David Adler
“Liberators”
Here at Lerterland we take a dim view of Israeli human rights abuses, and are annoyed by those who excuse them. We’re equally miffed by the tendency on the left to excuse Hamas’s antisemitism and vicious terror attacks, and to ignore altogether its clear record of violence against Palestinians themselves. The indispensable Human Rights Watch, all too often attacked for
My profile on Normblog
Norman Geras, the fine UK blogger, asked me to participate in his ongoing Normblog profile series and of course I said yes. Thank you, Norm!
On Chris Potter/The Thing
In the current Philadelphia Weekly: Chris Potter UndergroundThu., Apr. 23, 8 & 10pm. $25. Chris’s Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com With Underground (2006) and Follow the Red Line (2007), saxophonist Chris Potter took an unusual step, leading a quartet with solidbody guitar, Fender Rhodes piano and no bass — a Doors-ish instrumentation that accommodated new turns in advanced
On the Five Peace Band
My preview of the Five Peace Band (Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride, Brian Blade at Rose Hall Thursday through Saturday), in the current Time Out New York.
The handshake
President Obama is taking heat from Newt Gingrich and others for shaking hands with Hugo Chavez and “making nice” with Cuba, etc. Since I’m a dogged liberal opponent of those two particular regimes, let me say I support Obama’s moves and think the Republicans are full of it. It was Chavez who approached Obama at the Trinidad summit, not the
Torture’s supporters
In a debate with Joe Conasan this evening on Chris Matthews’ “Hardball,” Michael Smerconish, right-wing Philadelphia pundit, argued that if you do the math, the waterboarding done to KSM and Abu Zubaydah only amounted to 88 minutes or so. “That’s not even two hours!” he exclaimed. Now there’s a novel new legal standard. Points for creativity.
The torture chronicles
As usual, Andrew Sullivan remains one of the best sources for facts on, and outrage against, the deplorable torture policies of the previous administration. While I want to see accountability for war crimes as much as anyone, I can certainly understand why President Obama is picking his battles very carefully right now. Releasing those critical, unredacted torture memos required a big
Holdsworth in 1984
Bear with the bad lighting at the start of this video. One of his finest compositions, and performances. Every single-note passage is completely demonic. He inspires me still; thought I’d share.