The Left
Israel-Palestine via Toronto
Sanctimonious lefties, including such performers as David Byrne, have lent their signatures to an odious campaign to protest a series of Israeli films being shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. (Hat tip Ben Cohen.) One of the committee members is Naomi Klein, who debased herself as an apologist for the Mahdi Army in 2004. One of the signatories is
Robeson’s legacy
From Peter Applebome’s NYT account of politics and historical memory in Peekskill, New York, specifically as relates to Paul Robeson: [Robeson] became a pioneering and uncompromising human rights advocate. He spoke out against segregation decades before the civil rights movement began, and was a fierce opponent of colonialism when that was barely an issue. He also became an enthusiastic, unflagging
Afghanistan carnage
If it’s true that horrific terrorist attacks are the inevitable and understandable result of violence perpetrated by the U.S. and its allies against Muslims, then someone needs to reconcile that with events like these: A huge bomb detonated in the center of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Tuesday night, flattening a two-story building and destroying 20 homes in
Pacifica death spiral
Marc Cooper on the continuing nosedive of “alternative media” bastion Pacifica Radio, and what this disaster says about the “media reform” movement. “If it can’t bring itself to scrutinize the squandering and trashing of the $500 million Pacifica network (the market value of its licenses), then why should we trust this movement to offer serious analysis of the rest of
Art and political ethics: an aside
Randy Cohen, “The Ethicist” columnist for the New York Times, asks in a blog post, “Can you Hate the Artist but Love the Art?” As his main case study he cites the recently deceased Budd Schulberg, legendary screenwriter and namer of names to the House Un-American Activities Committee. The HUAC testimony of Schulberg, Elia Kazan and others is too complex
Amy Goodman, hack
Protests are heating up again in Iran, so comment on the following is timely. In June 2007 I remarked on Amy Goodman’s fawning interview with left extremist John Pilger, a declared supporter of the Iraqi insurgency, an admirer of Hezbollah and apologist for Palestinian suicide bombers, and a Balkan genocide revisionist to boot. (Pilger considers himself part of the “peace
Scahill’s million
On June 6, Jeremy Scahill appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher and stated that a million Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq. Maher was correct to greet the figure with skepticism. Scahill based his remarks on a much-discussed Johns Hopkins study published in The Lancet in 2006. The methodology of the study was promptly discredited by Iraq Body
Chavez’s loyalties
In case it’s still not clear to Sean Penn and his fellow far-left cultists that Hugo Chavez is a foe of democracy and an ally of police-state thugs the world over: The man has now offered his congratulations to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and railed against those who would “besmirch” his “great victory.”