dev

20
Jul

Flacking the “resistance”

This Guardian piece by Seumas Milne details a new alliance among Iraqi “resistance” factions. Apparently the alliance, which is non-Baathist and non-Qaeda, is ready to come “out of the shadows” and position itself as a legitimate player, with offices abroad and everything. Harry’s Place takes issue with Milne’s tone and approach in what is supposed to be a hard news

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19
Jul

The dogs of war

With the Michael Vick dogfighting story in the news, I thought I’d bring this up. In its July 23 issue, The New Republic printed this Baghdad Diarist, by an American soldier writing under the pseudonym Scott Thomas. The piece is meant to illustrate how war desensitizes soldiers and warps their sense of humor. So we’re treated to tales of Thomas

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16
Jul

Bowerbird triple bill

My review of the latest Bowerbird show, in today’s Inquirer.

14
Jul

Barack Obama for President

Let’s face it: the other Democratic contenders are mediocrities, Hillary very much included. They should cede the race now, and get behind the man who can take this country back from the insidious, off-the-rails GOP. If you agree, visit the site. Volunteer. Donate. Find meetings in your area. Do everything you can. Obama can win.

14
Jul

Counterpunch v. Cooper

Joshua Frank, writing in Counterpunch, has indicted Marc Cooper for the high crime of criticizing Ward Churchill. In case you’ve forgotten, Churchill is the widely vilified Colorado academic who penned the 9/11 essay “Some People Push Back” and used the term “Little Eichmanns” to describe employees of the World Trade Center. Churchill’s essay is here. Before I respond, a reminder

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13
Jul

Journalism, from Venezuela to Iraq

Very pleased to see this savaging of Hugo Chavez in the lefty New Statesman. Alice O’Keeffe comments on the aftermath of Hugo’s shutdown of the RCTV network: RCTV has been replaced by TVes (pronounced té vès, or “you see yourself”), a government channel that has the apparently laudable aim of moving away from a western, consumerist agenda and reflecting the

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13
Jul

Light posting

I miss blogging, I really do.I’m wrapping up a review of Amitav Ghosh’s essay collection Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle of the Turmoil of Our Times. It will appear in the next edition of Democratiya. And busy with a number of other things as well. And trying to enjoy the summer a bit. But I’m sure the blogging bug will hit

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3
Jul

On “Sicko”

I said I’d refrain from further comment until I saw Michael Moore’s film. Well, I have. In short, everything up until the Cuba scene was far better than I expected. And the Cuba scene was far worse than I expected. Moore’s indictment of HMOs and corrupt politicians is spot-on. His portrait of the Canadian, British and French systems is probably

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