When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail

[lapsedmodernist]

The US military, painfully continuing its abuse of the lowest-common-denominator metaphor (although sadly not hyperbole), has explained that it is willing to "use a sledgehammer to crack a walnut." This contradicts the Shrub's earlier policy statement about how he is "not gonna fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt." Can you believe it?!
Ahem, how quickly we got from liberation back to war.

Wait, I know I linked to the article, but I have a suspicion that you people don't read the links, so get a load of this quote here:
"This is war," Major-General Charles Swannack, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, based in western Iraq, said during a briefing in Baghdad. "We're going to use a sledgehammer to crush a walnut. We're not going to prosecute this war holding one hand behind our back, we're going to use enough in our arsenal to win this fight."

In the meantime, no amount of "newly released" Saddam tapes can obfuscate the "duh" of what's happening with the
Iraqi insurgents who don't give a shit about Saddam, despite his role as the latest, post-Osama incarnation of the US-constructed "Goldberg" variation in its war with Oceania.

Comments

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

They seem to have fooled themselves with their own propaganda line, that we only lost in Vietnam because we weren't serious about winning.

[warpsmith.livejournal.com]

Hey there. I don't comment much, but I'm a pretty avid reader of your entries. You're an excellent, entertaining writer that's got a lot of insight to offer. Would you consider writing for the print magazine that I'm co-founding?

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

wow, thanks!
i would definitely consider it. can you tell me more about the magazine, like the mission statement and the subjects and the practical aspects?

[warpsmith.livejournal.com]

We haven't hammered out the mission statement yet, but the jist of it can be seen at the info page of protomag. "Multicultural look at politics and entertainment" sums it up pretty well. It appears to be taking on a Socialist tilt, and it will definitely be taking shots at the Bush establishment. The first cover story will be coverage of the FTAA protests in Miami, where we have a reporter on the scene.

There will be a good deal in the way of music/movie reviews, comic strips, and art as well as personal stories and poetry. I'm trying to recruit comedy writers, because it's beginning to list towards the overly self-serious. It will hopefully maintain some of the anarchic sensibilities of DIY since this is basically homegrown publishing, but it will be a little slicker and more easily digestible than your average college punk set zine.

It's also special for another reason: this may be the first print magazine to spring from livejournal. The writers pool is almost entirely from my friends list, and I've got some amazing talent on board who are anxious to get started. It's gone from three local friends to an international effort. We have a printer that's so excited about the idea of a magazine of this nature, he is giving us the resources we need.

You can see the kind of heat the idea initially generated here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/warpsmith/72557.html). I think we really have captured lightning in a bottle here; it could be truly unique, maybe even important, and I'd like you on board.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

i checked out both links; it sounds like a very interesting undertaking. i understand that an "ethos" of a publication necessarily emerges in praxis, but i was curious about preemptive parameters because regardless of how theoretical or concrete what one writes is, the context in which it is published has a lot to do with how it's "read." so, while, for example, a "multicultural" or "cultural critique" forum is of great interest to me, something that is a platform for anarchism, socialism, or anything marxism-derived is not something i am interested in (i am mentioning this because of your comment about how it's taking on a Socialist tilt). if it's really an open forum for critical thought in different forms, i'd be interested; obviously i want to share my take on the current events and my theorizing about the zeitgeist. however, if it has a political agenda, or if it seems like one is emerging, i'd like to have a very clear understanding of what it is. also you should check out nuncstans's journal, if you have not yet, she is a brilliant writer/thinker.