David Adler
Spike Lee and Katrina
In this week’s Village Voice, my friend and colleague Larry Blumenfeld writes about “When the Levees Broke,” Spike Lee’s HBO film on Hurricane Katrina and the fate of New Orleans. This passage is ripe for further comment: One potentially controversial element of the story—persistent suspicion that levees were intentionally exploded in some sections to flood the poorer black sections of
Because it’s there
Go here to watch a robot play John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” solo. (Hat tip: Doug Ramsey) It’s often said that Coltrane played with no vibrato. (I’ve said it myself.) Wrong. He played with very little vibrato. This robot plays with no vibrato. And it sounds terrible.
How to help
The Head Heeb pledges to match reader donations (up to a point) toward reconstruction and/or humanitarian aid for Lebanon and northern Israel. Here’s the portal he recommends for aid-giving tips.
PUK office bombed in Mosul
More bad news for the Iraqi Kurds. From Al Jazeera: A bomber has attacked the offices of a top Kurdish political party in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing and wounding more than 40 people. The explosion outside the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) killed at least nine people and wounded more than 36 on Tuesday
Atzmon descends
As I’ve noted, Oliver Kamm and I are on different sides of the Israel/Lebanon debate, and other debates as well. But Kamm remains one of the most effective and articulate foes of the deranged left (if one can even call it left). In this post Kamm exposes the latest ravings of the Israeli-born, UK-based jazz musician Gilad Atzmon. I wrote
Jill Carroll’s ordeal
The Christian Science Monitor is serializing Jill Carroll’s account of her 82-day hostage ordeal. Part I is gripping; check back in coming days for the rest. Carroll’s interpreter, Alan Enwiya, was murdered on the spot at the site of the kidnapping. There is a fund for donations to his bereaved family. Information below. — Alan Enwiya is one of nearly
Clarification on a quote
On August 10 I expressed annoyance with a quote from a story in the Forward about “zero dissent” within the Jewish community on Israel/Lebanon. I’m grateful to the person quoted, Hadar Susskind of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, for taking the trouble to get in touch with me: I was not happy with the original quote in the Forward.
“Hezbollah’s Other War”
Michael Young, opinion editor of Beirut’s Daily Star, has an excellent primer on Lebanese sectarian politics in today’s NY Times Magazine. While Young doesn’t address it directly, his piece underscores the absolute intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the far-left embrace of Hezbollah. Detailing the Siniora government’s tense and fragile efforts to deal with Hezbollah and secure a hopeful future for