Saturday, February 26, 2005

The End of History

I.

Mr. Phenomenology is by now a familiar story,
the basic principles of which are considerable contradictions,
a jumble of current events, modern political doctrines,
and a flood of articles. Flabby and weak-willed, the professor
might best be understood as watching over some
larger process in violence and self-confidence.

II.

For him, the apparent promises regarding the passionate
on the right and the well-educated on the left are
spiritual pollution. The various slowdowns in world history
are more properly seen as virtually irrelevant.

III.

Such nostalgia I can feel in myself.
The struggle for recognition
is still caught in the grip
of a very widespread belief that is impossible to rule out:
systems previously unrecognized out of sheer cynicism.

IV.

A hand on the trigger of the gun:
what has happened, what is important—
here again the example seemed intolerable,
increasingly dismal, and anachronistic.
Explicit and self-aware, he scrambles human history,
creates consciousness, which in the long run
may not be what one might label
a rational tendency to retreat (correctly understood).
With typical solipsism his conflict remains
primarily a deformed outgrowth in which
there are no homogenous rivalries.

From the essay "The End of History," by Francis Fukuyama, published in The National Interest, summer 1989.

Coulterkampf #6

She won't even share
such things, saying, “I used to
play the worst skinhead”

A savage lie, a
promise not to laugh: it must
be a real doozy

Admittedly, these
"reasons" were not prestigious:
how about sharing?

Haiku created from Ann Coulter's February 17 column.

Friday, February 18, 2005

To the Reader

New books, important this winter, submit without the expectation of payment, except, occasionally, in comments.

Neither time nor space is undertaken imperfectly without capital.

But the opportunity suggests all the books of the season have made the project possible, have supplied their reviews and their time on short notice.

This issue of some books temporarily demands a need to hope, to discover, to take, and to pretend.

Pay the editors entirely, however.

Created from the editors' letter "To the Reader," The New York Review of Books, vol. 1, no. 1, Feb. 1, 1963.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Coulterkampf #5

Churchill’s been punished
by well-known people because
he smokes. Oh shut up.

Churchill was supposed
to search for combat teams, not
that Galileo

Churchill, talentless
and incompetent, at risk
because of Swiss cheese

Churchill poses by
the crackpots—so enamored
they make women cry

Churchill, why is it
men run? The whole idea
is very “2 plus 2”

Churchill, David, and
Jimmy grasp the current state
of little bright lines

Churchill, admitting
we are almost nothing to
the facts of disease

Churchill continued to
believe casino-blanket
camp mechanisms

Churchill cited Andy,
denied calling the army
little red herrings

Churchill has nothing.
A deus ex machina
for, of, toward, blah, blah…

Churchill is paid to end
knowledge in addition to
higher education

Haiku created from Ann Coulter's February 17 column.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

A Serious Problem

That it has not been solved in the last 20 months
ought not to surprise anybody. A reluctant process
would take people a matter of years—
11 years, 12 years—to ever really believe
the task is done. The situation is,
it's been months, it's been months....

From the transcript of a March 4, 2003, BBC interview with Donald Rumsfeld.

Seven Statements about Freedom

Freedom is enhanced by the expansion of freedom.
Freedom has deadly enemies.
Freedom has great and growing momentum.
Freedom is important.
Freedom is a part of a wholesome society.
Freedom is necessary.
Freedom scares them.

From the transcript of President Bush's January 26, 2005, news conference.

Monday, February 14, 2005

Coulterkampf #4

Churchill could give a
kiss on behalf of con men--
a crucial factor

Churchill already
has gone from being the chief
to anti-teepee

Churchill won't give you
credulous proponents of
other subtle clues

Churchill bought a white
poodle and never answered
the news magazine

Churchill hoodwinked some
books big-time; soon thereafter,
paintings of Elvis

Churchill forced his art
to confirm a series of
little memberships

Churchill is not in
the process; his phony “good
day” will answer that

Churchill’s souvenir
was apparently something
broken by The Man

Churchill was to stop
that verification; guess
what that means, readers?

Churchill met one of
the “witnesses” under tales
of “velvet combat”

Churchill, by his own
claim, is in a recent hell;
end of sad story

Churchill's unit is
central to his career—just
like his terror quotes

Churchill had simply
blurted out, “I never say
‘tommyhawk payback’”

Churchill revealed his
need to argue math, only
if against one-eighth

Haiku created from Ann Coulter's Feb. 9 column.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Definition

1 : framework 2 : a trained central unit especially able to control others with a unifying relationship* 3 : a group of people

Example sentence: Modern-day heroes needed courageous astronauts.

Did you know? To understand, we must first trace Latin roots. Squares can make good first French speakers and later English speakers. If you think, you'll understand how the framework holds well-trained military leaders together, even if they aren't unifying.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

From Merriam-Webster Online's entry for "cadre," the word of the day for February 7.

Saturday, February 05, 2005

All Americans Have the Same Health and Environmental Protections

Although power is a basic pollutant,
the entire geography ensures that limits
do much of the work. The example
recognizes that it makes sense to develop
a special understanding over designs,
money, controls. Each implementation plan
allows for problems anywhere. The weaker
individual studies opportunities to comment.

Created from the EPA's Plain English Guide to the 1990 Clean Air Act.

Coulterkampf #3

Millions haven’t been
this depressed since the French shot
four towel-biters

The cameraman’s plan
warned excited French, risked
dancing and singing

This one ball, if good,
could move something French to be
flying out my butt

The independent
audience may have been one
word to getting free

"Experience" of
events in the world imposed
by fading fingers

More than 100
would choose no countries, believe
they’re managed alone

Didn't reach out, get
out of said club because there's
bad news to add there

Haiku created from Ann Coulter's February 2, 2005, column.