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The Lancet study
A new study conducted by Johns Hopkins and published in the British medical journal The Lancet posits that Iraqi civilian deaths since the 2003 invasion may top the 600,000 mark. A pdf of the study is here. Doubt has been cast on the study’s accuracy — of course by the Bush administration but also by qualified people in the fields
Orhan Pamuk, Nobel laureate
The Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk has won the Nobel Prize for literature. Be sure to read my essay on Pamuk’s novel Snow, published this May on the weblog of Norm Geras.
Weather Report review
I have a review of the new Weather Report box, Forecast: Tomorrow, in the October Jazz Times. It’s online as well. Also, I apologize for the lack of posts. I’m writing a long piece for the next issue of Democratiya, which will appear on December 1.
Six Picks: October 2006
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, October 2006: David Binney, Out of Airplanes (Mythology) Nels Cline, New Monastery (Cryptogramophone) John Hollenbeck, Joys & Desires (Intuition) Keith Jarrett, The Carnegie Hall Concert (ECM) Rudresh Mahanthappa, Code Book (Pi Recordings) Florian Weber/Jeff Denson/Ziv Ravitz, Minsarah (Enja/Justin Time)
Iraqi press freedom
A disturbing piece in today’s NY Times about the plight of Iraqi journalists. Not only are they being systematically slaughtered by Sunni terrorists (sorry, “freedom fighters”). They’re also being persecuted under the draconian laws of the Shia-dominated government. This is the democracy we’ve created. This is the liberation of Iraq. The press restrictions extend to Iraqi Kurdistan, often thought of
The bill passes
Dahlia Lithwick of Slate breaks down exactly what this detainee rights bill means. Her piece is two days old but still worth reading, as the bill has now passed. Lithwick also makes an interesting point in this piece. The infamous Abu Ghraib photos, she claims, did not shock the nation’s conscience; perversely, they softened up public perceptions and made torture
A new article
I have a piece [pdf] in the Jazz Times Education Supplement 2006/2007, on the topic of artist-developed education and outreach programs.
“The darkest blot on the conscience of the nation”
Those are Senator Pat Leahy’s words on the impending Senate passage of this disgraceful bill on detainee rights. See this NY Times report: “What this bill would do is take our civilization back 900 years,” to before the adoption of the writ of habeus corpus in medieval England, Senator [Arlen] Specter said. Fine by Bush and Cheney, fine by hordes