I’ve long been a huge fan of Glenn Greenwald, perhaps the supreme foe of the Bush/Obama Forever War ever since the hostilities started. That’s why I’m so pained to read his reaction to the reaction to PEN America’s decision to give an award to Charlie Hebdo. Part of Glenn’s problem is that he’s reacting to…
Author: Alan Vanneman
“Make Fun of Mohammed Day” in Texas? How about “Make Fun of Jesus Day”? Or “Make Fun of the Cowboys Day”?
Since I’m already down as endorsing the idea that it’s okay to make fun of Mohammed à la Charlie Hebdo, I guess I can’t object too strenuously to the “Make Fun of Mohammed” exhibit staged by the “American Freedom Defense Initiative” in Garland, Texas that ultimately involved the wounding of a security guard and the…
Charlie Hebdo is sooooooo vulgar!
Well, that seems to be the new rap—the new, improved rap—on Charlie Hebdo, the no-holds-barred French satire magazine, nine of whose staff were recently murdered by Muslim terrorists. A number of prominent lefties, including renowned Doonesbury creator Gary Trudeau and anti-Bush/Obama war crimes crusader Glenn Greenwald, are suddenly deciding that there should be limits to…
Edward Gibbon, Part I
When I was a boy, back in the fifties, the Sunday papers were still a big deal. The Sunday paper, a full-color, four-color marvel in a black and white world, was a sensation when it emerged around 1900, bringing hours of entertainment for everyone in the family, and fifty years later the institution was still…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here “She burns methane ’stead a-burpin’ it, for one thing. Mother Nature thanks me, and you will too.” “Yeah, sure, manure is Nature’s way. But it ain’t my way. My way’s the highway, so excuse my exhaust.” “And another thing. She don’t draw no flies.” “You know that feller who said we don’t…
What’s more massively depressing than the Baltimore riots? William Kristol’s reaction to the Baltimore riots
I don’t buy the notion that “It was only a matter of time before Baltimore exploded,” an “explanation” given by reporter Michael Fletcher, a reporter who has lived there for 30 years. Arson, looting, and vandalism are not a response to injustice but a celebration of lawlessness. What could be worse than scenes of democratic…
T.S. Monk—Full Concert Newport Jazz Festival August 15, 1992
There’s an ad for a Disney film you probably won’t want to see, plus a few slow minutes while the band tunes up, but after that the sailing is pretty smooth. The tunes are “Monaco”, “Infra-Rae”, “Monk’s Dream”, “Round Midnight”, “Kelo”, and “Minor’s Holiday”. Posted by Music Vault
Beat the Press! It’s the Clinton’s favorite game!
Another Clinton scandal? Who could have seen this coming? Yes, the Clintons are thoughtless, sloppy, greedy, and self-indulgent—kind of like me, except they manage to make it pay better than I do. But why do they keep doing it? Why, why, why? Because they don’t think it matters. They don’t care what the press says…
Rewriting history: The Making of the President 1960
Over at Politico, Scott Porch and Mariel A. Klein have a retrospective look at the book that “invented” modern political reporting, Theodore White’s The Making of the President 1960. It’s not bad, but it misses a few things. As Porch and Klein note, Teddy White got his start reporting on China during World War II…
Auf Wiedersehen, Günter Grass
I missed remarking on the death of Günter Grass last week, death and taxes being just a little too much for me. As long as the Soviet Union existed, Grass was a welcome and intelligent voice, definitely “left” but never in the least willing to go along with the “Old Left” notion that the U.S….