If you are interested in a discussion on whether Scooter Libby should be pardoned or on the sexual peccadilloes and multiple marriages of presidential contenders, you are reading the wrong magazine. However, if your attention is focused on more serious issues like war, energy, global warming, activism, as well as cultural issues, then read on. First and foremost, in a succinct and eloquent way, Jan Baughman cuts through the shortcomings of the antiwar movement and calls for redirecting its strategy to exposing the real causes of our repeated wars. In short, if our way of life should be preserved at all cost, then you ought to expect more wars, whichever administration -- Democrat or Republican -- is in the White House. Her clear expose is seconded by Gilles d'Aymery who expands on the kind of issues Dennis Kucinich and other honorable people should address on the campaign trail and the halls of Congress: our immense energy challenge, presented with statistical details, and the fallacies behind so-called renewable energies like ethanol. When you learn that the American people consume over 140 billion gallons of gasoline per year and that 69% of its oil consumption is for transportation alone, you can better figure out the consequences on global warming and climate change, which bring to mind Al Gore's documentary. Both Martin Murie and Gerard Donnelly Smith offer their views on Al Gore's role -- positive? Self-serving? -- on the matter.
Philip Greenspan once again shows how we the people have made a difference and can make a difference, a theme that Carol Warner Christen explores more deeply through her examination of our free will and how it has too often been held hostage by the powerful and greedy elites. Speaking of which, Milo Clark analyses the recent downturn in the Chinese stock market as likely an overdue correction, echoing New York Times business columnist Ben Stein who asks in his March 11 essay, "Again, are there any grown-ups in the house? Anyone? Anyone?"
In our culture pages, Peter Byrne reports on the debate that has created a furor among many European intellectuals, the pros and cons of multiculturalism. Peter reviews Ian Buruma's latest book, Murder in Amsterdam, in which the author examines the consequences of the murders of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh and the controversies surrounding Ayaan Hirsi Ali's harsh outlook on Islam on the questions of immigration and integration. On the theatre front, if misery loves company, you'll be fascinated by Charles Marowitz's mordant essay on the production of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire at the Turbinehallerne in Copenhagen. And if you enjoy music, please read the review of our latest recruit, Concertmaster Isidor Saslav. You won't be disappointed. Once again, Marie Rennard and Guido Monte, the Franco-Italian league, share their poetic words, as our in-house Martian relates a few experiences that made him discover Finagle's Law. As usual, your letters end this latest edition.
As always, please form your OWN opinion, and let your friends (and foes) know about Swans.
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Jan Baughman: An Appeal To Antiwar Advocates To Fight The Right Battle
The antiwar movement continues to fight a losing battle by ignoring the real reason the United States repeatedly wages war: Control of oil. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Deceitful Solutions To America's Energy Dependence
Dennis Kucinich, the sole presidential candidate who calls the war on Iraq for what it is -- a war for oil -- fails to debunk the deceitful alternative energy myth that is ethanol, as this article reveals the shocking statistics that do just that. People, the author advocates, must wake up to the actualities...and he is pleading that Dennis Kucinich will spread the word, religiously or not. More...
Martin Murie: Al Gore At The Oscars
Sad situation at this year's Oscars, starring Al Gore. Al Gore squandered his opportunity when accepting the Academy Award for An Inconvenient Truth to make a serious statement to the world on global warming. The impetus for change remains with the citizens and not the politicians such as Gore. More...
Gerard Donnelly Smith: The Documentary As Propaganda: An Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth speaks not only to global warming, but to the stolen 2000 presidential election, the Gore family business, and other matters that err on the side of propaganda; but his environmental stance makes it clear why he is not president, to the benefit of corporate America. More...
Philip Greenspan: Consent Of The Governed
Citizens have ousted their governments throughout history, and if Americans want a change in direction then they must take action sooner rather than later. More...
Carol Warner Christen: Whose Free Will?
America has transformed from a society of free will to one of determinism; it's time to rethink the premises of power and undo the laws that bind us and the capitalism that strangles us. More...
Milo Clark: Overdue Correction, Not Excessive. . .
The February 2007 China stock market drop created a global ripple effect, but was it a natural correction, or will we soon see the first 21st century depression? More...
Peter Byrne: Murdering Immigration in Holland
The Netherlands, once the beacon of tolerance, was shocked by the assassination of Theo van Gogh, an act representative of the growing anti-immigrant/anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe and portrayed in Ian Buruma's Murder in Amsterdam. More...
Charles Marowitz: Streetcar Derailed In Denmark
No subtlety remains in Emil Hansen's production of A Streetcar Named Desire at The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, a concept production that massacres and eviscerates Tennessee Williams's legendary play. More...
Isidor Saslav: Concerts And An Opera In New York
Review of American Symphony, NY Philharmonic, and Metropolitan Opera. American premieres of violin concertos. More...
Marie Rennard: Beyond The Line
A lyrical poem that twirls and blows beyond the line in wind and tides, swallowed untied by the mouth of chaos. More...
Guido Monte: written on my sanbenito
A poem in French, Spanish, and Sheng, with English translation; each language speaking for the innocent children heading to the slaughter. (With a drawing by Giuseppe Quattrocchi.) More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Blips #48, from the Martian Desk
"Anything that can go wrong, will -- at the worst possible moment."
—Finagle's Law
A few March bombshells that landed on the editor's desk, from power outages to satellite failures; dead phones and living, proliferating spam; to the label of a Hezbollah-backed think tank by some Joshua Landis, which is all more than enough to send one Martian into hibernation. More...
On the blinding whitewashing by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Samantha Power; support for Eli Beckerman's Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan; a call to world powers to gang up on the Liberating Force; and a scolding for a supposed 'radical antiwar publication' -- which is now selling spare parts to Halliburton to raise funds?!? More...
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