A Serious Question

[ReWind.it]

I think he is still 'grieving' and hasn't gotten past the first stage yet.

Wonder what his first act will be when the yoke is thrown?

[skdadl]

Fly to Dubai or Paraguay, I'd advise.   :mrgreen:

His last act, o' course, will be to sign a very tall stack of pardons, with Darth and Scooter right on top. I believe he cannot pardon himself, although the next prezzie can. Sigh. Should we start a pool?

[ReWind.it]

Nah, we know Clinton will pardon him, she owes the whole family and vice versa. Eww it's parasitic.

[skdadl]

Two people we know will not be getting nice treatment from either Clinton or Obama:

 :  :JamesComey:

A lot of people hoped for some time that Comey might become AG even in a Dem admin, and there are things Fitz could do. But Bill C pardoned Marc Rich, which infuriated Comey, in charge of his prosecution at the time (and I think there are some other NYC entanglements from back in those days), and Fitz has been sniffing around some of Obama's old connections in Illinois.

Comey is in a comfortable safe spot for now, but it would be a real shame to see Fitz fired in Chicago by a new president, which might very well happen.

Wild cards: Schumer, who is chums with Hillary, is definitely a Comey promoter. And Marc Rich's attorney, who wangled the pardon from Bill C, was ... Scooter Libby. Wheels within wheels.

[Coyote]

And how sick is it that I am desperate for either one of them (Clinton or Obama, or any Democrat) to take office NOW. I am just so damn sick of what the last 8 years have been. It really is true: in the abscence of water, I will drink the damn sand.

[skdadl]

Oh,  yes, Coyote, me too. If Edwards is out -- and I'm not convinced he won't stay the course, but if -- then I'm hoping for either of the others ... I guess ... and if one of them is elected, I'll just go back to my low-level assumptions that U.S. foreign policy is always bad, which is several levels lower than my present screaming rage at the adventures of BushCo.

[ReWind.it]

This isn't serious, but kinda interesting. If Clinton wins, there will be no First Lady. Meaning the duties assigned to FL can't be fulfilled by Billy, as in going to Women's Groups etc. So Chelsea will be designated FL.

[lagatta]

First Lady is not an office.

Yeah sure we have pics of Denis Thatcher and Herr Merkel standing around looking awkward with the wives, but there are many ways around finding a female representative if need be.

And Coyote, I understand. I'd never vote for the Democrats, but I know people on the left in the US who actually would, because of the extent to which the Bushites have savaged even bourgeois-democratic institutions.

And Palestine solidarity friends have sent me horrible news stories about Rafah and about the lack of power in Gaza threatening patients in hospital there and vulnerable people at home. Fuck!  :rant2:

I have a bit of a problem with the "Israeli Lobby" thesis - I think many sectors of the US ruling class - and not only of Jewish origin by any means - people like Cheney and the petroleum lobby - are benefiting very much.

But it is a hell of a nut to crack. The Association of Concerned Jewish Canadians is holding a congress soon in Toronto - friends are attending - it is so important to break that stranglehold and guilting defenders of Palestinians about being covert anti-semites.  :rant2:

[skdadl]

About AIPAC and the Cheneyites -- yes, they have different origins, but they are now so closely intertwined that it is hard to separate them. There have been highly credible suggestions that Scooter Libby, who was Cheney's main man, was something close to ... Maybe, for legal reasons, I should not finish that sentence. Marc Rich was certainly something close to being an agent for a certain foreign power. There are just too many of those guys around for the silence about them to be healthy.

[Coyote]

Edward Said always said that in Washington, Israel is a domestic issue.

[skdadl]

Daniel Barenboim conducts the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which he co-founded with his friend Edward Said in 1998. The orchestra is composed of young musicians from both Israel and Palestine.

I know there are other videos around that explain the genesis of the orchestra, but I can't find them on a fast search. I was hoping to find a video of the memorial tribute to Said in London (in 2004, I think -- Said died in 2003), but no luck so far.

[Coyote]

i still miss him.

[skdadl]

Me too, Coyote.

I heard/watched him speak once. If you've read this before, my apologies for being a bore.

He was on campus at U of T for a series of regulation-type literary seminars, which I couldn't get to because I was a 9-to-5er by then. But he gave an evening public lecture one night on a subject that combined his passions, the deconstruction of Orientalism and the glory of opera, a lecture about Aida.

It was just so brilliant, and it turned into so much fun because, once he shifted from surgical analysis of the history and the politics and the aesthetics to talking about the music, he turned into a silly fan, just like the rest of us, and that was so much fun to watch.

He was a lovely man, really a lovely man.

[Coyote]

After he and Sonntag passed, I just wonder at the future of public intellectuals. I mean, I think we have some good ones - Naomi Klein comes to mind, Barbara Ehrenreich, there are (of course) others - but I'm not sure about having both the depth and the humane spirit those two exemplified.

Are we a ship adrift?

[fern hill]

I think 'public intellectual' is an overblown term and designation. We got lots of smart people. And thank gord with the internets we got self-publishing.

I discovered Said too late. Am still catching up. Sontag, meh, American. Ehrenreich, though, rox.