Rice's Mideast Minefield
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1429.html
By David Ignatius
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A15
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is crossing a modest threshold in
her efforts to mediate the Palestinian problem: She is signaling her
willingness to meet with some members of the Hamas-backed "national
unity government," even though the Israelis have publicly opposed such
a move.
Rice doesn't do anything impulsively, least of all jump into the
world's most intractable conflict. And the space she has opened
between U.S. and Israeli positions is quite small. But as she prepares
for another trip to the Middle East late this week, Rice is sending
the message that despite the complications posed by the Palestinian
unity government announced last weekend, she is pressing ahead with
her diplomatic efforts to broker the creation of a Palestinian state.
Hollywood's Climate Follies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1430.html
By Robert J. Samuelson
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A15
"My fellow Americans, people all over the world, we need to solve the
climate crisis. It's not a political issue. It's a moral issue. We
have everything we need to get started, with the possible exception of
the will to act. That's a renewable resource. Let's renew it."
-- Al Gore, accepting an Oscar for "An Inconvenient Truth"
Global warming has gone Hollywood, literally and figuratively. The
script is plain. As Gore says, solutions are at hand. We can switch to
renewable fuels and embrace energy-saving technologies, once the dark
forces of doubt are defeated. It's smart and caring people against the
stupid and selfish. Sooner or later, Americans will discover that this
Hollywood version of global warming (largely mirrored in the media) is
mostly make-believe.
Don't Take Poland for Granted
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1427.html
By Radek Sikorski
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A15
WARSAW -- The U.S. proposal to place radar and interceptor sites for a
new missile defense system in Central Europe -- respectively, in the
Czech Republic and Poland -- may generate a new security partnership
with the countries of the region. Or it could provoke a spiral of
misunderstanding, weaken NATO, deepen Russian paranoia and cost the
United States some of its last friends on the continent.
Early omens are worrisome. Some genius at the State Department or the
Pentagon sent the first official note describing possible placement of
the facility with a draft reply attached -- a reply that contained a
long list of host countries' obligations and few corresponding U.S.
commitments. Natives here tend to think they are capable of writing
their own diplomatic correspondence. But in a region where goodwill
toward the United States depends on the memory of its support in
resisting Soviet colonialism, this was particularly crass. If the Bush
administration expects Poles and Czechs to jump for joy and agree to
whatever is proposed, it's going to face a mighty crash with reality.
Rethinking the NAACP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1431.html
By Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. and Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A15
The resignation of Bruce S. Gordon as president and chief executive of
the NAACP this month portends an important and long overdue shift in
black America's struggle for racial justice.
Gordon resigned after only 19 months because he disagreed with the
NAACP's board on the best focus for the historic civil rights group.
Gordon wanted to direct more resources toward social service programs
such as wealth-building, tutoring and pregnancy counseling. The board
wanted to maintain its traditional emphasis on fighting racial
discrimination and advocating for social justice.
God and His Gays
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1428.html
By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A15
Science is stealing up on America's religious fundamentalists, causing
much alarm. Consider the dilemma of the Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr.,
president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville
and a leading figure in the Southern Baptist firmament.
Writing in his blog this month, Mohler acknowledged that " the
direction of the research" increasingly points to the possibility that
a "biological basis for sexual orientation exists." Should sexuality
be determined in utero, Mohler continued, that still wouldn't justify
abortion or genetic engineering.
Precedent 4 Student Speech
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1565.html
An unusual First Amendment case
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A14
WHAT IS a bong hit 4 Jesus? We're not sure, and we doubt anyone really
knows what the phrase means -- which is one reason the Supreme Court
ought not to regard it as prohibited speech.
Joseph Frederick, the protagonist in a case the justices heard Monday,
unfurled a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" across from his
Juneau, Alaska, high school in 2002. His unamused principal ripped it
down and suspended him. The Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled
that the principal had violated Mr. Frederick's First Amendment
rights; now it's up to the Supreme Court to decide whether Mr.
Frederick's sophomoric signage was protected speech.
Rule by Iron Bar
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1561.html
Robert Mugabe tries beating his opponents into submission.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A14
IN RECENT years it seemed no outrage by Zimbabwean dictator Robert
Mugabe was enough to inspire a rebellion by his political cronies or
effective intervention by outsiders. The 83-year-old president
destroyed the country's once relatively prosperous economy, stole
multiple elections and cruelly drove hundreds of thousands of slum
dwellers from their homes. Still his once proud ZANU-PF party, which
led Zimbabwe to independence, stayed with him, while fellow African
leaders shrank from confronting him.
Now Mr. Mugabe is once again testing -- or shaming -- those who have
chosen to endure him for so long, at such cost to Zimbabwe. Last week,
newspapers published an interview in which the president suggested
that next year he would seek another six-year extension of his term.
Then his police brutally attacked an opposition prayer meeting,
beating and arresting 50 leaders.
Bush Offers Aides For Hill Interviews
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
0111.html
Democrats Probing Firings Chafe at Conditions
By Michael Abramowitz and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A01
President Bush sought yesterday to defuse the controversy over the
firings of U.S. attorneys, offering strong support for embattled
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales while proposing to make Karl Rove
and other top aides available for private interviews with
congressional investigators.
The White House, however, limited the kinds of questions the aides
would answer and said the interviews may not be conducted under oath
or transcribed. The conditions enraged congressional Democrats, who
vowed to go ahead with plans to issue subpoenas as early as today that
would compel the aides to testify.
E-Mails Reveal Tumult In Firings and Aftermath
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1943_pf.html
By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; A01
On the morning of Feb. 7, the day after a combative Senate hearing
over the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, Deputy Attorney General Paul
J=2E McNulty was looking on the bright side.
"Paul reports this morning that he's hearing good reports from the
Committee," a senior Justice official reported in an e-mail. "In
particular, Sen. Schumer's counsel told him that the issue has
basically run its course."
Candidates Stress Early Fundraising
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1537_pf.html
Tallies for First Quarter Could Be Make-or-Break
By Anne E. Kornblut and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; A01
Presidential candidates are collecting contributions at a record-
setting pace and are racing to load their schedules with fundraising
events ahead of March 31, the campaign's cutoff for financial reports
that will be filed next month.
The amounts that contenders can bring in will shape the narrative of
the race for months to come -- potentially vaulting a candidate into
the top tier -- and could spell an early exit for some.
Clinton Camp Aims to Minimize Differences With Obama on Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
0800_pf.html
By Anne E. Kornblut and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; A02
In criticizing Sen. Barack Obama over his early views on Iraq, Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign appears to be trying to blur the
differences between the two on the war and seeking to direct attention
away from criticism of her vote to authorize it.
During a public forum on Monday night, Mark J. Penn, the chief
strategist for Clinton (D-N.Y.), challenged Obama's antiwar
credentials by paraphrasing comments Obama made in 2004 about his
uncertainty over the war; former president Bill Clinton reportedly
made similar remarks about Obama (D-Ill.) at a fundraiser in Manhattan
last week. When asked to support the claims, Clinton officials
provided pages of Obama quotations -- some of them abridged -- from
2002 and 2004.
Gore Returns to Capitol Hill a Hero and a Target
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1421.html
Skeptics of Global Warming Hope to Test the Former Vice President's
Mettle
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A06
Al Gore wowed moviegoers and Hollywood elites with his Oscar-winning
documentary on global warming. Today he faces a far tougher audience
in Congress.
The 2000 Democratic presidential nominee will testify about the
urgency of addressing climate change in two appearances on Capitol
Hill before panels that include skeptics of the sort that Gore
probably hasn't met on the red carpet.
U=2ES. to Ease Illegal Immigrants' Children's Access to Medicaid
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1254.html
Associated Press
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A06
In response to concerns that some babies may be missing out on
essential health care, the Bush administration will issue a rule
making it easier for the infants of noncitizens to gain access to
services covered through Medicaid.
Typically, newborns of Medicaid beneficiaries are deemed automatically
eligible for the health-care program during their first year as long
as the mother remains eligible.
FBI Violations May Number 3,000, Official Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
0921.html
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A07
The Justice Department's inspector general told a committee of angry
House members yesterday that the FBI may have violated the law or
government policies as many as 3,000 times since 2003 as agents
secretly collected the telephone, bank and credit card records of U.S.
citizens and foreign nationals residing here.
Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said that according to the FBI's own
estimate, as many as 600 of these violations could be "cases of
serious misconduct" involving the improper use of "national security
letters" to compel telephone companies, banks and credit institutions
to produce records.
Louisiana Governor Announces She Won't Seek Reelection
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1437.html
By Chris Cillizza
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A08
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) announced last night that
she will not seek a second term this November, bowing to a political
reality created by her handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"I am choosing to do what is best for my state," Blanco said. "I will
focus my time and energy for the next nine months on the people's
work, not politics."
For Gaza, a Question of Responsibility
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1610_pf.html
Israel, at High Court, Argues That Strip Is No Longer Occupied
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; A09
GAZA CITY -- The Israeli government is arguing in domestic courts that
it no longer occupies the Gaza Strip, a designation that under
international law holds the Jewish state responsible for the welfare
of Gaza's 1.4 million Palestinians.
Israel declined to seek a change in Gaza's legal status with the
United Nations following its September 2005 departure from the coastal
territory, when it pulled out thousands of Jewish settlers and shut
down its military government. The move was hailed internationally as a
step toward peace.
Aging Japanese Keep Their Minds Moving
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1699_pf.html
Affluence, Long Life Fuel Sales of Games, Books and Tours to Exercise
the Brain
By Mariko Yasumoto
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; A09
TOKYO -- Every night, just before hopping into bed, Sachiko Sakurai
plays a video game on a handheld console she recently bought. But
Sakurai is not a child fixated on digital entertainment. She is 62
years old and looking forward to the birth of her first grandchild two
months from now.
"I never imagined I would play an electronic game," Sakurai said. "But
I'm enjoying this."
A Commitment to Keep Travelers Caffeinated
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
1445_pf.html
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; A09
NAOUR, Jordan With motions made routine by practice, Aziz Suwair
poured a heaping spoon of powdery coffee into a long-handled pot of
scalding water. He stirred, then danced it on a flame like a
marionette. By a conservative estimate, he has gone through these
motions 600,000 times.
As he worked, the clouds finally parted, ending a winter rain that has
turned the arid bluffs over the Jordan Valley into rolling green
hills. By 11 a.m., the sun began to arch overhead, on a Friday, the
traditional day of rest. But Suwair, in his roadside shack, serving
coffee to the drivers of farm trucks, passenger buses, police cars and
taxis, was just a little into a day that stretches from dawn to
midnight.
Democrats Split on Iraq Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR200703200=
0840.html
Even Vote Counters Aren't Lined Up Behind Spending Measure
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; Page A13
One of the Democrats' chief designated vote counters, Rep. Maxine
Waters (D-Calif.), is actively working against the Iraq war spending
bill. The leadership's senior chief deputy whip, Rep. John Lewis (D-
Ga.), spoke passionately against it on the House floor. And one of the
whip organization's regional representatives, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-
Calif.), is implacably opposed.
The disarray in the House whipping operation ahead of tomorrow's
expected vote on the bill is putting a harsh spotlight on House
Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), who has the task of rounding
up the 218 votes needed to pass the $124 billion measure, but who has
not even kept his organization in line.
What People Really Need
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/opinion/21wed1.html
Congress has the right and the duty to fully investigate the firing of
eight United States attorneys, which may have been illegal, and
Justice Department officials' statements to Congress, which may have
been untrue.
Russia, Iran and the Bottom Line
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/opinion/21wed2.html
Russia has apparently decided that it can do even better financially
if it starts pressuring its longtime client Iran to curtail its
nuclear appetites.
Tom DeLay Looks Back
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/opinion/21wed4.html
The rationalization of life's conflicts as merely a "failure to
communicate" is Mr. DeLay's approach to explaining the Republicans'
loss of Congress last year.
Why I Was Fired
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/opinion/21iglesias.html
By DAVID C. IGLESIAS
The argument that eight federal prosecutors - including myself - were
fired for "performance related" reasons is starting to look more than
a little wobbly.
In Venezuela, Rodents Can Be a Delicacy
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/world/americas/21rodent.html?ref=3Dworld
By SIMON ROMERO
Eating the meat of the capybara, reputed to be the world's largest
rodent, has a status in Venezuela similar to that of turkey during
Thanksgiving.
Sensing Shift in Bush Policy, Another Hawk Leaves
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/washington/21hawks.html?ref=3Dworld&pagew=
anted=3Dall
By DAVID E. SANGER
Robert Joseph is the latest to leave an administration that some
conservatives say has lost its clarity of mission.
U=2ES. Cautions Foreign Companies on Iran Deals
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/business/worldbusiness/21sanctions.html?r=
ef=3Dmiddleeast&pagewanted=3Dall
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
The Bush administration has been warning energy companies that
penalties are possible if they pursue oil and gas deals with Iran.
Episcopals Rebuff Demands on Stance on Gays
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/us/21cnd-episcopal.html?ref=3Dus
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Bishops rejected a demand to create a parallel leadership to serve the
minority who oppose their church's liberal stand on homosexuality.
Obama's 2nd-Quarter Foray in New York
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/obamas-2nd-quarter-foray-in-n=
ew-york/
Setting fundraisers up beyond the first go-around.
Attorneys' Case Will Be Subject of Political Ad
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/us/politics/21dems.html?ref=3Dpolitics
By CARL HULSE
In their first advertisements of the 2008 election cycle, Democrats
seek to link a Republican member of Congress to the controversy.
The White House and Congress Seem Headed Toward a Familiar Collision
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/washington/21legal.html?ref=3Dwashington
By ADAM LIPTAK
Both sides are mindful that the White House possesses a powerful
weapon, executive privilege, which is the constitutional equivalent of
a declaration of war.
Inside Japan's Puzzle Palace
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/business/worldbusiness/21sudoku.html?page=
wanted=3Dall
By MARTIN FACKLER
If there is another puzzle craze after sudoku, chances are it will
spring from a Japanese company called Nikoli.
Opportunism knocks
Naima Bouteldja
March 21, 2007 9:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/naima_bouteldja/2007/03/in_late_1989_sa=
ndwiched_betwee.html
In late 1989, sandwiched between Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa on Salman
Rushdie, the fall of the Berlin wall and the endless economic
recession, three young schoolgirls from the northern France were
catapulted into national and international attention by a frenzied
media for wearing hijabs (dubbed "chadors" by the media pundits of the
time). Amid the country's bicentenary celebrations of the French
Revolution, five prominent intellectuals of the left penned their own
intervention in the columns of centre-left weekly newspaper Le Nouvel
Observateur: "Teachers, don't surrender! The future will reveal
whether the bicentenary year was the Republican school's own Munich."
The Munich referred to was the watershed conference of September 1938,
which saw both France and Britain acquiesce to Hitler's war appetite.
Despite, however, the denunciations of a certain Jean-Marie Le Pen
about the "colonisation of France", and the demand of a young right-
wing Mayor of Neuilly named Nicolas Sarkozy that "French tradition" is
respected, across the spectrum, the French political class was
bitterly divided on the issue. As the journalist Thomas Deltombe would
go on to explain in his book, L'Islam imaginaire, the left, which has
always placed anti-racism and "la la=EFcit=E9" (secularism) at the heart
of its politics, felt uneasy faced with a secularism mainly targeted
at Muslims. The right, meanwhile, was disturbed by the secular aspect
of the affair, mainly because of its support for religious (read,
Catholic) private schools.
Dopey and Dumb
Sasha Abramsky
March 21, 2007 8:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sasha_abramsky/2007/03/dopey_and_dumb.h=
tml
Last week legislators in New Mexico passed a medical marijuana law,
and Governor Bill Richardson, a presidential hopeful, threw his
support behind it. There are now 12 states with medical marijuana laws
on the books.
The laws are common sense: they allow physicians to prescribe pot to
combat the side-effects of chemotherapy, to boost the appetite of AIDS
sufferers and to dull the pain associated with an array of serious
illnesses. They create medical marijuana clubs, allowing those
prescribed the drug to access safe supplies. And they mandate state
and local law enforcement to take a hands-off approach to the
distributors and their clients.
Will Turkey's PM run for president?
Simon Tisdall
March 21, 2007 7:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_tisdall/2007/03/will_turkeys_pm_r=
un_for_president.html
Turkey's presidential race is unusual in one key respect: nobody is
running. As the April 15 deadline for candidate registration
approaches, political tensions are rising and the media frenzy grows.
By law, parliament must elect a successor to Ahmet Necdet Sezer by
early May, but as yet there are no declared candidates.
The job is not unattractive, with the incumbent commanding a
comfortable salary and numerous perks. He or she - though a woman has
yet to hold the job - can veto legislation and wield wide powers of
patronage. But for many Turks, Muslim or otherwise, their president's
most vital duty is as chief guardian of the secular republic founded
in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. And therein lies the electoral rub.
Clerical comedy
Dave Hill
March 21, 2007 6:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dave_hill/2007/03/clerical_comedy.html
Tonight the House of Lords will once again debate our dear old friend
the Equality Act 2006 with its regulations to outlaw discrimination in
the provision of goods, facilities and services on the basis of sexual
orientation. Heavens, was it only two months ago when Christian
shepherds and some of their more perturbing sheep gathered in
Parliament Square to demand special legal leave for B&B proprietors of
their extreme persuasion to turn away Amelie Mauresmo or Spongebob
Squarepants should they and their lovers come a-knocking with their
buckets and spades and, of course, for Roman Catholic adoption
agencies to decline to consider homosexual couples as prospective
parents? My, how time flies. The wretchedness of their objections
though, endures.
Were the fear and loathing of homosexuality not so damaging - not only
to homosexual people but also to society at large - laughter would be
the most fitting response. Let me take you back to January 24 when a
very nice lady from a Catholic organisation explained to The World At
One how her church's teaching required that she respond to overtures
from broody lesbians and gays. Her agency, she explained, would
certainly assess a single homosexual prospective adopter, "like
anybody else." But if a couple turned up, they would be sent
elsewhere. Why? "That's not so much about being against homosexuality
as about the church's teachings in the promotion of marriage," she
said.
The politics of privilege
Louis Fisher
March 21, 2007 6:01 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/louis_fisher/2007/03/exec_privilege.html
Because of political miscalculations, the Bush administration is being
pressed by congressional committees to release documents and allow
White House officials to testify on the removal of eight US attorneys.
Had President George W Bush merely replaced the attorneys and thanked
them for their service, there would have been no issue. But to claim
initially that politics would never enter into the removal of US
attorneys, when a growing record shows precisely the opposite, cut the
ground out from under the administration's credibility. After the
White House insisted that the individuals were being removed because
of poor performance, evidence now shows that the motivation for the
firings was closer to a lack of loyalty to the administration.
The current controversy is reminiscent of President Bill Clinton's
firing of all employees in the White House Travel Office. Like US
attorneys, these individuals unquestionably serve at the president's
pleasure. There was never an issue about the president's authority to
remove them. But to summarily fire them, while publicly alleging that
they might have been acting in violation of criminal statutes, created
a firestorm that lasted for the next seven years. Advisors in the
White House seemed to ask only one question: Does the President have
the constitutional authority to do this? They never seemed to ask:
Does it make sense to do it this way? What are the political costs of
bungling and heavy-handed personnel actions? What price is paid by
announcing one purpose and then changing the story day after day -
eventually requiring internal White House investigations,
congressional hearings, and litigation?
Whose happy ending?
Anna Masera
March 21, 2007 5:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/anna_masera/2007/03/happy_ending_as_soo=
n_as.html
A happy ending? As soon as Daniele Mastrogiacomo, the Italian
journalist of the daily newspaper La Repubblica, kidnapped by the
Taliban in Afghanistan two weeks ago, arrived home safely yesterday
evening, a row started in Italy over the terms under which he was
released: five Taliban terrorists freed immediately from prison,
Ramhatullah Hanefi (the emergency mediator who conducted the
negotiations to free Mastrogiacomo) arrested and unreachable, Aymal
Nashbkandi, Mastrogiacomo's interpreter, disappeared, probably
transferred from the Taliban prisons to those of the secret services,
and his driver, Sayed Agha, beheaded. When Agha's wife, six months
pregnant, heard of the horrible end of her husband, she suffered a
miscarriage.
Italian media and politicians don't seem to be paying much attention
to all this horror: what's important is that "our" journalist got home
safely, hugging his wife and kids and colleagues with his thumbs up as
soon as he landed in Italy. Italian public opinion is divided on
whether it was a good idea to give in to the Talibans' demands,
because this might pave the way to future kidnappings, given that they
now know that the Italian government will pay up.
Better read than dead
Bobbie Johnson
March 21, 2007 5:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/bobbie_johnson/2007/03/better_read_than=
_dead.html
I first played with Sony's Reader over a year ago, when they displayed
it at the huge Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It was a
revelation: none of the flickering screens, plasticky feel or
pointless gadgetry of previous ebook readers - this was easy on the
eye and beguiling to the touch.
Combine that first impression with the news today that publishers like
HarperCollins are digitising their entire catalogue, and it sounds
like the 21st century might be about to hit the print industry.
After the party
Linda Grant
March 21, 2007 3:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/linda_grant/2007/03/the_romance_of_amer=
ican_commun_1.html
The news that the Communist Party of United States of America is at
long last opening its archives to the public should at last focus
attention away from the McCarthy witchhunts of the early 1950s, and
the high-profile hounding of the Hollywood Ten, towards the tens of
thousands of ordinary Americans who joined the party, lived its dream
and eventually became disillusioned.
In the thirties and forties, American leftists, unlike their
counterparts in Britain, had no mainstream party to join, and no hope,
despite the perennial candidacy of Socialist party leaders Eugene Debs
and Norman Thomas, of forming a government. The American Communist
Party was one of the vitalising forces in American life. In her
landmark study, The Romance of American Communism (shamefully out of
print), Vivian Gornick interviewed dozens of former members. She
vividly described her own upbringing, among the Jewish garment workers
of New York, how ideas lifted these members of the proletariat out of
the grind of their everyday lives, how the party made intellectuals of
them. To be a communist, one of them remarked, made you bigger than
you were, and those who left described the soul-destroying loneliness
of life on the outside.
We are Thabo Mbeki
David Beresford
March 21, 2007 1:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_beresford/2007/03/we_are_thabo_mb=
eki.html
South Africa really does have an odd head of state in Thabo Mbeki. By
which I do not mean to allude to his strange views on HIV/Aids. I am
thinking more of his little eccentricities as opposed to those views
which have cost South Africa tens of thousands of lives.
Every Friday Mbeki writes a lengthy online column - "Letter from the
president" - on the ANC Today website. If this is fairly odd, given
that he might be thought too busy to be moonlighting as a columnist,
odder still is an element of his style, as demonstrated by the
following extract from his latest column:
"In the last edition of ANC Today we recalled remarks we had made
during our response to the national assembly..."
The empire strikes back
Edward Pearce
March 21, 2007 1:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/edward_pearce/2007/03/the_empire_strike=
s_back.html
Is it really just over 50 years since President Eisenhower effectively
ordered the British army, air force and government out of an Egypt
which they had occupied by force? And did France, 49 years ago, come
within half an ace of a military take-over because civilian
politicians were thought insufficiently ardent in fighting a colonial
war for French Algeria?
The cry, echoed by the three-two motor horn signal "Al-ger-ie Fran-
caise" went all round Paris. For a few months in the 1950s, a military
dictatorship would have been welcomed by a majority of Frenchmen -
after the fighting in the streets. At this time, Britain was committed
at all costs to retaining control of an important Mediterranean
island. Cyprus, said one minister, would never be independent.
Portugal and Spain at this time had large empires, chiefly in Africa,
and were ruled by dictatorships, civil and military respectively.
The rights and wrongs of return
Alex Stein
March 21, 2007 12:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/alex_stein/2007/03/links_1948_httpenwik=
ipediaorgw.html
Why should I, a Jew from north London, be permitted to take up Israeli
citizenship, when that right is denied to a Palestinian who languishes
in a refugee camp in Lebanon? Especially when I acknowledge that a
large majority of those that left in 1948 were ethnically cleansed by
Israeli forces. This is the crux of the issue, and I shall attempt to
confront it head on. In my last piece, I tried to demonstrate how
Israel's law of return is compatible with universal norms. In this
article, I shall suggest that it is neither racist nor unjust to deny
the right of return to Palestinian refugees. According to Salman Abu
Sitta, the Palestinian right of return is sacred, legal and possible.
I believe him to be mistaken on all three counts.
If it were sacred, we would expect the same standard to be held for
similar cases. Around 16.5 million Germans were expelled from their
homes in central and eastern Europe following the second world war
(with around two million killed). Who calls for their right of return?
Well over 10 million people were violently displaced during the
partition of India in 1947, making it possibly the largest single
instance of ethnic cleansing in history. Who calls for their right of
return? And, of course, the Jewish exodus from Arab lands, much of
which was caused by persecution. But we only hear calls for the
Palestinian right of return. This is because the demand is motivated
neither by justice or concern for the refugees, as advocates claim,
but by the desire to destroy the Jewish state.
Praise be to Judas!
Open Thread
March 21, 2007 11:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/open_thread/2007/03/praise_be_to_judas.=
html
Maybe Judas wasn't such a bad guy after all. At least, not according
to Jeffrey Archer, the less-than-saintly novelist and former
politician.
God bless America
Simon Barrow
March 21, 2007 11:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_barrow/2007/03/hiding_behind_god.=
html
As the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war reminds us, President George
Bush is languishing politically. Religiously, he remains unmoved
however, as the concluding flourish of his 2007 state of the union
address confirmed: "Our cause in the world is right ... God bless ...
Thank you for your prayers."
Like the potentates of ancient kingdoms denounced by the biblical
prophets, Mr Bush invokes the divine name with frequency. He invests
in faith-based initiatives, of a certain kind. He employs an army of
court preachers to bolster his belief that the Almighty is on his
side. And his pact with the people who support him is cemented by tens
of thousands of bumper stickers and window bills proclaiming, "God
bless America".
Put a veil on it
Rajnaara Akhtar
March 21, 2007 10:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rajnaara_akhtar/2007/03/put_a_veil_on_i=
t=2Ehtml
Why are we talking about the niqab yet again? Once more this non-issue
has hit the headlines. It is obvious that in light of the difficulties
our schools are facing in tackling bullying, drug abuse, alarming
rates of truancy, gang culture, knife and even gun crimes, and teacher
abuse; the niqab certainly does not merit the Department for
Education's attention nor subsequent front page headlines in the
news.
A handful of girls wanting to observe the niqab should not be an issue
and it should certainly not attract so much media coverage. All that
this achieves is to provide further fodder for the "it's those
bloomin' Muslims wanting more special treatment" camp. In over 30
years, there has only been one case where a Muslim girl took her
school to court for denying her the right to wear the niqab. Hardly a
landmark occurrence for a variety of reasons.
The numbers game
David Pallister
March 21, 2007 9:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_pallister/2007/03/the_mars_bar_ha=
s_a.html
The Mars bar has a celebrated place in urban legend. Forty years ago,
when the police raided Keith Richards' home looking for drugs, a
wholly erroneous rumour began to circulate that they had discovered
this was Mick Jagger's candy of choice for pleasuring Marianne
Faithfull.
Now the bar has acquired another reputation. In January, the pressure
group MigrationWatch UK posted one of its regular briefings, warning
about the dangers of mass immigration and deriding the claimed
benefits that migrants bring. "Immigration Benefit 'Equivalent to a
Mars bar a Month'" ran the headline. The suggestion angered a number
of Oxford students who campaign for the rights of refugees. They drew
up a petition against MigrationWatch's co-founder and demography
expert, Oxford professor David Coleman, calling on the university to
"consider the suitability of Coleman's continued tenure... in light of
his well-known opinions and affiliations relating to immigration and
eugenics".
Cursed by oil
Conor Foley
March 21, 2007 9:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/conor_foley/2007/03/cursed_by_oil_1.html
You can tell a lot about the place that you are visiting by the
company in which you find yourself on the incoming flight. Travelling
into a war zone has a particular atmosphere because soldiers, aid
workers and refugees have a noticeably different mood to tourists,
business executives and people going on a stag weekend party.
I was probably the only aid worker on my flight to Angola, a few days
ago, and I did not see any soldiers or refugees. But the atmosphere
reminded me of similar places that I have visited. Over two-thirds of
the passengers looked like they could have been ex-military and some
are probably still employed as private security consultants. Most were
white, working-class men and in their thirties and forties. Their
profession, in an Angolan context, was unmistakable.
A victim of populism
Henning Meyer
March 21, 2007 8:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/henning_meyer/2007/03/we_are_in_a_cruci=
al.html
We are in a crucial week for the European Union. As we approach the
50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome on March 25, the future
direction of the union is still in some doubt. But for the first time
since the European constitutional treaty was rejected in France and
the Netherlands almost two years ago, there is a serious push to get
the political process moving again.
The Berlin Declaration to be presented by the European Council on
Sunday is meant to revitalise the union, especially in the two crucial
areas of institutional reform and foreign policy. The initiative is
overdue and much needed. But apart from the political agenda, the
union must also support the creation of a much wider European public
realm to connect its citizens to EU politics and counter biased
journalism.
Way, Jos=E9!
Colin Randall
March 21, 2007 8:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/colin_randall/2007/03/way_jos.html
The ex-stripper Cindy Lee has gone, taking with her a sort of Monsieur
Thatcher and assorted lefties, royalists and greens. But lo and
behold, the official list of French presidential candidates includes,
after all, the anti-GM, anti-globalisation and general mischief-maker
Jos=E9 Bov=E9.
Bogus suspense had already played a part in the proceedings, with
Jacques Chirac waiting so long before ruling himself out that
otherwise sensible commentators were still suggesting, only a few
weeks earlier, that he might yet stand.
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