Daily Archives: Friday, May 1, 2009

Keith Richard on his blues influence

Posted on Friday, May 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

It’s very difficult to say – when did I identify the blues as a particular form of music? My mum was playing me jazz – a lot of Billie Holiday, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan. I mean, it’s not your country blues but, as I went on, I realised that I was brought up on a broad basis of blues music without even knowing it, so, in a way, I’m a result of what my mum played. I had a natural affinity for it, I think, so it wasn’t like a conscious thing or anything like that. You know, I didn’t think in terms of black or white then. You didn’t know whether Chuck Berry was black or white – it was not a concern. It was just what came in the ears and, my, what it did to you.

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Posted in Today's music

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For the car folks

Posted on Friday, May 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

The likely Chrysler/Fiat future will bring a bunch of smaller cars over here, one of which I particularly love, the Alfa Romeo MiTo.

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Posted in Detritus

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Kinsley writes half a column

Posted on Friday, May 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

I consider Kinsley one of the smartest and best political writers around.  It is usually the case that I will get the end of a column by him a bit brighter and with a fresh enthusiasm for sentences as art and also with an admiration for a level of clear-headed honesty he manages where so many others of us cannot or do not.

But today’s column in the Washington Post isn’t typical Kinsley. The last half (or third or whatever) is missing.

Yes, as a civic entity, we ought to acknowledge how flippant and facile we were (and remain, very many of us) in accepting torture perpetrated by people we elected then elected again.  But there is really only one remedy for this cultural or nationalist failing, and that is to shove the facts mercilessly into our own consciousnesses.  He doesn’t provide this necessary ameliorative but he ought to have done so.

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AIPAC-related spy case dropped

Posted on Friday, May 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

There was hint of this last week.  I’m not sure how many readers will be familiar with this case or with AIPAC.  Wikipedia will fill you in.  Better yet, you could turn to this ground-breaking and hugely controversial essay

Federal prosecutors are moving to dismiss espionage-related charges against two former pro-Israel lobbyists who had been accused of disclosing classified defense information.

The government’s decision to drop the charges ends a tortuous 4-year legal battle in which critics accused the government of seeking to criminalize the sort of back-channel discussions that are commonplace in Washington among government officials, lobbyists and reporters.

Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman had been top lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an influential pro-Israel lobbying group.

Acting U.S. Attorney Dana Boente said the government moved to dismiss the charges after concluding that pretrial rulings would make it too difficult for the government to prove its case.

It’s possible that the rationale given for dropping the case reflects reality.  It is equally possible that it is bullshit.  Had this gone to trial, further light would have been shone on AIPAC and a far more public light than was the case with the Walt/Mearsheimer paper.  I’m pissed which is, of course, of no consequence to anyone but me.

Update: On that other hand, Matt Yglesis looks at another aspect of the prosecution and concludes differently.

This is almost certainlythe right decision. I enjoyed AIPAC getting a black eye, and it wouldn’t be a bad thing if their dealings got somewhat more scrutiny, but the particulars of this case seem an awful lot like an effort to establish a dangerous precedent that can be used in the future against all manner of journalists.

Update 2: Andrew Sullivan on the matter with some valuable internal links to others.

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Posted in Justice, civil right, human rights issues, Propaganda

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