it's the law"? Did the slogan's inventor spot the resemblance to "Don't worry, be happy", long mocked for its suggestion of sickly-sweet complacency? In terms of usefulness this is up there with that rock-dumb sticker "I believe in dragons, fairies, good men and other imaginary creatures". Slogans like "It ain't over until your brother counts the votes" or "Keep America working, buy American" at least carry a clear and specific meaning.

Hmm... "Welcome to America, now speak English". This is enormously amusing given the widespread mockery of American English. What does the alarming badge "Purity is not a crime" mean?! Wonderfully, plenty of slogans appear in both right- and left-wing categories ("Bill O'Rights for President").

I leave you with a nice one: "Resistance is not futile".

* Of course, in Australia the Liberal Party (in power) is largely more conservative than the Labor Party (the opposition) - you'll sometimes hear the phrase "small-l liberal" used to avoid confusion.

** They use "progressive" instead of "liberal", possibly as a catch-all for anything vaguely hippyish.

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Another moment from The French Connection - people buying plane tickets from New York to Washington, no ID, no questions asked, write your own name on the ticket. $54 return.