Democracy's on the move! Koran abuse is in; flag burning's out...insurgency volunteers are rising; military recruits are falling...and the war casualties are increasing while Mr. Bush's approval is declining. Yet his -- and his sponsors' -- scope of power will soon have wider-reaching effects as he carefully and gleefully chooses the perfect anti-abortion, pro-religion, rapture-minded replacement for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Time to enjoy our independence (if we ever had any -- ask the "lesser" communities of America) while we can...and increase our efforts to end this administration's (with the willing assistance of the Kerry-like Dems) "spread of democracy and freedom." We owe it to the Iraqi people who, as we know (do we?), were neither harboring terrorists nor attacking Americans, let alone developing weapons of mass destruction. Exactly how America came to destroy Iraq in the name of the "Global War on Terror" is explained by Charles Marowitz. Iraqis, meanwhile, surely wish us a happy 4th of July. They are acutely aware of the tactics used by Bush & Co. (see the Propaganda Timeline, compiled by Jan Baughman) to make their country the "central front in the war on terror" once the WMD story began to unravel. The narrative is overwhelming. When will America wake up? As the tide appears to change (appearance is all that matters here) -- with support of the Iraq war on the decline, according to whatever poll -- will Mr. Bush change his course? Philip Greenspan, with his usual insight, probably got the answer correct. Check him out.
Our book reviewers can help you whittle down your summer reading list. Louis Proyect takes on Max Frankel's version of the Cuban Missile Crisis outlined in his 2004 book, High Noon in the Cold War: Kennedy, Khrushchev and the Cuban Missile Crisis; Charles Marowitz cuts through the B.S. in Harry G. Frankfurt's On Bullshit; and Milo Clark deconstructs Marc Estrin's ambitious novel, The Education of Arnold Hitler.
Finally, summer's here at last; the peach trees are in bloom and some hope, ojala, impeachment's in the air -- just take a whiff of Gerard Donnelly Smith's poetry. We close with our editor's blips, looking into racism among other items not registering on the radar screen of Officialdom -- and a few of your letters (four were left unpublished for lack of accreditation).
As always, please form your OWN opinion, and let your friends (and foes) know about Swans.
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Charles Marowitz: Defining The Enemy
The circular argument put forward by George W. Bush in justifying the Iraqi invasion is that it is a war to extend "freedom" to a middle-East country which has been without such a blessing for over three decades; indeed, far longer than that. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Fourth Of July Greetings, From an Iraqi Perspective
It was indeed a pleasure to listen to the president of the United States, George W. Bush, explain to the American people that the central front of the Global War On Terror was our country and that thanks to freedom and democracy being patiently groomed with the benevolent help of the US military, supported by the beloved American people through their elected representatives, the evil terrorists will be defeated. More...
Jan Baughman: Making Iraq The Central Front
Compilation of quotations regarding Iraq as the central front on terrorism, obtained from the White House Web site as of June 27, 2005. More...
Philip Greenspan: Prelude To A Military Disengagement
Public opinion polls are disclosing a significant shift taking place. A majority now opposes the administration's war policies. The rising numbers of casualties, the ever-increasing monumental costs, the exposure of the administration's lies, the realization that hostilities will continue for a long time are some of the factors that are shrinking pro-war enthusiasm. More...
Louis Proyect: Who Needs Cold War Falsification?
Max Frankel And The Cuban Missile Crisis
In October of 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union appeared ready to fight World War Three over nuclear missiles in Cuba. Max Frankel, who was the Washington correspondent for the New York Times in 1962, provides some new insights about the role of the press in the crisis in an otherwise conventional interpretation. More...
Charles Marowitz: Who Needs The Humbug?
Harry G. Frankfurt's On Bullshit
It is always intriguing when an intellectual highbrow, setting aside weightier matters, takes himself down a few pegs to consider more mundane topics: Aldous Huxley on "Canned Fish," Walter Benjamin on "Hashish in Marseilles," Roland Barthes on "Striptease." More...
Milo Clark: Who Needs Sophisms?
Marc Estrin's The Education of Arnold Hitler
Having accepted a request to review a book, such as Marc Estrin's late-life and Talmudic tome, The Education of Arnold Hitler, I feel obliged to follow through. Estrin's blurb picture suggests a 1960s escapee from Bensonhurst now, of course, de rigueur, d'accord, living in Burlington, Vermont. He plays cello in the local symphony. Espouses liberal causes, too. More...
Gerard Donnelly Smith: Peaches
Upon the tree imperfect peaches, fruit with maggots,
fruit with flies hovering, hovering, hovering
over the sweet juice, over the juicy corruption
like politicians tied with purse strings.
More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Blips #22
"America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization."
—Attributed to Georges Clémenceau
A few selected issues that landed on the Editor's desk, from rampant racism in America as exemplified by the "war on terrorism" waged to feed the ownership society, to the unwaged war on global hunger and the MIA white girls stealing the news coverage, and more.
More...
On Jared Israel bashing, NATO's Belgrade trashing, and World Trade Center towers crashing. (People, please include you name and your place of residence when you send us your comments.) More...
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