Dave Mancuso dot Com

I must begin to fill the blog, since it’s emptying itself out (it only displays the last ten days of posts).

Well, at least I’m beginning to feel human again. Lots going on in the last few weeks, but nothing earth-shaking.

Visit the Khaaaannnn!! site for some simple sound bite hokeyness. It’s a one trick pony, but it made me laugh.

The fact that it makes us the bad guys.

I know it’s more complex than that, but when you take it down to brass tacks that’s the gut feeling I have. When I read about the scandal, I feel like we’re the bad guys, the bullies that the insurgents say we are.

It makes it worse that the guards seem to have been encouraged by intelligence personnel.

It really puts a black eye on the face of America, and makes it that much harder for us to earn trust and respect elsewhere.

The soldiers who did this should be made an example of. They’re not US soldiers; they’re thugs, and deserve to be treated like the criminals that they are.

This article from an American professor in Central Asia is interesting. I wish more of this discussion would go around the world. From the blog:

“In Bosnia and Somalia, we were supporting Muslims,” I said. “And in the war against Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait, we were supporting Muslims who were attacked by other Muslims.”

A stony silence, more of bewilderment than hostility, enveloped the room, as if I’d just announced to a group of American students that the earth wasn’t round, or that Utah was just a cartographer’s fantasy. It was the first of many retreats in the face of an unaccustomed challenge to official truths.

This site is a good read as well–it’s about the new Iraq by Iraqis. Here’s an excerpt from a Iraqi family discussion about Americans in Iraq:

“Then why do you hate the Americans you son of a b***h!? I couldn’t get you a bicycle a year ago, I could hardly feed you and your brothers and sisters. You didn’t know what an apple or a banana tasted like, I couldn’t buy you a damned Pepsi bottle except in occasions, and now you can have all that you wish, and a car of your own! Who do you think made that possible!?” My cousin’s face turned red and didn’t answer as we laughed and I said “What do you think Ibrahim?” He said, “Well it’s true but it’s our money. They are not giving us a charity” and I said “Of course it’s our money, so let’s forget the Billions of dollars they are giving to rebuild Iraq and the efforts they are making to cut down our debts and lets talk about our money. Why didn’t your father, I, my brothers and all the Iraqis have anything worth mentioning before the Americans came?” He said, “Because Saddam used it to buy weapons and build palaces”. “There you have it Ibrahim, but Americans are not touching our money. Can you tell me who’s better; the “occupiers” who are helping us or the “patriot” who did all that you know to us?

Denise and I must be the only ones who aren’t riveted to the Friends series finale (or American Idol, but that’s another matter). It’s not that I never watched the series. It was funny for the first two episodes, but then it got boring. I’ve seen a couple of funny episodes this past two years, but the last episode is on right now and I find myself yawning and tuning to another show. Yes, even for me, TV isn’t everything.

Now music or movies, that’s another story.

It was nice to zip down to Media to see the premiere of The Pet I Deserve, filmed by an art group that Kevin works with. Kevin underrates his direction and editing, especially the sequence at the genetics institute.

It was also great to see friends like Stan and Nora, Jinny and Rich, John and Trish, Sam and Ellen (and Max), and of course the folks from South Avenue. It’s a shame though that I was virtually exhausted; talking to everyone was a real effort, and as you know that’s extremely unusual for me. I made it home in time to sleep through Saturday Night Live, but at least I didn’t start having real problems staying awake until I was past Lancaster on 283.

Well worth it, though. Good flick in good company.

I let the kids see their first Star Trek tonight, the original series (The TOS episode The Squire of Gothos with Trelane, for any fellow geeks). They watched it all, and they seemed to like it. I asked them a few questions which they answered politely, until Drew (he turns five on Sunday) stopped me and said “Daddy–it was just kind of weird, OK?”

I guess I deserved it, but this from the kid who thrives on PowerRangers: Dino Thunder?

Is there nothing I won’t do to win a free song from the iTunes music store?

Apparently not. I registered with the site yesterday and got my credit for the free song on the ITMS tonight.

I downloaded the new iTunes 4.5 and there are three features that I really like:

1) Free songs–one per week, and this first week they’re doing one per day (although I passed up the Courtney Love song–even I have standards, as low as they may be).

2) Party Lists–The mix that iTunes makes doesn’t allow for the wild variation in style between my songs, but it’s nice to hear songs that I’ve forgotten to put into playlists. With my ripped CDs, I have over 2,000 songs in iTunes, and some of them get lost in the shuffle, so to speak.

3) Radio Charts–This is nice, to find my favorite stations and sample their on air playlists, buying the songs I like. I went instantly to Philly and 88.5 WXPN, and it was right there.

Nice. And still .99 per song.

Kevin sent me a link the other day, to this web page. At first glance, I wondered what the big deal was. And then I started to read it.

I don’t know about you, but the site was magnetic to me. It really drew me in. I never knew what really happened there; I don’t think that the West knew the full story. of Chernobyl or what’s happened since.