by Unknown | 10/08/2008 09:33:00 PM
Lots of stuff in this one -- without further ado:

Two articles recommended by strandsofpearl: this one on the real original Maverick and what his descendants have to say about the new pretender to his throne, and this one from General George B. McClellan on his suggestions for how Palin should conduct the war in Afghanistan. I was pretty sure the last one was actually written by McClellan until he cc'd the memo to "Adm. Seward," thereby outing himself as a fraud. (Secretary of State Seward was not a military man.)

Never In Our Names, an excellent left-leaning community blog focused on torture issues, is hosting a "Not Columbus Day" festival over this coming three-day weekend in protest of Christopher Columbus' contributions to the genocide of indigenous Americans. Diaries from many of the blogosphere's leading lights, including our own Winter Rabbit, will be posted there. The site accepts posts from all users, so feel free to go over there and post something of your own on the subject. Alexa wanted me to mention specifically that re-posts of old pieces published elsewhere are also welcome.

David Roediger, one of the founders of whiteness studies, has an excellent article at HNN about Obama's election and race. Here's a sample:

The election therefore is sure to tell us important things about race in the U.S., but not whether the Cadillac of white supremacy is about to be taken out of production. However much pundits and candidates want to make the question of race turn on bad but disappearing individual attitudes, and then to measure whether many or few voters act on those attitudes on election day, the deep structural inequalities not being discussed in this election continue to decisively shape whether race will survive in the twenty-first century U.S.


Finally, I've just heard that there's a new video of Doris Kearns Goodwin giving a talk at the TED conference. TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) is an annual conference that produces brilliant talks by brilliant intellectuals, many of which are now being offered for free online. Here's the Doris Kearns Goodwin video, which I haven't yet seen:



What's on your mind?

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10 Comments:


Anonymous Anonymous on 10/08/2008 11:19 PM:

A pro-communist was a founder of the National Review James Burnham and many other pro-communist members formed the present day neocon movement. William Ayers is saint compared to these sociopaths known as neocons and John Mc Cain's calls them all good friends.


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=james+burnham+founder+of+the+national+review+&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=former+communist+james+burnham+neocons&spell=1

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=former+communist+neocons&spell=1

 

Blogger Unknown on 10/09/2008 12:13 AM:

Had Burnham switched from being a communist when he founded NRO?

 

Anonymous Anonymous on 10/09/2008 10:30 AM:

By 1955 he was not.

I personally think as product of the Great Depression James Burnham had mentally shuffled the deck of his current political philosophy, and ultimately pulled out the fascism card as his answer. James Burnham thought that a hybrid form of fascism would level out the large fluctuation cycles of global economies. I guess it could if you’re a good fascist. Or James Burnham was just another useful idiot in charting a course for the Nuevo rich of the oil industry following World War II and their attempt at the nebulas challis of world domination.

“But at the same time, Burnham insists, there has been no tendency to return to capitalism. What is happening is simply the growth of ‘managerialism’, which, according to Burnham, is in progress everywhere, though the manner in which it comes about may vary from country to country.”

“However, this is a secondary error, and it is partially corrected in The Machiavellians. The real question is not whether the people who wipe their boots on us during the next fifty years are to be called managers, bureaucrats, or politicians: the question is whether capitalism, now obviously doomed, is to give way to oligarchy or to true democracy.”

http://orwell.ru/library/reviews/burnham/english/e_burnh.html

 

Blogger Ahistoricality on 10/09/2008 10:40 PM:

The Dow Jones is collapsing
Midterm grades are due
Yom Kippur was relaxing
And slightly slimming, too.

McCain is on the road to hell
And Palin's going with him
Obama's doing oddly well
and planning his transition

Almost up to 1789
World history has this rhythm
Great depression's on my mind
Also early fascism

And while the world goes bad to worse
I calm myself by writing verse.

 

Blogger Unknown on 10/09/2008 11:15 PM:

A budding poet! When can we expect more verse from thy Shakespearean pen?

 

Blogger Ahistoricality on 10/09/2008 11:26 PM:

Usually I stick to short forms -- haiku, tanka, limerick, fib -- and I don't do it often. You can see some of my work here.

If I was serious about this, I'd hyperlink the whole thing and make it metapoetic, but I don't have that kind of energy at the moment. It shows: the third quatrain is very awkward, and the final couplet is lame, highly unoriginal, but I don't have the urge to correct it. It was fun writing it, though.

 

Anonymous Anonymous on 10/10/2008 9:55 AM:

Haiku

Dow is collapsing

Yom Kippur was relaxing

early fascism rhythm

 

Anonymous Anonymous on 10/10/2008 11:20 PM:

Mike Gravel is a REAL maverick!

TED is brilliant. I love it, and frequently get lost in it. Their lectures by environmentalists are some of the best stuff I've heard about environmentalism. Just listen to what Michael Pollan, an author and journalist, said (I'm paraphrasing):

People think they dominate crops. But crops dominate us. Just look at corn. Here's a grass that cannot survive without humans, and it has taken over millions of acres, without any competitors. It is fattening us, taking our energy and resources, hurting our environment, and giving us diseases, and yet still it prospers. It is winning.

 

Blogger Unknown on 10/10/2008 11:52 PM:

That Pollan comment is awesome.

Absolutely agreed about Gravel.

 

Blogger Ahistoricality on 10/11/2008 10:56 PM:

Listening to Michelle Obama on Larry King via podcast: Damn, she's good! (especially compared to the Republican side this year!)