So Tenet is gone. So Chalabi now says "the CIA made me do it," or "it's the CIA's fault," or whatever. Please--everybody who didn't see this coming, raise your hand; that shouldn't take long. Questions: why so many sleazeballs running things? Why is everything so predicatable? Why does all of this seem so familiar, or have I, at 52, lived too long and grown too cynical? Tenet bows out, and the Bush spinners start mumbling about how the liberals gummed up and hamstrung the CIA, so it was basically un-runnable? Is it, finally, not possible in this country to have security and real freedom, i.e. freedom to enjoy one's own politics? I don't understand two essential things, neither of which are original thoughts: why does being a "patriot" only mean a right-wing, militaristic jingoistic patriot; and where are the libertarians and the right-to-lifers and such when these issues come up? They're in the same danger as the left on these issues, y'know. I think it's possible to have an intelligence mechanism in this country that gets the job done in a lawful manner without spying on citizens who are going about their lawful business, and without making unnecessary intrusions on our daily life, and still finding whatever bad guys are lurking within. Koresh was a bad guy, no doubt about it. Why all the guns and secrecy if his object was all sublime? Probably, the government overreacted to him; probably there was better way to handle that whole mess. But that's is the crux of the matter, isn't it?: lines need to be drawn so that the processes of detection/enforcement can work to protect us without crushing us. Tose two ideals are not mutually exclusive.
In other news, great story in the NYT on the death of TechTV and the (lack of) depth of G4TechTV. Also, Sarah Lane promises details here but she won't say when.
Magruder's Monktet sounded great last night at rehearsal, thanks mostly to sensitive (quiet but firm) playing from Roy Wiegand III on trumpet. I've been asked to write some charts, and I may yet, I may yet...We'll be back at the Jazz Bakery soon, although no date is guaranteed. I'm hoping to see more than twenty people, although if they have us in again on a Sunday afternoon, I wouldn't count on it. This is, after all, L.A., where no one comes to your show, though they expect you to come to their show.
According to this, George Wallace is the "King of 'yo' Mama' jokes." I didn't even realize there was a clear line of succession in this area. Who is the prince? Did George inherit this throne from the great Red Foxx the First or did he seize it in a crusade? This flyer was in my Flamingo room, and, presumably in each and every room so as to avoid any pretender's claim to the kingdom of Yo' Mama.
