Just Because You're Paranoid Doesn't Mean They...

Greetings, friends,
I love September. Even confined to my apartment, nursing a bad back, the weirdest and most intriguing things seem to happen in September.

Since nobody I knew showed up at "The Tenth Victim" last night, I can only say: it was a new print from Cine'Citta, and you've got your priorities mixed up.

Here's some footage you don't even need to stand up for, if you've got a broadband connection (thanks, Dorothy):
Check out some Japanese commercials featuring Arnold S. Some are pretty
funny (mind the volume, though, if you're at work)!
http://www.japander.com/japander/schwarz.htm

If you can dare to get up and get out, tomorrow (or today for most of you) Geri will be doing her thing and I will be there, back or no:
>>Monday Sept. 15th
SBL-Full Band
The Echo
1822 Sunset Blvd.
(213) 413-8200.
9:30 PM
More info
http://www.silverlakefilmfestival.com/slffevents.htm
Ticket prices are...
$20 for the movie and live show at the Echo immediately following.
**Free drink with your movie stub at the Echo
$12.00 at the door for just the show at the Echo.
For Tickets.....
http://www.ticketweb.com/user/?region=socal&query=detail&event=456049
Super Love,
S B L
http://www.sbleisure.com/
http://www.divineos.com/promo/

And now, let's explore the dark side. Remember all those great sci-fi movies in the Seventies and Eighties, where the palm print or the retinal scan will open smooth shiny white sliding doors? Well the reality is upon us:
U.S. demands biometrics for passports, visas in year
Biometric technology that scans faces, fingerprints or other physical characteristics to confirm people's identities is about to get its biggest, most public test: at U.S. border checkpoints. Yet significant...
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2001608232_btbiometric25.html

Our government is leaping ahead in making our borders safe. One way is to demand all passenger information from airlines...and that goes beyond your destination and coffee, tea or milk. That includes your hotel, your car, what kind of a meal you had on the plane, etc. The Europeans are rightly balking at this rather pointless invasion of privacy:
http://www.EUobserver.com/index.phtml?aid=12619&sid=9

If you like to read in German, here's another:
Folgende Nachricht zu einem interessanten Artikel von Frankfurter Rundschau online wurde an Sie übermittelt:
Achtung: Für den Inhalt der Nachricht übernehmen wir keine Haftung!
Titel des Artikels:
EU will mehr Datenschutz für Fluggäste
Nutzen Sie den folgenden Link, um den Artikel zu lesen!
http://www.fr-aktuell.de/ressorts/nachrichten_und_politik/international/?cnt=300207
Achtung: Für die Existenz des Links übernehmen wir keine Gewähr!

Yep, these are sci-fi days in Washington, to be sure:
Bush Administration: Carbon Dioxide Not a Pollutant
By Seth Borenstein
Knight Ridder News Service
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/090103E.shtml

But not everyone likes science fiction, especially when it includes the new American ways of torture, yeah, that's right, torture:
Don't wag your finger at us, Mr Bush
Henry Porter, a proud friend of America, reluctantly concludes that the President must listen more and lecture less if he is to win Europe's support.
Henry Porter
Saturday May 25 2002
The Guardian
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/worldview/story/0,11581,722410,00.html

Even the most gung-ho neocon warmongers in DC, however, have a limit...
News Analysis: U.S. setbacks abroad led to policy shift
By Steven R. Weisman/NYT
http://www.iht.com./articles/109016.htm

And even our friends in the 51st state have a limit too. Here's a threat my ancestors once made (and made good on) to the English:
Iraqis Threaten to Go it Alone
By Ilene R. Prusher
The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/090603B.shtml

This is why I will never compare Iraq to Vietnam: Vietnam was an example to the world, and afterwards no puppet state could completely rely on us, and no group of terrorists would completely back down from us:
Remembering, 2 years later
By Richard Bernstein
http://www.iht.com./articles/109570.htm

Isn't that really what the UN is for, to give all voices a table? Well, it's in the charter, anyway:
The U.N. in Iraq
Le Monde Editorial
Le Monde
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/090803H.shtml

One country has always been fighting the UN, perhaps successfully. They have a long and bitter history, and now, as always, are surrounded by unfriendly neighbors. This is finally taking a toll on the country which may wreck the democracy they're so proud of. A dark article on the sudden vacuum in the end of Zionism:
A failed Israeli society is collapsing
By Avraham Burg
http://www.iht.com./articles/108989.htm

Incidentally, I found this interesting UN document about the "additional protocol" for special inspections, which the US is demanded Iran sign onto. It seems that a lot of countries, including the US, have such an additional protocol; but in our case, it means a lot less inspection and oversight. Sounds nice in a bureaucratic context, 'cept we're talking about nuclear war:
http://www.state.gov/t/np/rls/fs/2002/10316.htm

And finally...
You might recall some time back, there was an on-line poll by Mattel to pick Barbie's next occupation. The choices were: police officer, librarian and architect. Librarian was, then, ahead with 71%. Then some people at the AIA got involved and started an e-mail campaign, encouraging their fellow architects to propel their profession over the top (and they succeeded.) They included some old slams at my noble profession, including the idea that Barbie was not quite frumpy enough to be a librarian. I won't respond with any slurs of my own; on the contrary, I think Barbie should be a role-model for architects.
http://www.construction.com/NewsCenter/it/news/20021205a.asp

Vive le Screed!