The correct word is massacre, not war.

CNN of all places has a good article on the fact that Blair is starting to distance himself from Bush a little bit, with his spokesman saying

[Blair] underlined his view that the weapons inspectors in Iraq must be given the time and space they need to do their job and, in that sense, January 27, though an important staging post, shouldn’t be regarded in any sense as a deadline.

Meanwhile…

Train drivers yesterday refused to move a freight train carrying ammunition believed to be destined for British forces being deployed in the Gulf.

Railway managers cancelled the Ministry of Defence service after the crewmen, described as “conscientious objectors” by a supporter, said they opposed Tony Blair’s threat to attack Iraq.

The anti-war revolt is the first such industrial action by workers for decades.

Thanks to my friend Anees for the latter story.

The lovely and talented composer/performer Gordon Beeferman is performing in Williamsburg at Café Right Bank (upstairs) as part of the Avant Tuesday series.

I was talking with the waitress at dinner last night, and she mentioned that she is dating someone from North Carolina — he lives in Charlotte. She was playing scrabble with him, and she said, “I can’t remember, does isometric have a hyphen?”

His response was, “What did you say? It sounded like ‘I sold my truck’.”

… and his change in employment status.

Here is an MP3 (about 4MB) of theNEWDEAL’s “Exciting New Direction”.

Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer – January 6, 2003

Q At the earlier briefing, Ari, you said that the President deplored the taking of innocent lives. Does that apply to all innocent lives in the world? And I have a follow-up.

MR. FLEISCHER: I refer specifically to a horrible terrorist attack on Tel Aviv that killed scores and wounded hundreds. And the President, as he said in his statement yesterday, deplores in the strongest terms the taking of those lives and the wounding of those people, innocents in Israel.

Q My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?

MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, the question is how to protect Americans, and our allies and friends —

Q They’re not attacking you.

MR. FLEISCHER: — from a country —

Q Have they laid the glove on you or on the United States, the Iraqis, in 11 years?

MR. FLEISCHER: I guess you have forgotten about the Americans who were killed in the first Gulf War as a result of Saddam Hussein’s aggression then.

Q Is this revenge, 11 years of revenge?

MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, I think you know very well that the President’s position is that he wants to avert war, and that the President has asked the United Nations to go into Iraq to help with the purpose of averting war.

Q Would the President attack innocent Iraqi lives?

MR. FLEISCHER: The President wants to make certain that he can defend our country, defend our interests, defend the region, and make certain that American lives are not lost.

Q And he thinks they are a threat to us?

MR. FLEISCHER: There is no question that the President thinks that Iraq is a threat to the United States.

Q The Iraqi people?

MR. FLEISCHER: The Iraqi people are represented by their government. If there was regime change, the Iraqi —

Q So they will be vulnerable?

MR. FLEISCHER: Actually, the President has made it very clear that he has not dispute with the people of Iraq. That’s why the American policy remains a policy of regime change. There is no question the people of Iraq —

Q That’s a decision for them to make, isn’t it? It’s their country.

MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, if you think that the people of Iraq are in a position to dictate who their dictator is, I don’t think that has been what history has shown.

Q I think many countries don’t have — people don’t have the decision — including us.

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Mixed Greens has a nice interview with a male couple who are collectors as the latest Featured Collectors story.

James and I were interviewed by them last year.

I want to have arms like Jeremy Shockey.

After months of hard work, I present:

www.charlesgoldmanwork.com, featuring the artwork of Charles Goldman.

I supplied the technology, and Charles and I created the design.

I’m hoping to generalize the code into a side business for hosting artists’ web sites, but since my consulting job pays much better, it’s not the highest priority at the moment.

For those of you who have been to my apartment, Charles did the Formica Painting in the living room.

Maybe I ended that last post about The Blue Flower on more of a down note than I intended. I was tired, it was late, etc.

Also, the period beginning with pre-WW I Europe and ending with the collapse of the Weimar Republic is one of the most depressing episodes in Western civilization. Many artists, politicians, and thinkers believed that war would sweep away the ossified establishment, and a beautiful new order would be founded on the slate wiped clean by the chaos. People believed that the war would be over in a matter of weeks. It lasted four years and 10 million people died.

As we waited in line to go into the theatre last night, someone gave every person a small artificial blue flower, a bit like the red poppies that veterans sell or give away on Veterans’ Day — the anniversary of the armistice. Attached was a piece of paper with these words: Pro Patria Mori.

It’s sobering to live in a time where the people in charge of this country think war will make us safer. The European elite in 1914 was much more educated and cultured than our leaders, knew their history better, and yet made a horrible mistake when they thought the same thing.

I was reading the program this morning to learn more about the artists involved, and one of the things that struck me was that most of the people came from places like the plains of Texas, or Memphis, or western Pennsylvania. Maybe there is hope for art in America, as long as people can make it to NYC, and can find a way to afford to be here plus the audience they deserve. I also have to say I am extremely impressed by artists that choose to work with subjects like these, which have great resonance for our time but are not obvious “crowd pleasers.” Spend some time on the Weimarband web site. The amount of detail is a bit obsessive — the kind of site I would build if I were part of it.

I was just browing the web site of one of the performers who made me use the word “charismatic” in my earlier post, Jen Chapin. She is a musician and social activist. Check it out.

The Weimarband will be apppearing at Joe’s Pub on February 4 at 7pm, and the tickets are only $12.