the daily snivel
I Despair Sometimes, I Really Do
Now that the worst impulses of the wanton conservative heart have been satisfied by the Senate's orgiastic passage of the draft legislation to authorize a military regime that enables the detention and torture of "enemy combatants" in US-run gulags, where the constitutional rights to habeas corpus or the production of disclosure evidence will not exist, I can honestly say that I am heartbroken. I am bitterly disappointed in the willful abandonment of all the values that make the United States of America a country worth living in or fighting for. I do not believe it can claim to have any moral authority in the "war on terror" any longer.
In Canada, we need only look to the cruelty that was inflicted upon Maher Arar without any regard for human rights, the rule of law, or government accountability, to see that these powers can and will be abused. No one will be made more safe by this perversion. To the contrary, it will increase international anger and radicalism against the US, it will endanger the safety of US troops when they are taken prisoner, and strip the US government of any moral high ground when they object to future abuses perpetrated against them. This will be long remembered as a dark hour of that nation's history, made the worse by the many people, doubtlessly good intentioned, who supported it or said nothing in opposition.
Many more have said it much more eloquently than I, so I won't add more than that right now.
Instead of crying into mybeer coffee tea water (it's the only liquid within my budget), I thought I would spread around a little of the goodness that can make these moments temporarily step aside due to the fact that you're having a good laugh. It's the 700 Hoboes Project.
I don't know why hoboes are funny -- I deal with a lot of homeless clients, and clients with mental disorders, and their problems are most assuredly not funny -- but the idea of the rambling, wandering, boxcar-hopping tramp of the Depression era can (think of the song "Big Rock Candy Mountain"), in the right light, genuinely tickle the black humour in my heart.
The idea behind the 700 Hoboes project is to get artists from across the internet to contribute illustrations of 700 fictitious hoboes whose names appeared in a spoken word excerpt of the "wonderful and wholly inaccurate almanac" entitled The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman. All of the names are clever, and while some of the illustrations strike me as cop-outs (e.g. pasting in some pre-existing drawing or photo) or poor fits, others are completely bang on and ingenious, and are guaranteed leave you in stitches. Hodgman has given the site his blessing and links to it from his own site. Here are some of my favourites:
Guesstimate Jones
Ol' Barb Stab-You-Quick
Mr. Wilson Fancypants
Apparently Mitch Dixon
Prostate Davey
Boxcar Jones, the Boxcar Benjamin Disraeli
You can also just browse the Flickr gallery here.
Hat tip: Thanks to Mel for showing me this site.
UPDATE:
Just wanted to mention that Mr. Hodgman, who wrote the 700 Hobo names, has appeared on the Daily Show as both a guest (promoting his book) and a "Resident Expert" on several different subjects. He also plays the role of the nerdy PC in the "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" commercials. So nifty.
Comments:In Canada, we need only look to the cruelty that was inflicted upon Maher Arar without any regard for human rights, the rule of law, or government accountability, to see that these powers can and will be abused. No one will be made more safe by this perversion. To the contrary, it will increase international anger and radicalism against the US, it will endanger the safety of US troops when they are taken prisoner, and strip the US government of any moral high ground when they object to future abuses perpetrated against them. This will be long remembered as a dark hour of that nation's history, made the worse by the many people, doubtlessly good intentioned, who supported it or said nothing in opposition.
Many more have said it much more eloquently than I, so I won't add more than that right now.
Instead of crying into my
I don't know why hoboes are funny -- I deal with a lot of homeless clients, and clients with mental disorders, and their problems are most assuredly not funny -- but the idea of the rambling, wandering, boxcar-hopping tramp of the Depression era can (think of the song "Big Rock Candy Mountain"), in the right light, genuinely tickle the black humour in my heart.
The idea behind the 700 Hoboes project is to get artists from across the internet to contribute illustrations of 700 fictitious hoboes whose names appeared in a spoken word excerpt of the "wonderful and wholly inaccurate almanac" entitled The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman. All of the names are clever, and while some of the illustrations strike me as cop-outs (e.g. pasting in some pre-existing drawing or photo) or poor fits, others are completely bang on and ingenious, and are guaranteed leave you in stitches. Hodgman has given the site his blessing and links to it from his own site. Here are some of my favourites:
Guesstimate Jones
Ol' Barb Stab-You-Quick
Mr. Wilson Fancypants
Apparently Mitch Dixon
Prostate Davey
Boxcar Jones, the Boxcar Benjamin Disraeli
You can also just browse the Flickr gallery here.
Hat tip: Thanks to Mel for showing me this site.
UPDATE:
Just wanted to mention that Mr. Hodgman, who wrote the 700 Hobo names, has appeared on the Daily Show as both a guest (promoting his book) and a "Resident Expert" on several different subjects. He also plays the role of the nerdy PC in the "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" commercials. So nifty.
