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IAEA and Iran
The UN General Assembly is meeting here in New York, and United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) is rallying against a potential U.S. military strike on Iran. Fine with me — I’m 100 percent opposed to any such attack. But UFPJ’s sample letter to the UN Security Council contains the following inaccuracy: The IAEA is unequivocal that there is no
Islam and the pope
It’s not often that I find myself in a Catholic church. But this past weekend I happened to hear a priest deliver a noxious homily, one that sheds light on the current controversy involving the pope’s remarks on Islam. In this homily, a priest and a Buddhist monk are trekking through the Himalayas in search of a remote monastery. Along
Torture: the real stakes
An essential post from Marty Lederman [all italics in the original]: — “It’s important to be clear about one thing: The question is not simply whether, in the abstract, it would be a good or acceptable idea for the United States to use such techniques in certain extreme circumstances on certain detainees. I happen to think that the moral, pragmatic,
Sunday rally for Darfur
New York info here. There are rallies taking place in other cities around the world. James Traub had a piece on Chinese diplomacy in the NY Times Magazine of September 3. You want to talk about blood for oil? Learn about China’s underwriting of the Darfur genocide.
McLaughlin on the Tonight Show
I knew I wasn’t dreaming when I saw John McLaughlin, fusion guitar god, play “Cherokee” on the Johnny Carson show in 1985, shortly before I graduated high school. Here’s the video. I can’t express how excited I am to rediscover this. There’s lots of other Mahavishnu clips to be found on YouTube.
Bigotry rebutted
In early August I linked to an explicitly antisemitic article in the Berkeley Daily Planet by an Iranian student named Kurosh Arianpour. To her credit, Becky O’Malley, the editor of the Planet, has written a pretty forceful rebuttal, addressed to Arianpour directly. Not sure what took her so long, however, or what possessed her to print Arianpour’s piece without additional
“Considering Genius” — a book review
The following review appears in the September 2006 issue of Jazz Notes, the quarterly publication of the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA), edited by yours truly. — Considering Genius: Writings on JazzBy Stanley CrouchBasic Civitas Books, Cambridge, MA, 2006; 360 pp.; $27.50 hardcover Review by David R. Adler Easily one of the world’s best-known jazz critics, Stanley Crouch is also a
“The Path to 9/11”: rightist agitprop
It pains me that on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, I need to spend time commenting on the ABC docudrama “The Path to 9/11,” which has occasioned controversy for its unflattering portrayal of Clinton administration officials. I watched part one last night. The uproar is entirely justified. At every critical juncture in the film, some high-ranking Clinton official emerges to