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Thursday, August 31, 2006 Mother Jones has a new, handy reference guide to the dozens of times the President of the United States has lied to you. posted by Andrew Foster Altschul 8:03 PM | link | Wednesday, August 30, 2006  My new book, My Girlfriend Comes To The City And Beats Me Up, can now be ordered through Amazon or Powells. "Any true love story, if told with the urgency and animal intelligence of love, it isn't for the faint-hearted. On every page of this profound, distilled work of art, Stephen Elliott wrestles with the unknown and unspoken essences of love, and articulates that unknown so beautifully, with such clear-eyed fearlessness-imagine a glass of pure water with one drop of blood hanging in its center, about to dissolve-then drink it and be transformed." - Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City "Stephen Elliott knocks my fishnet stockings off. His work is strange and really smart. And sad. And full of the tenderness that comes when you realize you are on your own in the world. This is alarming and terrific stuff." - Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife posted by Stephen Elliott 3:02 PM | link | Tuesday, August 29, 2006 Rumsfeld's Remarks Today Donald Rumsfeld, the man who orchestrated the disaster in Iraq, accused the administration's critics as suffering from American child visits Iraq and is not beheaded. Rumsfeld talks about a "new type of fascism" and mentions a string of attacks since 9/11. In the process he fails to distinguish between Saddam's Iraq and Al-Qaeda, implicitly tying the war in Iraq - the source of the criticism he is attacking - with the war on terror. He also criticizes the media for not reporting on all the positive news out of Iraq. Maybe that's because there isn't any. Maybe it is now to dangerous for a journalist in Iraq to leave their hotel. It's exactly this kind of absurd dishonesty from Rumsfeld that makes the war in Iraq so hopeless. We can't possibly change course in that failed endeavor without first changing our Secretary of Defense. All other approaches are worthless minus that first major step. posted by Stephen Elliott 1:17 PM | link | Sunday, August 27, 2006 The Blogs Were Wrong Yesterday About Joe Lieberman It started with Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake. The headline, Lieberman to Campaign With Republicans Today. It was quickly picked up by Chris Bowers over at MyDD, this time titled The Last Straw: Lieberman Campaigns For Republicans In Connecticut. Chris wrote "Joe Lieberman is now actively supporting Republicans for important seats in Congress." The story was next picked up at DailyKos, the most popular political blog. The problem is that it's not actually true. Lieberman was with two Republicans, Governor M. Jodi Rell and U.S. Rep Rob Simmons at a celebration of their successful campaign a year ago to keep the New London Submarine Base open. Democrat Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is endorsing Ned Lamont, was also there. It can be argued that any time a politician appears in public they are "campaigning". But that's misleading. Yes, they were all there together and they all worked to save the base and they all hope to reap political rewards from that. But when we're told "Lieberman is campaigning with Republicans" (FDL) one envisions an event with no other purpose except that the politicians praise and endorse one another, the kind of "campaigning" that happens all the time. And showing up at a politically opportune event is not at all the same as "campaigning for Republicans" (MyDD). It reminds me of when I was in Israel and one of the Israeli commanders was asked about civilian casualties in Bint Jbail. "Our soldiers who are killed in Bint Jbail are also civilians," he replied. It's a nice piece of rhetorical gymnastics but it's not actually true. After all if soldiers are also civilians then the civilian distinction becomes irrelevant. Similarly, if every time a politician speaks at an event it is automatically a campaign event then there's no point in making the distinction. There are very good reasons to be against Joe Lieberman and the best one is the continually deteriorating situation in Iraq. Joe has been the most hawkish Democrat on Iraq. He still has not admitted his vote authorizing force was a mistake. He recently said, "I believe we did the right thing in overthrowing Saddam Hussein." On a recent radio appearance Lieberman stated: "Iraq has now become what everyone thinks it was before, another battlefield in this war with Islamic terrorists, and we've got to end it with a victory." But what would victory in Iraq look like? It would probably look like Iraq under Saddam, a secular institution at odds with Iran and al-Qaeda, contained and weak and not a threat to American interests. We've spent 300 Billion dollars destroying Iraq and turning Iran into the major power in Middle Eastern politics. Imagine what that kind of effort could have produced if focused on energy independence. The war in Iraq is a profound disaster with repercussions still to come. The American public was sold the war on the basis of Weapons of Mass Destruction that didn't exist. To paraphrase the Downing Street Memo, the intelligence was fixed. We were told we would be greeted as liberators. Now both Bush and Lieberman are making the argument that it could be worse. But they've squandered our resources and their own credibility. Kos, Chris, and Jane are fine Democrats at the forefront of an important movement and it's important they not squander their credibility this way. I waited a day to write this, hoping to see a retraction, clarification, or apology. But there isn't one. At this point we should all know the danger of intentionally spreading misinformation. Update: At this point I am convinced that Kos, Chris, and Jane were probably not "intentionally" spreading misinformation. It's an important point because I think all three are great patriots. I stand by the rest of the post. Also, I applaud Chris Bowers. - Stephen Elliott posted by Stephen Elliott 9:34 AM | link | Monday, August 21, 2006 Reason #8 To Buy My New Book My Girlfriend Comes To The City And Beats Me Up got written up yesterday in Betka Schpitz' blog. posted by Stephen Elliott 3:32 PM | link | Sunday, August 20, 2006 Query About the Last 20 Search Queries That Ended Up on This Site She tied my cock? posted by Michelle Orange 2:42 PM | link | Saturday, August 19, 2006 Queries The last twenty search queries that ended up on this site: 19 Aug, Sat, 09:29:41 Google: "she tied my cock" 19 Aug, Sat, 09:31:43 Google: steven elliot 19 Aug, Sat, 09:36:13 Google: stephen elliott 19 Aug, Sat, 09:51:41 Google: Stephen Elliott 19 Aug, Sat, 10:29:29 Google: poker Byck 19 Aug, Sat, 10:43:43 Google: i feel close in my window i see rock in the sky 19 Aug, Sat, 10:44:34 Google: "tied me up" "basement" "girl" 19 Aug, Sat, 11:12:44 Google: phoebe literary eric puchner 19 Aug, Sat, 11:17:51 Google: michelle orange 19 Aug, Sat, 12:05:38 Google: books about a troubled teen in circle justice 19 Aug, Sat, 12:23:09 Google: author 19 Aug, Sat, 13:58:14 Google: wife strapon 19 Aug, Sat, 14:11:34 Yahoo: Stephen Elliott 19 Aug, Sat, 14:12:15 Google: lawyer on k street, wife kills infant son 19 Aug, Sat, 14:43:38 Google: stephen elliott 19 Aug, Sat, 15:52:53 Google: does right bundle branch block really need investigation. 19 Aug, Sat, 16:08:01 Google: she'd be like i want you picture that hamburger as a cow walking around a field. 19 Aug, Sat, 16:19:53 Google: "el diablo" poker "who is" 19 Aug, Sat, 16:32:41 Google: "strap on" "she said" "my ass" posted by Stephen Elliott 6:46 PM | link | Wednesday, August 09, 2006 My Girlfriend Comes To The City And Beats Up Dan Savage Dan Savage recommends my new book in this week's Savage Love. posted by Stephen Elliott 5:19 AM | link | |
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"Any true love story, if told with the urgency and animal intelligence of love, isn't for the fainthearted. On every page of this profound, distilled work of art, Stephen Elliott wrestles with the unknown and unspoken essences of love, and articulates that unknown so beautifully, with such clear-eyed fearlessness... Imagine a glass of pure water with one drop of blood hanging in its center, about to dissolve... Then drink it and be transformed." -Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City "There's an emotional courage to these stories, and a sense of urgency, that are thrilling to encounter. Elliott writes as if his life depended on each sentence. It is not overstating the case to say that he does for the BDSM community in this book what Denis Johnson did for lost druggies in Jesus' Son." - Steve Almond, The Believer Magazine Best of the year: Salon.com, San Francisco Chronicle Reviews: Salon.com, LA Weekly, The Believer Excerpts: My Stripper Year, Just Always Be Good Purchase from Amazon, Powells, Cleis, and your local bookstore 
"Happy Baby is surely the most intelligent and beautiful book ever written about juvenile detention centers, sadomasochism, and drugs." - Curtis Sittenfeld, The New York Times Book Review Best of the year: Village Voice, Salon.com, Chicago New City, The Journal News Awards: Finalist Young Lions Award, Silver Medal California Book Award Reviews: The New York Times, Salon.com, Village Voice Excerpts: Stalking Gracie Part 3 Purchase from Amazon, Powell's, and your local bookstore 
"Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer, Richard Ben Cramer: the great, all-American genre of the political campaign in extenso (and in extremis) has had its Homers and Boswells. To that list we can now add Stephen Elliott. Hilarious, strange, electrifyingly written, and heart-pumpingly idealistic, Looking Forward to It wins every literary caucus and primary in a landslide." -Tom Bissell, author of Chasing the Sea Best of the year: Village Voice Reviews: New York Magazine, New York Times Excerpts: The Dennis Kucinich Polka, A John Edwards Almanac Purchase from Amazon, Powell's (cheap!), and your local bookstore 
"A Life Without Consequences was harrowing, hard as nails, brutal, and soaring. Stephen Elliott has to be watched, because he knows things almost no one else could." - Dave Eggers, author of A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius and What Is The What Excerpt: Adlai Stevenson House Reviews: Austin American Statesman Purchase from Amazon |
