Breaking News Alert The New York Times Mon, November 22, 2010 -- 3:56 PM ET ----- Irish Prime Minister to Dissolve Government After Budget Is Enacted Brian Cowen, the embattled prime minister of Ireland, said on Monday that he would dissolve his government and hold a new election once a new national budget is enacted. He is scheduled to present a proposed budget on Dec. 7. Mr. Cowen turned aside mounting pressure to resign immediately over the country's worsening financial crisis, its stagnating economy and the sharp cuts in public spending and payrolls that are likely to be in the new budget. The continued survival of Mr. Cowen's coalition government with its narrow majority in the Dail, the Irish parliament, was threatened by the reluctance of independent and Green Party members to back an austerity budget. A financial rescue package from other European nations, which Mr. Cowen's government agreed over the weekend to accept after resisting the idea for weeks, drew criticism as well, and a major credit-rating agency, Moody's, said on Monday that it may soon downgrade Ireland's rating by several notches. Read More: http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Monday, November 22, 2010
CHAOS LOVES A CONFLICT:
It's almost the end of the year. Where are we? We are at the beginning of the "Revolution of the Right."
2011 the U.S. government could shutdown. A collapse? A destruction of the Federal Government? This time the Union might not be saved. The United States might only be united by the Internet. It will begin with the Republicans not wanting to extend unemployment benefits. Then will come the cuts. Any organized protests by the Left won't even get by Fox News. Obama will be blamed for everything. He will be the Lincoln of our times. Everywhere a "draft "riot?
Here is a quote from Paul Krugman taken from an OP-ED in today's New York Times:
How does this end? Mr. Obama is still talking about bipartisan outreach, and maybe if he caves in sufficiently he can avoid a federal shutdown this spring. But any respite would be only temporary; again, the G.O.P. is just not interested in helping a Democrat govern.
My sense is that most Americans still don't understand this reality. They sill imagine that when push comes to shove our politicians will come together to do what's necessary. But that was another country.
It's almost the end of the year. Where are we? We are at the beginning of the "Revolution of the Right."
2011 the U.S. government could shutdown. A collapse? A destruction of the Federal Government? This time the Union might not be saved. The United States might only be united by the Internet. It will begin with the Republicans not wanting to extend unemployment benefits. Then will come the cuts. Any organized protests by the Left won't even get by Fox News. Obama will be blamed for everything. He will be the Lincoln of our times. Everywhere a "draft "riot?
Here is a quote from Paul Krugman taken from an OP-ED in today's New York Times:
How does this end? Mr. Obama is still talking about bipartisan outreach, and maybe if he caves in sufficiently he can avoid a federal shutdown this spring. But any respite would be only temporary; again, the G.O.P. is just not interested in helping a Democrat govern.
My sense is that most Americans still don't understand this reality. They sill imagine that when push comes to shove our politicians will come together to do what's necessary. But that was another country.
FROM SANHO TREE AT IPS:
Dear Friends,
I'm on C-SPAN2 for an hour tonight interviewing Prof. John W. Dower about his new book Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq which is a 2010 National Book Award Finalist in nonfiction. I've been a fan of his for two decades so it was a real treat to get to sit down with him. I highly recommend his book which, among other things, draws amazing parallels between the Japanese decision to attack the US and Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It will air at 8:56 EST tonight and again Sunday November 28th at 12pm. The interview is also archived online at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Dower. A short summary of his book is below.
Thanks,
Sanho
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/non-fiction/john-w-dower/cultures-war/
Title: CULTURES OF WAR: Pearl Harbor / Hiroshima / 9-11 / Iraq
Author: Dower, John W.
Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning historian Dower (Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, 1999, etc.) draws astute ironies between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 in terms of the overweening arrogance of military superpowers.
The author moves back and forth between these two definitive eras in history, providing a brilliant examination of the willful self-delusion and selective reasoning involved in the highest levels of decision makingfrom Japan’s spectacularly ill-advised bombing of Pearl Harbor to the Bush Administration’s bundling of “weapons of mass destruction” and Osama bin Laden as justification for invasion of Iraq. Dower is intensely interested in the language of war, specifically the “code” words that prime the propaganda pumpe.g., “infamy,” as used to ignite public opinion against the enemy by both presidents Roosevelt and Bush; “ground zero,” evoked after the atomic bombs dropped on Japan and then after 9/11, underscoring in both incidences the terrible momentum of modern weaponry and the deliberate targeting of noncombatants; and “occupying power,” a term that morphed from carrying a benevolent connotation in postwar Japan to the malevolent quagmire that ensued in Iraq. The author traces the “groupthink” mentality through the faulty, blinkered rationale by the Japanese warlords as well as the Islamists and the Americans. Most presciently, Dower looks at America’s creation of what the late Benazir Bhutto called a “Frankenstein’s monster” in the Middle Eastthe sanctimonious preaching of democracy and justice on one hand, and the practice of supporting tyrannical regimes and military intervention on the other. The myth of American innocence and victimization (“Pearl Harbor,” “9/11”) is shattered by the baleful effects of terror bombing, torture (Abu Ghraib) and racismwhat Dower calls a “profound failure of imagination” in thinking that the “little yellow men” and the “little Muslim sons-of-bitches” could execute such ingenious attacks.
An unrelenting, incisive, masterly comparative study.
Dear Friends,
I'm on C-SPAN2 for an hour tonight interviewing Prof. John W. Dower about his new book Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq which is a 2010 National Book Award Finalist in nonfiction. I've been a fan of his for two decades so it was a real treat to get to sit down with him. I highly recommend his book which, among other things, draws amazing parallels between the Japanese decision to attack the US and Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It will air at 8:56 EST tonight and again Sunday November 28th at 12pm. The interview is also archived online at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Dower. A short summary of his book is below.
Thanks,
Sanho
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/non-fiction/john-w-dower/cultures-war/
Title: CULTURES OF WAR: Pearl Harbor / Hiroshima / 9-11 / Iraq
Author: Dower, John W.
Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning historian Dower (Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, 1999, etc.) draws astute ironies between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 in terms of the overweening arrogance of military superpowers.
The author moves back and forth between these two definitive eras in history, providing a brilliant examination of the willful self-delusion and selective reasoning involved in the highest levels of decision makingfrom Japan’s spectacularly ill-advised bombing of Pearl Harbor to the Bush Administration’s bundling of “weapons of mass destruction” and Osama bin Laden as justification for invasion of Iraq. Dower is intensely interested in the language of war, specifically the “code” words that prime the propaganda pumpe.g., “infamy,” as used to ignite public opinion against the enemy by both presidents Roosevelt and Bush; “ground zero,” evoked after the atomic bombs dropped on Japan and then after 9/11, underscoring in both incidences the terrible momentum of modern weaponry and the deliberate targeting of noncombatants; and “occupying power,” a term that morphed from carrying a benevolent connotation in postwar Japan to the malevolent quagmire that ensued in Iraq. The author traces the “groupthink” mentality through the faulty, blinkered rationale by the Japanese warlords as well as the Islamists and the Americans. Most presciently, Dower looks at America’s creation of what the late Benazir Bhutto called a “Frankenstein’s monster” in the Middle Eastthe sanctimonious preaching of democracy and justice on one hand, and the practice of supporting tyrannical regimes and military intervention on the other. The myth of American innocence and victimization (“Pearl Harbor,” “9/11”) is shattered by the baleful effects of terror bombing, torture (Abu Ghraib) and racismwhat Dower calls a “profound failure of imagination” in thinking that the “little yellow men” and the “little Muslim sons-of-bitches” could execute such ingenious attacks.
An unrelenting, incisive, masterly comparative study.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
As I was thinking about next year, I realized that what we need is a big parade somewhere to mark the beginning of Black History Month. We could hold it in New York (Harlem) or right here in DC. Something on a grand scale that would make our history exciting to young and old. Tubman Floats and Douglass Big Puppets? A parade that would highlight the great marching bands of black colleges.
We could have city competitions and people representing the black experience from various states.
Yes, we do need our celebrations. Garvey got that right. I think of today's black leaders and all I expect from them is a wave.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
KWAME ALEXANDER has a new book out. The title is INDIGO BLUME AND THE GARDEN CITY.
A sweet tale about a young girl Going Green. Why can't we clean our neighborhoods? Why can't we grow things? It doesn't have to be this way.
www.indigoblume.com
A sweet tale about a young girl Going Green. Why can't we clean our neighborhoods? Why can't we grow things? It doesn't have to be this way.
www.indigoblume.com
 |
| KWAME ALEXANDER |
Black farmers and American Indians who say the United States discriminated against them and took their money for decades are a step closer to winning long-awaited government settlements.
Under legislation passed by the Senate on Friday, black farmers who claim discrimination at the hands of the Agriculture Department would receive almost $1.2 billion. American Indians who say they were swindled out of royalties by the Interior Department would split $3.4 billion. Both cases have languished for more than a decade, and plaintiffs say beneficiaries are dying off.
Under legislation passed by the Senate on Friday, black farmers who claim discrimination at the hands of the Agriculture Department would receive almost $1.2 billion. American Indians who say they were swindled out of royalties by the Interior Department would split $3.4 billion. Both cases have languished for more than a decade, and plaintiffs say beneficiaries are dying off.
FROM THE BOOK OF JOHN:
Comments by John Cavanagh, on the occasion of E. Ethelbert Miller’s 60th birthday,
November 19, 2010, George Washington University
I first met Ethelbert over a quarter century ago. He and I sat on an advisory committee of the Washington School, the educational arm of my place of work, the Institute for Policy Studies. Ethelbert, then as now, understood that the public in this country was less interested in facts than in a narrative, than in a good story that summed up their experience. He said to us: bring artists together with the researchers and policy analysts, and create new stories. And bring them he did. To IPS he brought: Bernice Johnson Reagon, then in her early days of Sweet Honey in the Rock. She turned our research into song. Then the poet and novelist Ariel Dorfman. Then Miles Horton from the Highlander Center. Then others.
He did such a great job of integrating politics and art that we asked him to join the IPS board. Then, 6 years ago, he became its chair. Imagine, an award-winning poet chairing the board of a think tank. He’s never been late to one meeting. And never has a meeting he’s chaired run over time. Never. He is loved by the other board members, for his wisdom and his punctuality.
Ethelbert’s work reminds us that progressives win in this country of immigrants when they weave together the various strands and races and ethnic groups into a coherent whole, with everyone pulling in the same direction. Barack Obama led such a movement in 2008. It had frayed badly by 2010. Last week, Ethelbert led our IPS board meeting with words laced with narrative. He explained to us how Republicans won the last elections by crafting a narrative that connected with their base better than the Democrats. He implored us to work on our stories, on our narrative.
I don’t know what Andy is going to say, but I think most of you know Andy Shallal as an Iraqi-American progressive who better than anyone I know except Ethelbert (they are on an even par here) have built the meeting spaces that have made progressive Washington so much more welcoming and effective and multi-racial. I will never forget two meetings over beautiful food with Ethelbert and Andy at Andy’s old place, Mimi’s American Bistro, where Ethelbert and Andy and I dreamed a bit about how Andy could create, in Busboys and Poets, a true multi-racial meeting place in this apartheid city in which we live. The two of them raised ideas that were bold and visionary and helped shape these ever-expanding Andy Shallal spaces, spaces which have made Washington a much better place.
Dear friends are rare and even rarer are true friends who tell you when you are wrong. I don’t know anyone who tells me more that I’m wrong than Ethelbert. I love the way he says it: “Wrong, wrong, wrong.” He leaves no openings, no doubts. And that’s when learning takes place. He’s occasionally wrong, but that’s another story.
One of the great honors in my life was in the year 2000, when Ethelbert asked me to write a new introduction for his book of poems entitled: “Where are the Love Poems for Dictators.” I’ll read you just four sentences from that introduction: “Ethelbert opens this book with the words of Isabel Allende: ‘The numerous tyrannies of our continent have never had a writer worth mentioning on their side.’ Our side has E. Ethelbert Miller He is not only one of America’s great contemporary poets. He is a teacher, an activist, an organizer, a great humanitarian. Feast on his words.”
Finally, I want to say that today is a perfect summary of everything I’ve said about about Ethelbert. Most of us in this room didn’t know one another a few hours ago, and by the time we leave, we’ll have new friends, new allies. What a present Ethelbert has given us all. Thank you and Happy Birthday, Ethelbert.
BUT DIDN'T THE WRIGHT BROTHERS MOVE FROM BIKES TO PLANES?
I don't drive. I don't know how to ride a bike. I do however like good public transportation. I like clean subways and buses. When people ask me about my poetry, I'm very proud that some of it has been placed near the Petworth and DuPont Circle Metro Stations. But I wish our Metro system operated better. Is it money or management? One thing I find interesting is how bikes are suddenly in. I thought their use ended at a certain point in man's evolution. I chuckled when I read a neighborhood newspaper that "hinted" that the next thing we will see around town are places where people can shower and refresh themselves after a bike ride. Why are there suddenly more bike racks around town? Is this the next trend after dog parks?
I don't drive. I don't know how to ride a bike. I do however like good public transportation. I like clean subways and buses. When people ask me about my poetry, I'm very proud that some of it has been placed near the Petworth and DuPont Circle Metro Stations. But I wish our Metro system operated better. Is it money or management? One thing I find interesting is how bikes are suddenly in. I thought their use ended at a certain point in man's evolution. I chuckled when I read a neighborhood newspaper that "hinted" that the next thing we will see around town are places where people can shower and refresh themselves after a bike ride. Why are there suddenly more bike racks around town? Is this the next trend after dog parks?
FROM INDIA, WITH LOVE
I received in the mail a copy of Shaping Minds Multicultural Literature edited by Nibir K. Ghosh.
The book was published this year in India. My essay "The Colors of Life" is included in it. Here is an excerpt:
Since the election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency, there has been a call to build a more perfect union. This requires the search for a new narrative. America today is multicultural. A unique quilt is replacing the old melting pot. We are a nation of many tongues and faiths. The new narrative adds additional colors to the red, white and blue. It calls for a new democracy and the extending of human rights to all. The new narrative embraces a second bill of rights. Political struggle for better housing and health care should bring us together and not pull us apart.
I received in the mail a copy of Shaping Minds Multicultural Literature edited by Nibir K. Ghosh.
The book was published this year in India. My essay "The Colors of Life" is included in it. Here is an excerpt:
Since the election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency, there has been a call to build a more perfect union. This requires the search for a new narrative. America today is multicultural. A unique quilt is replacing the old melting pot. We are a nation of many tongues and faiths. The new narrative adds additional colors to the red, white and blue. It calls for a new democracy and the extending of human rights to all. The new narrative embraces a second bill of rights. Political struggle for better housing and health care should bring us together and not pull us apart.