andy2000.org | ANDISHEH NOURAEE

I'm not gonna spend my vacation blogging, but since I'm already sitting here at an Internet cafe on the Rynek Glowny in Krakow, Poland, what the heck!

Here's a photo of my second favorite sign in Poland.



My favorite sign, and several others, are one of my Flickr pages.

Now, I must go. My placki is getting cold.

Dear Republicans Who Believe In Small Government Or That Government Should Get Off Our Backs Or That Government Shouldn't Be A Nanny, etc.:

According to the AJC, last Friday night a woman named Denise Grier was pulled over in Dekalb County and given a $100 ticket because a police officer deemed her anti-Bush Administration bumper sticker to be in violation of the law.

In violation how? He apparently deemed the bumper sticker "lewd" because it contained the pun "Bushit."

Because "Bushit" isn't actually a word, and because even if it was a word, it's still not obscene, I expect that all of you get-government-off-our-backs Republicans are simply furious at what seems to be a case of an American citizen being targeted by law enforcement for her political views.

And because you're so angry at this petty abuse of govenment power, I'm sure you're going to want to call Dekalb County Police Chief Louis Graham at 404-294-2606 and tell him that you're not going to tolerate big government interfering with the free political expression of American citizens. You might even throw in a zinger about how the cops should be fighting violent crimes instead pulling over people for their bumper stickers.

When you defend Ms. Grier's right to express her political views with bad puns, you'll be telling your fellow citizens that your allegiance to the Constitution trumps your allegiance to your political party.

Yours in Patriotic Brotherhood,
Andisheh "Loves the First and Second Amendments Equally" Nouraee

UPDATE: Thank you again to all of the people who have offered help. We (meaning me, my girlfriend several other neighbors) have been able to collect a good amount on clothing, household goods and money to help our friends get back on their feet. The kids went back to school today with new clothes and new school supplies.

My access to e-mail will be sporadic for several days, so if you read the post below and want to contact me, I may not get back to you for a while.

-----Original post below:

My neighbor's house was destroyed by fire yesterday. The house was gutted.



No one was home at the time and no one was hurt.

However, all of their possessions were destroyed or damaged by fire, smoke or water.

If you have any clothes or household items you can spare, please let me know. I'll talk to the family and find out if they can use what you can spare and then I'll coordinate a pick-up.

They're a family of five -- two parents and three children (a 14 year-old boy, an 11-year old boy, and a five year-old girl). They lost nearly everything. I think that clothes -- socks, shirts, pants, etc. are the most immediate need.

I posted some more photos of the fire damage on my Flickr page. It's awful.

I'd appreciate it if those of you with blogs of your own could use some of your linky/re-posting magic to steer some attention to this request. They're a kind, loving family deserving of help.

The current war has been as lethal to Iraqi civilians as the Second World War was to American soldiers.

Really?

Yeah, really.

Read my latest column here.

The other day I said to myself, "Andy, I bet you'd enjoy hearing some German comedy records made between 1904-1909."

I was right, so I sent myself this link.

From Saturday's New York Times:

Corrections

Published: March 18, 2006

For the Record

A brief art review in Weekend on March 3 about photographs by Anthony Lepore at the Marvelli Gallery in Chelsea described one work incorrectly. It shows a woman holding a minister's belt, not touching his "exposed private parts."

Earlier today while reading the paper in a coffee shop, a woman walked up to me, squeezed my hand, and said smiling, "I didn't recognize you without your glasses on."

I don't wear glasses. I'd never met the woman before and have no idea who she is. I just smiled back and she walked away.

JetBlue adds US routes in effort to boost sales
Fri Mar 17, 3:10 PM ET

JetBlue Airways Corp. (Nasdaq:JBLU - news), looking for ways to revive its fortunes after a recent spate of bad news, said on Friday it would begin flying two routes where there is limited competition.

Read More

All this time, I thought they were flying those planes just for fun.

I received the following letter in response to my column about the U.S.'s nuclear agreement with India. I've divided it into paragraphs to make it more readable. Otherwise, it's unedited.

Greetings,

Good try being a critic of US-India nuclear deal Andisheh, but let me take this opportunity to enlighten you on India.

You mentioned that India is a 'rogue' nuclear state. India was never a rogue nuclear state because India never used or intended to use its nuclear power for anything other than peaceful purposes, unless invading country leaves us no option. Every country has a sovereign right to have a deterrent. When China and Pakistan, it's two neighbors have nuclear weapons, why can't India have them. For your reference China tested its first weapon in the early 60s. No pranks, Check it out

You said India refused to sign NPT and failed to mention why that was the case. NPT acknowledges any country that had nuclear weapons before 1967 and restricts them from transferring technology, weapons and so on and so forth, but the point you missed is that the five countries which had nuclear weapons by 1967 included China, so the NPT was automatically unacceptable to India. Do your research ….

Indians are considered peace loving. Read about Gandhi who is inspiration to Martin Luther King and South African leader Nelson Mandela. An Indian Muslim painter MF Hussein, living in Hindu dominated country, painted nude pictures of Hindu goddesses. Indians protested peacefully, but not in a violent fashion. Think of this done by a non-Muslim in a Muslim country. I don’t have to explain more about this! …

Looks like you need to look up the meaning of 'moksha'. It doesn't mean "match made in heaven". India is giving Mangoes for nuclear deal, not in exchange for arms, isn’t so sweet? Definitely, “king of fruit”, is better than “fruit of the desert“. Also you probably need to taste Indian mangoes, so you probably won't write biased articles like this one in a bad taste. Taste them.

For your kind information, India does have sufficient nuclear resources, and technology. All India taking help is for generating electricity for domestic purposes. No Joke, Know India's strength in technology!

You said India is the biggest arms importer in the developing world - you definitely need to recheck your research on that. China is the biggest arms importer in the world according to the International arms monitors and prior to that Saudi Arabia was the biggest arms importer.

Pakistan is also one of the largest importers of arms. I know for obvious reasons you didn’t mention that “Terror sponsored Nation”. Don’t pretend, you didn’t know that ……

What you missed to mention is that India is the largest democracy in the world, again, India never aggressed any country ever, and India has the second largest Muslim population in the world and has had 3 Muslim presidents so far and the world's most tolerant nation.

India is a democratic country, unlike Iran, ruled by religious fundamentalists. India's Prime Minister is a Sikh, President is a Muslim, and Congress Party president is a Christian from Italy, though 85% of the population is Hindus. No other country has this kind of democracy where a non-majority religion holding all three high posts. Like America, it is multi-cultural, multi-religion, multi-language, multi-ethnic.

Of course, it’s hard to explain from other part of the world uncivilized world where they cannot even uncover their head and face, what a democracy in turn means free! dom.

Seriously, know what freedom means

America is getting stronger not just because it’s strength lies in defense, but by winning friends. Your strength lies in winning friends, not radical ones. India is doing the same thing. Some part of the world is jealous of that. Gotcha, Baby.
You probably are not aware that most major nations such as France, Germany, Italy and UK have already endorsed the deal.

Your writing what is known as "yellow journalism". Write your articles based on research and give your readers a balanced view, mentioning facts or stick to photography.

Hope you enjoyed it,
Sri M.

It's a little thing, but it makes me proud.

My column about the U.S.'s public diplomacy effort was included in the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy Press Review. The review's editor, John Brown, even sent me a nice note. Notes of praise are always nice. Notes of praise from people who happen to be experts on the subject I've just written about are especially nice.

A study released today by the non-partisan Tax Foundation shows that the hard-working, tough-minded, self-reliant, so-called Red States are, in reality, mooching welfare states that receive much more money from the federal government that they send it.

The study splits the nation into "donor states" and "beneficiary states" based on how much money each state sends to the federal government and how much it receives.

13 of the top 15 "beneficiary states" (meaning the states that get more money from federal spending than they send as taxes) voted for Bush in 2004.

And what about the so-called Blue States? 13 of the 19 "donor states" (meaning states that send more money to the Feds than they receive) voted for Kerry. The top five "donor states" are New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Illinois -- Blue States all.

On Wednesday, March 15 at 11 A.M., I'll be on WXIA-TV's Atlanta & Company talking about some of the events happening around town this weekend.

At 5P.M., I'll be a guest on Radio Sandy Springs's Showcase Comedy Happy Hour. The show can be heard on 1620AM, and live on one of the Internets at http://www.radiosandysprings.com/

No more ecstasy for my pigs.

Ecstasy causes depression in pigs

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, March 10 (UPI) -- Danish scientific experiments where Ecstasy was adminstered to pigs may help to explain depression in humans abusing the drug.

The three-year study conducted at the PET Center at Arhus Hospital in Denmark showed the recreational drug caused depression in laboratory pigs, reported The Copenhagen Post Friday.

The scientists injected pigs with varying doses of Ecstasy to study the effect the drug has on the pigs' brains.

Pigs' brains are similar to human brains.

"We have proven that Ecstasy releases seratonin in the brain, which we know plays a role in depression," said Dr. Aage Kristian Olsen at Arhus Hospital. "Ecstasy users risk depression given its long-term effects on the brain."

The scientists noted that pigs on Ecstasy lost control of their body temperature, an effect also seen in human overdose fatalities, Olsen said.

I just got back from Nashville where I saw Belle & Sebastian at the Ryman. The show was amazing -- one of the best concerts I've ever seen. While hunting down the show's set list online, I found that NPR has posted a hefty MP3 of the band's recent DC show on its web site. It's the whole show -- all one hour and forty minutes of it.

While you're listening, you might also want to check out my latest two columns. Or maybe not.

This week's Don't Panic discusses why we're sending nuclear technology to India and why India is sending mangoes to us. A fair trade, I think.

And this week's Scene & Herd, my last for three months, is about StoryCorps, Ariel Pink (It's hard out here for a Pink!) and the sex lives of pandas.

He wrote several excellent memoirs.
He was a brilliant photojournalist. I can't say he's the best, because no one can say that. I can say that I know of no one better.
He was a great photo portraitist.
He directed two classic films, one of which inspired a film genre.
He was an abstract painter.
In his spare time, he composed a ballet and classical music. In his spare time!

He is among the most accomplished artists this country has known.



He was Gordon Parks. He died yesterday at 93.

It's actually at http://www.my-lanta.com

give it to someone else for three months while I take a break."

That's what I told Creative Loafing, and, quite generously, that's what they've agreed to.

I'm taking three months away from my Scene & Herd entertainment column so that I can travel, start writing a book and nap. So far, I've lined up a trip to Nashville (tomorrow, to see Belle & Sebastian), and visits to London and Krakow. Assuming I don't run out of money (not a safe assumption), I'll probably go to Mexico as well.

The column that publishes on Wednesday, March 8 is my last until about June. Doing the column in my place will be Frederick Noble, a.k.a. Degenerate Press. Fred is the O.B. (that's Original Blogger). He's been writing about culture and nightlife in Atlanta on his web site since the mid-90s. He's more than just persistent though -- he's a smart, funny writer.

I'll still be blogging and writing my Don't Panic column, in case you're wondering.

The great Malian guitarist and singer Ali Farka Toure has died.



I have neither the time nor knowledge to write full obituary, but I will share one of this songs. Sorry, RIAA.

The song, "Amadinin", was recorded sometime in the 1970s for Mali's national radio station, Radio Mali. The American news media sometimes refers to Toure as a "West African John Lee Hooker." This recording proves what a stupid, lazy description that is. "Amadinin" does indeed sound like what American ears recognize as Blues, but it's actually a traditional Tamashek melody and rhythm. Before it was African-American, Blues music was just African. Before it migrated North to Chicago from the Mississippi Delta, it had to migrate West from the Niger. If anything, John Lee Hooker was an American Ali Farka Toure.

Here's "Amadinin" from the great Ali Farka Toure compilation Radio Mali.

This week's Scene & Herd, featuring my thoughts on Scott Stapp's recent performance at The Roxy, is now online.

Ditto part two of my annoyingly long and rambling column about Afghanistan.

Despite the objections of the Secret Service, the folks at WXIA-TV's Atlanta & Company will have me back on their show today, where I'll be discussing my work-related social activities on the same couch that former (Vice)President Gore's daughter Karenna Gore Schiff will be discussing her book signing tonight.

The show airs today at 11:00 AM on WXIA, right after Martha Stewart!

(WXIA is the local NBC affiliate. Channel 6 if you've got Comcast cable in Atlanta and Channel 11 if you have a good old-fashioned antenna).