Roundup: Media's Take

January 23, 2004

Hitchens: Why Pontecorvo's Film on Algeria Isn't Relevant to Iraq

Christopher Hitchens, writing in Slate (Jan. 5, 2004): Having been screened by the special operations department of the Pentagon last August (see Charles Paul Freund's piece in Slate ), The Battle of Algiers is now scheduled for a run at the New York Film Forum . Unless I am wrong, this event will lead to a torrent of pseudo-knowi

January 23, 2004

Why the Stock Market Is Over-Valued

Economist Dean Baker, commenting on the following articles (Jan. 5, 2004): Market Caps Off Sustained Rebound Ben White and Carrie Johnson Washington Post, January 1, 2004, Page E1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46235-2003Dec31.html Year’s Big Rally Helps Investors Regain Ground Jonathan Fuerbringer New York Times, January 1, 2004, Page A1 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/01/business/01STOX.htm

January 23, 2004

Cold Mountain Leaves Out the Role of Blacks in the Civil War

Erik Todd Dellums, a Brown University graduate and actor and son of former Rep. Ronald V. Dellums, writing in the SF Chronicle (Jan. 4, 2004): I am an African American, professional actor, semiotician and film lover. I am, therefore, underemployed, underappreciated and an afterthought in Hollywood. I am also a man who rarely sees an accurate depiction of black people and American history in film and on television. It's something I've grown used to, but now I'm mad as

January 23, 2004

History Is Being Used (and Abused) Now More than Ever

Ben Macintyre, writing in the London Times (Jan. 3, 2004): Michael Howard's credo, published in The Times yesterday, included this little self-revelatory nugget: "I believe," declared the Tories' answer to Martin Luther King, "that these islands are home to a great people with a noble past." This statement might seem as straightforward as some of his other platitudes ("injustice makes us angry": well I never) but it hints at a broade

January 23, 2004

Why Senators Make Bad Candidates for President

E.J. Dionne Jr., writing in the Wash Post (Jan. 4, 2004): Here's what being a senator means when you run for president: It means you have thousands of votes on the record that can be distorted in a heartbeat. Sen. John McCain learned this during the Republican primaries in 2000 when a radio ad in New York accused him of voting against money for a cancer research center in the state. The ad, run in support of George W. Bush, picked out a vote McCain ha

January 23, 2004

Richard Cohen: A Rightwinger Compares the Estate Tax to the Holocaust

Richard Cohen, writing in the Wash Post (Jan. 6, 2004): This is the way things happen in my business. In October the extremely influential GOP activist and White House insider Grover Norquist was interviewed by Terry Gross on her National Public Radio program,"Fresh Air." By December a portion of that interview was reprinted in Harper's magazine, where, over the holidays, I happened to

January 23, 2004

Nicholas Kristof: Pols Should Stop Exploiting Religion

Nicholas Kristof, writing in the NYT (Jan. 7, 2004): Over the holidays, Vice President Dick Cheney's Christmas card symbolized all that troubles me about the way politicians treat faith — not as a source for spiritual improvement, but as a pedestal to strut upon. Mr. Cheney's card is dominated by a quotation by Benjamin Franklin:"And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable

January 23, 2004

Judenrein Palestine?

Rachel Neuwirth, writing in Israeli National News (Jan. 6, 2004): Why is it that people are proposing a Middle East peace plan that will make Judea and Samaria Judenrein (the Nazi term for a place with no Jews)? It is the historic homeland and birthplace of the Jewish people, yet many world leaders - including every American president - believe that the removal of Jewish communities

January 23, 2004

The History of the Iowa Caucuses

Excerpts from David Yepsen's history of the Iowa Caucus, published in the Des Moines Register:Iowa's precinct caucuses became an early, if controversial, test of strength for major party presidential candidates during the 1970s and 1980s. Other states and critics seek to limit their significance, and Iowa works to resist those efforts. Since they become nationally significant in 1

January 23, 2004

Update on the Iraq Museum

Editorial in the WSJ (Jan. 10, 2004): Remember the second Mongol invasion? The comparison to the 1258 sack of Baghdad by Genghis Khan's grandson was one of the more popular allusions in the wake of Saddam's fall, especially with initial claims that U.S. forces had stood by while 170,000 pieces were looted from Iraq's National Museum. By now most people know that this estimate was a gross

January 23, 2004

Should Dean Open His Records as Governor? He Would Have to If He Had Been Governor of Florida

Steve Bousquet, writing in the St. Petersburg Times (Jan. 12, 2004): Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is keeping many items locked away, but Florida leaders must face greater scrutiny. As Howard Dean emerges as the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for president, his record as governor of Vermont is attracting plenty of attention from his opponents. But a sizable chunk of that record is under lock and key in a warehouse nea

January 23, 2004

Jews in the Diaspora Have No Obligation to Follow the Sharon Government's Line

Arthur Hertzberg, writing in Haaretz.com (Jan. 7, 2004): The root of the Jewish claim under international law to the right to establish a national presence in the land of their ancestors lies in the Balfour Declaration of November 1917. The British government addressed this document to a leading figure in the Diaspora, Lord Rothschild of England, rather than to the chief Jewish negotiator and then de facto lead

January 23, 2004

Presidents Have Had Trouble Implementing Grand Designs for Outer Space

William J. Broad, writing in the NYT about President Bush's space initiative (Jan. 14, 2004): The troubles with grand White House plans [for outer space] began in January 1972 when President Richard M. Nixon proposed that the nation embark on a new kind of spaceship, reusable and known as the shuttle."It will take the astronomical costs out of astronautics," he said, promising that t

January 23, 2004

Criticizing the Military Is Now Taboo

Diane H. Mazu, a professor of law at the University of Florida, writing in timesunion.com (Jan. 11, 2004): It lost the ability to have a meaningful discussion about anything that involves the military. The Pentagon recently began a significant call-up for the next major rotation of troops in Iraq, but it has no realistic plan for covering military and domestic security commitments wi

January 23, 2004

MLK: If He Were Alive, He'd Be Highly Controversial

Clarence Page, writing in the Chicago Tribune (Jan. 14, 2004): As Americans prepare once again to take a day off to honor the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., I wonder whether America would be as eager to honor him if he were still around. I'm not alone in my wondering. "Somebody wrote a poem, which said now that he is safely dead, let us pra

January 20, 2004

The War Against Lies

Gore Vidal, writing in the Independant (London) (Jan. 18, 2004) It is often hard to explain to foreigners what an American presidential election is actually about. We cling to a two-party system in the same way that imperial Rome clung to the republican notion of two consuls as figurehead - to mark off, if nothing else, the years that they held office conjointly. They reigned ceremonially but were not makers of the political weather. Our two official parties have, at t

January 20, 2004

A Foreign Policy of Try, Try Again

Steven R. Weisman, writing in the New York Times (Jan. 18, 2004) THE American occupation in Iraq has been one of relentless trial and error.One early reversal occurred with the American administrators' dismissal of the Iraqi Army, followed by a decision to keep many soldiers on the payroll to avoid trouble. A promise to withdraw a large number of American forces quickly from Iraq was offered and then canceled. Beyond these military shifts, the goal of tra

January 13, 2004

The Media Are Misinterpreting Religion in This Election

Steven Waldman, writing for the

January 13, 2004

ONeill's Comments Show We Can No Longer Turn a Blind Eye

Paul Vitello, writing for Newsday (New York) (Jan. 13, 2004) The war in Iraq has become a fact of life in the U.S. - another worry in a sea of murky worries, and about as threatening to the average American as mad cow disease.Except for the people killed and maimed daily on Iraqi soil, and except for the people who might be maimed or killed, and except for the families and loved ones of the people in those categories, Americans seem to be moving on.We have

January 13, 2004

Why Washington DC Voters Still Can't Vote for President

James Dao, writing in the New York Times (Jan. 12th, 2004) Danny Glover's voice purred on answering machines, urging people to turn out for Representative Dennis J. Kucinich. Rock bands thumped out chords for Howard Dean. The Rev. Al Sharpton quipped and bellowed for votes.It felt as if primary season had arrived in Washington this weekend, a bit earlier than usual. And it had, sort of. On Tuesday, district voters will go to the polls to cast ballots for