The Right
Political odds, ends
I didn’t vote for him on November 3, but Mike Bloomberg has done the country a service and I wanted to acknowledge it. In stark contrast to his predecessor, the insufferable demagogue Rudy Giuliani, Bloomberg has voiced support for Eric Holder’s decision to try KSM and other 9/11 defendants in a civilian court here in New York. One now sees
Fort Hood
David Frum, one of America’s last sane conservatives, links to famous photographs that remind us of the sacrifice of Muslims who died as members of the U.S. military. And yet just yesterday, the very day of the Fort Hood massacre, GOP House members gave their imprimatur to a fanatical far-right rally, at which people held up posters of President Obama
Surprised, and yet not
James Traficant, nine-term Democratic congressman from Ohio and convicted felon, has kicked off his post-prison career by blaming the Jews for his plight and signing on as a columnist for the neo-fascist American Free Press. Adam Holland has the story, and many other stomach-churning stories as well. Make it a point to read his excellent blog.
Authoritarian bedfellows
Not the ones you’d think, but bedfellows just the same. Johann Hari demolishes Ayn Rand (nee Alisa Rosenbaum), who remains a right-wing saint despite her mediocrity (not to mention her forthright celebration of child rape and murder). And Alan Johnson rips into Slavoj Zizek, equally a star among the academic far left (subscriber link only). Zizek finds Hermann Goering’s view
Glenn Beck, historical illiterate and thug
One of the most hopeful things about the Obama administration is a renewed commitment to the arts, and particularly renewed support for the National Endowment for the Arts. It is all the more imperative, then, that the White House not take its personnel cues for the NEA from screaming right-wing cable TV idiots like Glenn Beck. Apparently Beck has brought
Teach them well and let them lead the way…
A brief comment on yesterday’s presidential back-to-school speech, and yet another “controversy” ginned up by right-wing activists and eagerly blown out of proportion by the media. Yes, it was absurd for the wingnuts to oppose a speech about doing well in school, but I’d go most liberal commentators one better and say this: It is Obama’s prerogative to articulate his
Against torture
To the best of my knowledge, Dick Cheney has never personally interrogated a terror suspect. Nor have former California congressman Duncan Hunter or most other right-wing pro-torture pundits. But Ali Soufan has. He makes the case against torture based on direct experience that very few people will ever know.
Torture and health care
Re the blizzard of torture-related documents in the news in the last few days, Andrew Sullivan offers the essential commentary (even while on leave): Understanding the current right’s embrace of total state power against the individual takes time to absorb. But liberal democracy has no more dangerous enemies than these. [Update: More here and here.] And I’d add that the