Friday, October 31, 2008

Studs Terkel Will Not Be Undone (4:59 pm)

In These Times lost a long-time supporter, frequent contributor and dear friend today, when oral historian, radio DJ, stage and screen actor, Chicago Icon, and socialist raconteur Studs Terkel died at age 96. Strangely enough, I’ve been reading his oral history of the Great Depression, Hard Times, which—along with Division Street, The Good War, Race, and Working, among many others—will certainly remain a classic of literary American history.

The Trib has a nice obituary here.

A little more than a year ago, Laura S. Washington interviewed him for us about what he said at the time would be his last book, the memoir Touch and Go. (Typically, though, Studs has a new book coming out in November.) I think my favorite piece that he wrote for us during my tenure here was this one, although I also love this excerpt from his book, Hope Dies Last.

That last title really sums up the work of Studs, who dreamed of—and worked toward—a more just, humane, and equitable future for this country. (As well as a Cubs’ World Series, but this year, those bastards once again let both of us down.)

If you have a pair of red socks, put ‘em on tonight. And it seems fitting that I should end this tribute with the ending that David Moberg chose for his profile of Studs on his 90th birthday a couple years back:

Coming away from his book on death, Terkel says that he was awed by the “complexity” of humanity. The interview process itself is fraught with complexity as well. In capturing a record of his subjects’ lives and thoughts, Terkel also preserves something of himself. Rather than give his own assessment of mortality, he rushed upstairs, where stacks of books surround his bed, to find a volume of poems by Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska. He read “Hatred” and then what he saw as its counterpoint, “On Death, Without Exaggeration.” It ends on a note affirming what Terkel embraces as “the permanence of life,” which continues to animate his career an an oral historian: “In vain it tugs at the knob /... read more

posted by Brian Cook | 1 comment

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Totally Despicable (4:30 pm)

Even for the McCain campaign—the sorriest crew of knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers on the planet—the attacks on renown Middle East scholar Rashid Khalidi are despicably low. As both Juan Cole and Spencer Ackerman have pointed out, they are explicitly racist. They also add one more piece of evidence to the case that McCain is not fit to be president; if he can’t distinguish between Khalidi and (his words) a “neo-Nazi,” then I’d be surprised if he can any longer tell the difference between his ass and his elbow (or his brain).

Part of the reason I find this so infuriating is that back in those dark days of early 2003—-when this country was going cuckoo over the prospect of invading Iraq—-Khalidi performed a real, patriotic service to our country in the pages of this magazine, exposing the lies of the Bush administration’s “case” for war and predicting with eerie prescience what would be the most likely outcome of the invasion. (You can—-and should—-read those pieces here and here.) His wise counsel, of course, was ignored, with horrific and devastating consequences. But at the time, Khalidi’s writings were manna to myself and millions of other Americans who (correctly) protested this hideous war, providing a shelter of sanity from the blizzard of bamboozling and bullshit pouring down from this nation’s more august media institutions. For that, and for his truly remarkable history, The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (an absolute must-read), I owe him my thanks, and as forceful a denunciation as I can possibly muster of these spurious and heinous attacks on his character.

posted by Brian Cook | start the discussion

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Wednesday Night Links: Voter Suppression, New Feminism, and Labor Unions (11:20 pm)

-Die Feministin Katha Pollitt talks with Der Spiegel:

Pollitt:To older feminists it can seem that the younger women do not understand the precariousness of what they have won — the right to an abortion, for example, that could be revoked at any moment. But at the same time older feminists sometimes don’t see that things have really changed. Some of those old battles have been won, and you aren’t fighting them again. For example, abortion rights may be at risk, but the right to enter a profession is not at risk. Gays are not going back into the closet. Single motherhood — including abortion — is here to stay.

SPIEGEL: So is a women’s movement necessary even today?

Pollitt:Definitely.

Other topics discussed include Sarah Palin, Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

-Read an open letter to the CEO of Whole Foods Market from the United Farm Workers, along with about a dozen other labor-rights and advocacy groups, regarding “the working conditions faced by Beef NW feed lots, a company who supplies (Whole Foods) with “natural” beef.”

-Sally on over to Progress Illinois to catch Adam Doster’s post on Indiana’s chief voter-suppression pud-whack. This class act cut his teeth in Florida in 2000 and “is proud” of his work there.

-TPM’s Republican Voter Suppression Guide is here.

-If you missed Obama’s 27 minute infomercial tonight, watch it below. I, for one, am disappointed he couldn’t find it in him to use the words “labor union” once.

posted by Jarrett | 2 comments

It’s my fault Barack lost (4:18 pm)

This is probably MoveOn’s best work to date (and it’s one of the funniest videos I’ve ever seen). Watch it, then customize it so that it says your name or your friends’ names.

posted by Jarrett | 1 comment

South Dakota Choice In Peril (2:35 pm)

The most recent poll in South Dakota shows the electorate evenly split - 44-44 - on Measure 11, the law which would effectively outlaw abortion in the state. Act now: give to South Dakota Healthy Families before next Tuesday to help them finish the good work of getting out the vote to bat this damn thing down. Here’s the link again.

posted by Jarrett | start the discussion

Monday, October 27, 2008

Monday Night Links: The Army Comes Home To Roost (7:04 pm)

-First the tyranny of the police, now here comes the Army. Glenn Greenwald writes about the ACLU’s efforts to uphold “the long-standing legal prohibitions against the use of the U.S. military for law enforcement purposes inside the U.S.” This is in response to the Army’s announcement that it is deploying the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division to American soil “to help with civil unrest and crowd control.”

-Feds have disrupted a Neo-Nazi skinhead plot in Tennessee to “shoot or decapitate” 88 African-American high school students. The would-be assailants hoped to end their killing spree by assassinating Obama.

-A website to watch as the incidences of hate group violence rise in our country is the one run by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

-In July the Utne Reader ran a piece that offers fresh, practical ideas on how to contain gun violence. And, no, it says nothing about taking your guns away, so sit down.

-Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is, as Markos Moulitsas put it, guilty. guilty. guilty. guilty. guilty.

-Colm Toibin on Barack Obama and James Baldwin’s experiential, literary, and religious parallels (and differences).

-Christopher Hitchens on Sarah Palin’s hatred for science.

-Hey, conservatives ride bikes, too!

posted by Jarrett | start the discussion

Greider on Nader (5:56 pm)

Over at The Nation, Bill Greider has a good piece on Ralph Nader, examining his latest run for president in the context of a possible electoral landslide by Democrats. It’s a sharp point. Though some believe we may be approaching some type of “liberal dawn,” I’ll believe it when I see it. Certainly Americans appear to be spurning the Right, but it’s a very legitimate question as to whether electing Democrats to replace Republicans will bring about any serious reforms. As Greider writes:

If the election produces stronger majorities in Congress and a new president who has promised big change, Nader’s analysis will be tested in the clearest terms. For the first time in thirty years, the Dems will have nobody else left to blame. If Obama does not turn the page as he promised, if the Congressional majority does not step up forcefully, then we may fairly conclude Nader was right.

I’m not sure, however, if the failure to produce forceful reform this time around might solely be an indictment of Democratic fecklessness and/or timidity. Certainly that might play a role, but I’m increasingly concerned whether these failures are the result of larger dysfunctionalities within our political institutions, in particular the Senate. As that link suggests, it might be the case that, when it comes to this possibility, Ralph Nader has not been radical enough.

One other quibble with Ralph. In the Greider piece, he cites I.F. Stone, saying “I believe in I.F. Stone’s dictum that in all social justice movements, you’ve got to be ready to lose. And lose and lose and lose. It’s not very pleasant, but you have to accept this if you believe in what you’re doing.”

The I.F. Stone quote Ralph is referring to happens to be one of my favorites, a lodestar I (however poorly) try to live my life by. And Ralph’s only got it half-right. As I cited it in my review of ‘The Wire’ a few months back, it reads:

The only kinds of fights worth having are those you’re going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose... read more

posted by Brian Cook | 1 comment

Friday, October 24, 2008

Executive of Fox News: “Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over” (12:51 pm)

At least, that’s what he wrote yesterday:

If the [McCain-campaign-worker-attacked-by-crazed-black-Zorro-loving-Obamaniac] incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.

Well, it’s a hoax. I look forward to watching the suitable outrage on Fox News tonight.