February 2010
A Nation of Racist Dwarfs by Christopher Hitchens
Visiting North Korea some years ago, I was lucky to have a fairly genial "minder" whom I'll call Mr. Chae. He guided me patiently around the ruined and starving country, explaining things away by means of a sort of denial mechanism and never seeming to lose interest in the gargantuan monuments to the world's most hysterical and operatic leader-cult.
The Lives of Others by Michael Antman
“Except for This”I once read a haunting short story in an anthology of European fiction about the life and death of a petit bourgeois Ivan Ilyich-type and his impact on his progeny and his circle of friends and acquaintances. Steadily and inevitably, that impact diminishes as the decades and generations dispose of him and everyone with direct knowledge of him until, eventually, every trace of his existence disappears from the earth forever.
Don't Call It a "Defense" Budget by Norman Solomon
The new budget from the White House will push U.S. military spending well above $2 billion a day.
Foreclosing the future of our country should not be confused with defending it.
"Unless miraculous growth, or miraculous political compromises, creates some unforeseen change over the next decade, there is virtually no room for new domestic initiatives for Mr. Obama or his successors," the New York Times reports this morning.
Howard Zinn: "We Should Not Give Up the Game Before All the Cards Have Been Played"
American historian, playwright and social activist Howard Zinn died January 27, 2010, aged 87. His light will shine bright into the far off future. A new socially just world will owe a great debt to Howard and others like him who gave so much of themselves for us. -- ZNet Staff
Michael Moore on Haiti, the Supreme Court Decision on Corporate Campaign Financing, and Why He Calls the Democrats “Disgusting” by Amy Goodman
Filmmaker Michael Moore joins us for a wide-ranging interview about Haiti, the Supreme Court decision on corporate campaign financing, President Obama’s first year in office, the Democrats, and much more. “The Democrats] don’t have the guts. They don’t have the courage of their own convictions. They’re disgusting. I’m embarrassed,” Moore says. “I want really nothing to do with them. And if they don’t find their spine, well, they’re in for a huge surprise in November.”
Who determines Canada's Israel policy? by Murray Dobbin
It has been said by many American commentators critical of Israeli policy in the occupied territories that Israel in effect writes U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. It is hard to dispute the claim even though on occasion the U.S. does balk at the most outrageous Israeli plans such as its eagerness to bomb Iranian nuclear sites (the U.S. knows it wouldn't stop there and a wider war would almost certainly ensue).
J.D. Salinger: 1919-2010 by Walter Kirn
In 1951, his first novel, "The Catcher in the Rye", changed the world - but not into one he had any interest in living in
A Case for Comics in College by Shaun Huston
I frequently use comics as part of the assigned reading in my courses. I use them primarily as a way of engaging students in discussions of class themes, but because geography is a strongly visual field of study, I also get some opportunity to talk about form, too.
No Apology from IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri for Glacier Fallacy by David Adam and Fred Pearce
Head of UN climate change body 'not at fault' for false claim Himalaya ice caps would melt by 2035
The embattled chief of the UN's climate change body has hit out at his critics and refused to resign or apologise for a damaging mistake in a landmark 2007 report on global warming.
Lawyers, Guns, and Money by Andy Kroll
How big banks, powerful lobbyists, sneaky attorneys, and a host of businessmen funnel dirty cash into the US.
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