We’re clearly going to war, we’re giving all the old folks prescription drugs, we’re eliminating AIDS in Africa, and American taxpayers won’t have to pay a red cent. Anybody notice a problem? Dubya’s State of the Union promised a lot, including dividend goodies for the rich and flaming death to Saddam, but it didn’t say much about the actual State of the Union. At any rate, I was impressed with the AIDS initiative (although I’d be more impressed if he wasn’t getting advice from cranks like these), but otherwise didn’t think much of Dubya’s speech. I also doubt he changed anyone’s mind about the Iraq situation, but perhaps Secretary Powell’s speech next week will prove more fruitful. (Thacker link via Julian’s Jabberings.)
Category: World at Large
Happy Days are Here Again!
After eight years of (theoretical) belt-tightening, Congress guts its own gift ban, allowing congressional and corporate fatcats to frolic anew at golf courses and Wizards games all over DC. I mean, what’s the point of being a Congressperson if you can’t get all kinds of free schwag?
Big Time Sensuality.
Upon the release of Bjork’s greatest hits, the New Yorker pauses to appreciate Iceland’s finest.
Unspeakable Truths.
Slate‘s Fred Kaplan makes a case for what’s not being said about Iraq and N. Korea. Interesting stuff…I hadn’t thought about the Saudi Arabia angle, but it makes sense.
Redneck Justice.
I’ve meant to link to this horrifying Tennessee state trooper incident for the past few days, but every time I read it I am filled with a fearsome rage. They shot the dog?!? Those frelling chumps…I’m not normally of an eye-for-an-eye persuasion, but that pathetic redneck excuse for an officer should really have to suffer for this, and I don’t mean monetarily. This guy’s gotta do some time. Grrrr…
The Autobiographical Archives of Malcolm X.
After much negotiation, the Shabazz family donates the papers of Malcolm X to the Schomberg Center in Harlem. Excellent news, particularly for Columbia historians, who benefit from being next door to this fascinating new archive.
Oh Joy.
Looks like the GOP will be descending on NYC next year for their 2004 convention. Expect opportunistic and wholly inappropriate uses of Ground Zero for the duration.
10, 9, 8, 7…
If you couldn’t make it to Times Square on New Year’s Eve (or, like me, you were just lazy), here’s the next best thing (Via High Industrial.)
Lest we forget.
The Corporate Scandals of 2002. You know, the ones that were all over the news before Saddam began his unchecked aggression again. Wait a tic…when did Saddam…? Now I’m confused.
Card-Carrying Members?
Via a friend of mine in the program, Professors Eric Foner (with whom I’ve taken two classes) and Glenda Gilmore offer a rebuttal to Daniel Pipes’ recent list of academics who hate America. An article like this really doesn’t deserve a response but, simply put, Pipes is a moron. Reading any chapter of Foner’s recent Story of American Freedom — or any of his other books for that matter — belies Pipes’ ridiculous and dangerous charge of anti-Americanism. And finding fault with Dubya’s wag-the-dog Freudian fiasco in Iraq, a soon-to-be-military excursion that has already run roughshod over our Constitution, hardly speaks ill of anyone’s patriotism.
If anything, it’s egregiously anti-American for Pipes to earmark academics who should be constrained from the “outside.” A quote the Daniel Pipes of this world ought to consider: In the words of Cornel West, “To understand your country, you must love it. To love it, you must, in a sense, accept it. To accept it as how it is, however is to betray it. To accept your country without betraying it, you must love it for that in it which shows what it might become. America � this monument to the genius of ordinary men and women, this place where hope becomes capacity, this long, halting turn of the no into the yes, needs citizens who love it enough to reimagine and remake it.“