Tuesday, June 29, 2004

here is an example of modern rhetorical invective from hugh hewitt:

'Michael Medved advised me this morning that I could not possibly grasp how lousy a film is Fahrenheit 9/11 unless I had seen it. So I went today, and Michael was right.  The movie gives propagandists a bad name.  At least it could have been well-made anti-American tripe.  Instead it is a crudely made and insufferably dull march through the fever swamps of the unhinged left. It is pulling in big bucks, which is a testament to the disposable income of the swamp residents, but put me down as one in favor of even broader distribution and bigger box offices for the picture.  It is an anchor around John Kerry's neck as ordinary Americans not filled with self-loathing will despise Moore for his transparent lies and not trust a political party that does not reject them.  I am more certain than I was last week that attending the premier and the standing ovation that followed it was a mistake for Tom Daschle.  The folks in South Dakota should hear repeatedly of Daschle's sympathy for Moore's project and point-of-view.  The John Kerry-Michael Moore Democrats do in fact represent a low point for that party, and unless and until the Kerrys and Daschles denounce the fraud for what he is, they are stuck with him  Some on the left are proclaiming Moore to be their Limbaugh. He's not.  Moore is the Democrats' David Duke, but they are putting their arm around him.

'I will not reprise the now well-known deceptions abundant in the movie.  The best romp through that territory is Christopher Hitchens'.  But I will note the one undeniable benefit of the movie's success.  It provides a handy reference to the intelligence of the person who sees it.  If you encounter anyone speaking in tones even remotely approaching respect for the movie, you have proof positive that the speaker is a fool, not to be trusted on any point, for he or she has given testimony as to their ignorance of basic facts and of an inability to detect even elephant-sized inconsistencies in argument and story line. 

'Michael Moore is the latest in a long line of entrepreneurs who have proven P.T. Barnum to have been on the money when it came to the number of suckers abroad in our land.  Sure he's a Jabba-sized oaf, but give him his due.  He knew how to play the left's paranoia like a fiddle, and he did.'

Saturday, June 26, 2004

sorry for the lack of posts recently.

but go here for an interesting article about oil.

sleep sleep sleep.

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

read this (http://slate.msn.com/id/2102723/) from christopher hitchens on fahrenheit 9/11.

p.s. does anybody know why the 'links' button doesn't appear on a mac?

p.p.s dave--could you send me the hyperlink formula again?

Saturday, June 19, 2004

can't say for certain when the next time i'll be posting is, but you all will be the first to know.

well, second. i guess i'll probably know before you.

and i guess it's not likely that you'll all be second, unless for some reason you all check davebergman at the EXACT SAME TIME. but one of you will be second.

and THAT makes me glad.

happy birthday to matthew!

dum-dum eric forgot to wish someone else happy birthday today, but thankfully she forgave him.

anyway, hope you're enjoying the day, matthew. hope allison remembered to send you the REALLY AWESOME present i got you.

Friday, June 18, 2004

worth reading.

go here, because this guy is extremely clever and witty. i hadn't visited it in a while, and so was pleasantly greeted by a number of posts which were new to me.

at times, i wanted to LAUGH.

who does this guy think he is? if i had the spare 30 seconds, i would say something about these jokers.

but as things stand, i need to pick my nose.

drove back from the Dizzle to the Phizzle today. it was nice drive; i caught some sun once i got into PA. also, i got two hot dogs for $1.79 at a pilot station somewhere in ohio. it doesn't really match up to planet sheetz in dover/new philadelphia, ohio, but still pretty sweet.

in other motoring news, yesterday i was doing some intrastate driving in michigan on I-94 east. the road was two lanes wide, i believe, and at one point at the exact same spot in the road, i saw a sign on my left that said 'right lane closed 1 mile' and a sign on my right that said 'left lane closed 1 mile'. well, as you can imagine, this was quite a conundrum. i mean, how can both lanes be closed at the same spot?

thankfully, all was worked out.

by the way, i was glad to see that the lakers got all the guys who, along with me, got cut from the junior varsity basketball team to play for them in the NBA finals.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

oh, man. what an awesome game. i was glad to see the pistons beat the boys from the local community college...er, the lakers. come on, folks--the pistons so owned that game that i could hardly believe l.a. had a winning record this season.

i'd like to see a michael moore documentary about the series, because in his version l.a. undoubtedly would emerge victorious, and to boot it would include interviews with pistons claiming that they never wanted to win anyway.

but that aside--what a sweet set of games. the D is happy, i'm sure. shows what defense and team unity are good for.

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

from today's detroit news:

Man swallows 3.5 pounds of cocaine

Oslo, NOrway--A smuggler swallowed 3.5 pounds of cocaine to avoid detection but was caught in southern Norway nevertheless, the customs service said Monday. Per Emil Wikoeren, head of the Customs Region Southern Norway, said the man, posing as an asylum seeker, had swallowed the cocaine in 160 small packages. The amount was a Norwegian record, he said, and possibly a record worldwide. The man is from Nigeria and is in his 20s. Wikoeren declined to estimate the value of the cocaine.

Monday, June 14, 2004

that's interesting, washington post. blame the u.s. for the state of the sudan. wasn't this supposed to be another one of those things the UN could handle (and at which they proved inept at so doing)? i mean, i know it's hard to stop mass-murder when you've got an oil-for-food program to worry about, but come on.

apparently michael 'mr. working-class' moore is also a coward.

kobe who?

awesome.

AWESOME.

also, the tigers took 4 out of 6 from the braves/marlins. nice.

now they're off to philly.

Friday, June 11, 2004

'No man is an Island, entire of it self; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.'

(John Donne, from 'Devotions upon Emergent Occasions: Meditation XVII' (1624))

well, matthew beat me to it tonight. but it WAS a sweet game. man, was that good. the first time the lakers have been held to less than 70 points since the institution of the shot clock. ben and rip both looked in top form. beauty.

also, i ate tonight at this restaurant in close proximity to lake erie. they give you an incredible amount of food. one dinner comes with bread, soup, salad and choice of potato, plus coffee or tea. yes. and i also tried turtle soup for (i think) the first time in my life.

saw the bloodline for a brief span yesterday. that boy has learned how to do some woodworking.

finally, i was happy to see that the tigers bounced back to take the final two games of their series with the braves.

finally #2, V is humanitarian of the week this week for telling me how to post links.

now, go do the right thing.

Thursday, June 10, 2004

'In our age, when men seem more than ever prone to confuse wisdom with knowledge, and knowledge with information, and to try to solve problems of life in terms of engineering, there is coming into existence a new kind of provincialism which perhaps deserves a new name. It is a provincialism, not of space, but of time; one for which history is merely the chronicle of human devices which have served their turn and been scrapped, one for which the world is the property solely of the living, a property in which the dead hold no shares. The menace of this kind of provincialism is, that we can all, all the peoples on the globe, be provincials together; and those who are not content to be provincials, can only become hermits. If this kind of provincialism led to greater tolerance, in the sense of forbearance, there might be more to be said for it; but it seems more likely to lead to our becoming indifferent, in matters where we ought to maintain a distinctive dogma or standard, and to our becoming intolerant, in matters which might be left to local or personal preference.'

(T.S. Eliot, 'What is a Classic?' (1944))

a couple of days ago, i stumbled across the little universe of david talcott. i decided to append as a comment to one of his posts a word of hello and the two addresses of beautiful blogdom at which i may be found. thus, you can imagine my surprise when, upon visiting his blog today and seeing a post stating that he had updated his blog roll, i eagerly scanned the list and STILL did not find either the campus or dave bergman listed. i'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation for this omission; i, however, am unable to formulate it at present.

by the way, if someone could tell me how i can list links on the side of this here blog, i would appreciate it in an incredibly tertiary fashion.

and yes, i am that inept with computers.

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

what was it that lenin said about useful idiots?

oh, boo hoo, dan and tom--though tom does speak one truth, for he certainly knows something about 'over-coverage'. that was one of approximately two things i learned during that ugly spate of watching the national evening news about a month ago.

what was the second?

oh, i can't remember.

couple of tough losses for the D tonight. the tigers lost a close one in 10 at comerica, due, in my admittedly humble opinion, to two errors and one bad coaching decision--putting urbina in on the mound for an inning, who did great, and then replacing him with patterson in the 10th. but i still give my whole-hearted support to alan trammell, because, well, he's my favorite player EVER. all in all, it was a close game with some great plays, and it was also possibly the most perfect (dig my intensification of the superlative) night for baseball in history.

then i came home to catch the end of the pistons/lakers game. unfortunately, the pretty boys won in overtime tonight even after a great pistons comeback, but i have high hopes for when they come to play in michigan on thursday. i'm hoping that they play so well that their momentum and energy and SHEER AWESOMENESS cause the sunglasses to fall right off of jack nicholson's face.

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

going to see the tigers play the braves tonight. it should be sweet.

now, if the pistons can beat the l.a. fakers again tonight, that would be doubly sweet. if someone could teach me how to use a VCR so that i can tape the game, that person would be in line for the 'humanitarian of the week' award.

saddened by the death of RR.

perhaps that makes me similar to alex p. keaton; perhaps that is of no great moment to me.

back from the land of the ice and snow.

in other words: from the north.

it was neither icy nor snowy.

in other words: the weather was sweet, as was the company.

i ate some moosetracks ice cream, and let me tell you: it was GOOD.

i also saw a canoe hoisted to the ceiling of a garage by means of a complex pulley system. it was, i think, unlike anything i've ever seen before in a residential car-storage facility.

finally: i read/listened to some short stories by john updike. for the most part, they were interesting. they were also rather pleasing, stylistically speaking. one of especial intrigue was called 'dear alexandros'.

and with that, i leave you for the pleasantries of slumber.

Saturday, June 05, 2004

probably no posts till monday night/tuesday morning.

but to keep you going: i saw the last 15 seconds of an episode of 'leave it to beaver' on thursday. in the credits, i think there was someone named lumpy.

also, i watched 'legally blonde' last night, and it was deep. today, i watched 'remember the titans' and 'coyote ugly'. 'legally blonde' was, by far, the sweetest. the makers did a much better job of leaving themselves a possibility of a sequel (which, i know, exists, but which i have not seen at present) than the makers of 'troy'.

until next time, begin thinking about why romantic comedies are better than any other type of movie possible.

Friday, June 04, 2004

a friend just sent me the following food for cogitation from a.w. tozer's 'the knowledge of the holy':

'True religion confronts earth with heaven and brings eternity to bear upon time... no religion has ever been greater than it's idea about God... Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.'

Thursday, June 03, 2004

today i took my parents' dog for a walk. he is scared of semis and farm implements. so whenever he gets wind that a semi or farm implement is coming fore or aft, he immediately runs.

now: luke the collie runs in the same direction (that is, in the direction we were already walking) regardless of the direction whence the semi or farm implement is speeding (or puttering). thus, in his effort to escape from semis and farm implements, luke very often actually ends up running after them.

i suppose this may be somewhat analogous to chasing one's own tail.

or to what happens in my brain when i attempt to speak before 11 a.m.

circumstantial evidence that george soros did not graduate from high school.

davus demarcatus: if you wish to read stove's whole argument on popper, the book is available online here.

i just read john shelby spong's Q&A column this week in which he attributes homicide bombing to an excess of 'despair'.

yeah, that sounds about right. i've regularly seen more insight on the back of a cereal box.

and at least cereal companies are honest about how unhealthy it is for me to intake their product.

then again, maybe all the bombers are existentialists. i don't know.

there is something else i would like you to know. my lady friend and i stopped at the single greatest gas station in existence last night: the sheetz in dover/new philadelphia, ohio. it really is an experience that commands the attention of all the senses.

the best part, besides the gratuitous use of the letter 'z' in words like 'cupz' and 'coffeez', is that, via computer touch-screens, you can actually order your schmuffins and schmagels FROM THE PUMP.

eat your heart out, marathon.

i saw richard buckner in ann arbor tonight. i can only describe it in the superlative. his music and stage presence give me involuntary neck-spasms (yes, as opposed to VOLUNTARY neck-spasms, which i have ALL THE TIME--or at least whenever i WANT). there is something telling about seeing a soul in misery enfleshed before your eyes. perhaps the most poignant and heartbreaking moment of the show was the emendation in 'gauzy dress in the sun' of the line 'you're the one, yeah, you're the one' to 'now you're just someone'. anyway, he did two encores and easily could have done six more. i really wonder if he reads any sherwood anderson.

there are a couple of other things of sweetastic nature to note. i met my lady friend, adam beauchamp (don't worry, two different people), and his brother outside the venue before the show, which was a sweet occurrence in and of itself, and all according to plan. but then, who should happen to be there in addition but a bunch of erstwhile hillsdalians and one current hillsdalian? that's right, folks--we saw megan and karen oprea, kevin weber, kehoe and ferris. several of us went for a pint of ale following the twang-nationals, and good times were had by all (this is my inference, though i must say i did not attempt to verify it by an epistemologically sound method).

furthermore, we saw two members of the now-defunct small brown bike. i will only say that those chaps rocked my face on a number of occasions, and i was happy to see that they have as good of taste (anyone care to define my genitive?) in music as i do.

ha.

i am eating doritos right now. aside from the fact that they are making my fingers greasier than james dean, they are awesome. my parents' dog is chewing a bone behind me and appears to be enjoying it as much as i am my doritos.

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