I haven't seen it yet, but, for all you old Lefties out there in cyberspace, Zinn's new documentary, airing on the History Channel this coming Sunday, sounds to me like Appointment TV.
"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Read more about the program at: http://www.history.com/content/people-speak/the-people-speak-story
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Light At the End of the Tunnel?
Gratified to read in the Sacramento Business Journal that the McClatchy Newspapers will soon end an across-the-board wage freeze in place since 2008. Given that McClatchy publishes 30 newspapers in cities and towns across the country, dare we hope that this is a harbinger of hope that the precipitous slide in the fortunes of the news media may be slowing, if not actually turning around.
This column urges readers who are interested in what's new out there in America's grass roots, day to day, as well as in reading first-class reporting from the Middle East, to sign up for McClatchy's email Journal: mailto:web@mcclatchydc.com
This column urges readers who are interested in what's new out there in America's grass roots, day to day, as well as in reading first-class reporting from the Middle East, to sign up for McClatchy's email Journal: mailto:web@mcclatchydc.com
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Pithy
We have to credit Gail Collins (NYT 12/5) for the sentence-of-the-day, to wit: "The Republicans are the fiscal conservatives in Congress, at least in the years when they aren’t actually in power."
Read the entire column (on the Healthcare debate) at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/opinion/05collins.html?_r=1&th&emc=th.
(copy and paste to your browser)
Read the entire column (on the Healthcare debate) at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/opinion/05collins.html?_r=1&th&emc=th.
(copy and paste to your browser)
Alien Alert!
This morning's AP brings us the alarming news that the British Defense Ministry has shut down its UFO Hotline as a recession-driven cost-cutting measure and will no longer investigate any sightings.
It's not a big leap from there to the terrifying conclusion that those little green men have finally and malevolently lulled us (or at least the Brits) into a state of complacency, and that it is perhaps they, not the Republicans, who are actually responsible for the Recession.
It's not a big leap from there to the terrifying conclusion that those little green men have finally and malevolently lulled us (or at least the Brits) into a state of complacency, and that it is perhaps they, not the Republicans, who are actually responsible for the Recession.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Irony of the Week
WHITE HOUSE CHANGING POLICY IN WAKE OF CRASHERS
Security being tightened after flap over uninvited guests at state dinner
-- Salon headline
Otherwise known as closing the barn door after the horse has gotten in.
Security being tightened after flap over uninvited guests at state dinner
-- Salon headline
Otherwise known as closing the barn door after the horse has gotten in.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Friend Of My Enemy Is My Enemy (unless he's my friend)
While Afghanistan is -- understandably -- the primary focus of the headlines following the President's speech last night, Brian Fishman -- on "Foreign Policy" magazine's website -- posits that the real war is in Pakistan, with the government there directing its main military efforts against anti-Pakistani militants, a category which does not necessarily include our Al Queda terrorist enemies harbored in Pakistan.
Kipling's "East is East and West is West ... etc." has never been more resoundingly true.
Read more at: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/12/01/pakistans_failing_war_on_terror
Kipling's "East is East and West is West ... etc." has never been more resoundingly true.
Read more at: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/12/01/pakistans_failing_war_on_terror
Making Good On Promises
Gratified to read in today's New York Times that, in some of the health care reform proposals currently being scrutinized by Congress, special provision is made for improved medical benefits for American Indians. Until now, too many have been receiving wards-of-the-government type medical care which -- almost by definition -- translates into subsistence-level subvention.
When we treated with the tribes to give up their hereditary freedom and sovereignty and submit to the authority of the United States, we signed countless covenants promising to preserve their integrity and protect their well-being; representations since honored more often in the breach than in the observance.
It takes but little reading of American history to recognize that had we breached as many treaties with, and solemn commitments to, nations around the world as we have with Native Americans, we would be a global pariah. Health care reform is the least we can now bring to them, while benefitting society at large as well.
When we treated with the tribes to give up their hereditary freedom and sovereignty and submit to the authority of the United States, we signed countless covenants promising to preserve their integrity and protect their well-being; representations since honored more often in the breach than in the observance.
It takes but little reading of American history to recognize that had we breached as many treaties with, and solemn commitments to, nations around the world as we have with Native Americans, we would be a global pariah. Health care reform is the least we can now bring to them, while benefitting society at large as well.
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