Month: September 2007

Ahmadinejad in the Lions’ Den.

So, you’ll never guess who came to campus today…It didn’t get much press or anything, but Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad kicked off his NY tour this morning by being eviscerated in public by Columbia’s president, Lee Bollinger. Normally, I’d say it’s poor form to hijack an invited speaker like that, but: the national temper is running angry, Ahmadinejad’s no angel by any means, and — most importantly — the questions Bollinger posed demand substantive answers. (Besides, a furor is what Ahmadinejad wanted anyway.)

All that being said, I still think it was a dumb political stunt (on both ends) to disinvite the Iranian president from visiting Ground Zero. A couple of points people seem to have forgotten lately: 1. Iran didn’t have anything to do with 9/11, and 2. Whatever’s going on on the Iraqi border, we’re not currently at war with them. Most importantly, why wouldn’t we want a man who’s trying to obtain nukes to see the lasting consequences of a large-scale atrocity firsthand? If the sight of that still-gaping wound in the heart of the city gave him pause for even a moment, the world would be better for it.

Clooney Hurt, Coens Serious.

A belated get well soon to George Clooney, who broke a rib in a motorcyle accident nearby last Friday, while in town to film the Coens’ Burn after Reading. And speaking of the Coens, details emerge about their next project, A Serious Man, which begins shooting next April. “According to FilmJerk, the story will focus on Larry Gopnik, a Jewish college professor in the Midwest during the 1960s…Larry seeks to solve his existential issues from men of God whom he hopes will help him to become an austere and devoted man.”

All in the Game.

“In a way, it doesn’t make sense to talk of ‘The Wire‘ as the best American television show because it’s not very American. The characters in American popular culture are rarely shown to be subject to forces completely beyond their control. American culture is fundamentally Romantic, individualistic and Christian; when it’s not exhorting you to ‘follow your dream’ it’s reassuring us that in the eleventh hour, we will be saved. American culture is a perpetual pep talk, trafficking in tales of personal redemption and the ultimate triumph of good over evil. We don’t do doom. ‘The Wire’ is not Romantic but classical; what matters most in its universe is fulfilling your duty and facing the inexorable with dignity.” From the bookmarks, Salon‘s Laura Miller extols the classical virtues of The Wire. What she said.

4.D’oh!

Hmm. Ok, as you can see, things look slightly different at the moment. I’ve been trying to update to Movable Type 4.0, and, while trying to get the individual entry pages to update, it seems I’ve gone ahead and switched back to the default style. That’s recommended anyway, but things might look funky around here for a few days while I get everything working again (and try to figure out how to get my individual entry pages to appear.) Bear with me…and hope I don’t permanently break anything.

Update: Well, shoot. I think I broke it. Individual entry pages used to be listed by number. Now they’re listed by name. So that means every entry that links to another entry is now riddled with “Page Not Found” errors. This is not good.

Update 2: Ok, that problem is fixed. I had to read up on archive mapping and then navigate my way around this bug, but that seemed to do the trick. Now, to start playing with the look around here. Sigh…MT 4.0 better be something else, ’cause right now I’m feeling like Gob Bluth…I’ve made a huge mistake.

Update 3: Ok, MT 4.0, autosave be damned, just ate the In the Valley of Elah review I’d been working on for the past hour. And, when it comes to fixing the templates, cutting and pasting is absolutely afflicted. I’m really starting to hate this “upgrade.”

The Party of Lincoln no longer.

“‘It’s not my party anymore,’ Chafee, who represented Rhode Island from 1999 until 2007, told The Providence Journal in an article published Saturday.” As seen over at Now This, former RI Senator Lincoln Chafee has left the GOP. Well, there’s something to be said for a moment of clarity, even when too little, too late. But, really, Senator, where were you when we needed you?

Outside the Law?

“The problem is that no one seems quite sure what law, if any, would apply to security firm contractors, and any potential applications are untested and would be vigorously challenged.” A murky incident involving Blackwater USA over the weekend, which resulted in the deaths of eight alleged Iraqi civilians, raises questions about the legality of private security firms working in Iraq (on whom the well-being of most American diplomats in the region depends.) “Should any Iraqis ever seek redress for the deaths of the civilians in a criminal court, they will be out of luck. Because of an order promulgated by the Coalition Provisional Authority, the now-defunct American occupation government, there appears to be almost no chance that the contractors involved would be, or could be, successfully prosecuted in any court in Iraq.” Needed or not, having privately-held American militias operating outside the bounds of the Iraqi legal system isn’t going to elicit much respect for the rule of law in the region.

Death and Taxes.

“‘Instead of having all of us pay our fair share, we’ve got over $1 trillion worth of loopholes in the corporate tax code,’ he said. ‘This isn’t the invisible hand of the market at work. It’s the successful work of special interests.” In a speech at Washington’s Tax Policy Center, Barack Obama unveils his tax plan. “The plan means billions in breaks by: nixing income taxes for the 7 million senior citizens making less than $50,000 a year, establishing a universal credit for the 10 million homeowners who make less than $50,000 annually and do not itemize their deductions, and providing 150 million Americans with tax cuts of up to $1,000…Obama proposes funding the tax cuts by closing corporate loopholes, cracking down on international tax havens and increasing the dividend-and-capital-gains tax for the wealthy, he said.“

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton unveils her new health care plan. “A Clinton adviser compares the plan’s ‘individual mandate’ — which requires everyone to have health insurance — to current rules in most states that require all drivers to purchase auto insurance…Clinton is the third of the front-running Democratic White House hopefuls to formally unveil her plan, following Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, and former Sen. John Edwards.” Said Edwards of the Clinton plan: “I’m glad that, today, the architect of the 1993 plan has another care proposal — and if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then I’m flattered…The lesson Senator Clinton seems to have learned from her experience with health care is, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.’ I learned a very different lesson from decades of fighting powerful interests — you can never join ’em, you just have to beat ’em.”

Here Comes the Judge.

“In making this selection, I think President Bush has made a very…deliberate effort to choose someone who would not be controversial,” Sidestepping the political firestorm a Ted Olsen nod would have unleashed, Dubya chooses retired judge Michael B. Mukasey to be Gonzales’ replacement at the Justice Department. While conservative, particularly on national security issues, Mukasey is “‘not an ideologue for the sake of being an ideologue,’ said Andrew Ruffino, a former law clerk of the nominee’s. Said Bruce Ackerman, a Yale law professor who was a classmate of Mukasey’s: ‘He is not a hyper-charged Federalist Society type. He is not a glad-hand networker.‘” (He does, on the other hand, have strong ties to Rudy Giuliani.)

Yes, I received your letter yesterday.

Johnny’s in the basement, mixing up the medicine, I’m on the pavement, thinking about the government. And Tessa? Well, she’s sending me this swanky link to the new Dylan messaging site, where you can create your own version of the seminal 1965 Subterranean Homesick Blues video. (Also up here is the video for Mark Ronson’s brand new remix of “Most Likely You’ll Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine.)” I’m not sold on the horn section, to be honest, but it’d be hard to improve on Blonde on Blonde in any event. Time will tell, just who fell, and who’s been left behind…)