While the Democratic contenders battle their way toward Guam and Puerto Rico, the 2008 presidential spectator sport to the presumed right is becoming entertaining, with the pro-war, bush-hugging, stay-the-course, white male geezers traveling the world hand-in-hand to spread the good word. Will we finally, once and for all, see Joseph Lieberman go from reformed Democrat to former Democrat and join the McCain ticket? Let's try it on for size: Vice President Lieberman? Or perhaps he'll prefer to be a sheep in wolf's clothing and barter for the all-powerful position of Defense Secretary. We're becoming giddy with anticipation... or perhaps just delirious from fatigue. In either case, Gilles d'Aymery offers an excellent summary of the entertaining hullabaloo over the last fortnight of political antics and economic woes. The ship of state, he contends, is taking water on both port and starboard sides.
Meantime, the destruction of Iraq (under the current administration, not counting Clinton and Bush I) has entered its sixth year, and we're still drinking the Kool-Aid, as Jan Baughman puts it. We the People have become We the Pawns, and who better to elaborate than the fierce defender of the Constitution, Carol Warner Christen? To take control of the chess game will require a massive grass-roots effort. Resident activist Martin Murie warns that we can continue to say nothing in order to keep our jobs -- and quickly find ourselves in another McCarthy era, in which we lose our jobs because of what we say...
One job not likely to be exported any time soon is prostitution. Charles Marowitz considers Rabbi Michael Lerner and Bill Van Auken's takes on the oldest profession and the Eliot Spitzer affair; while Peter Byrne jumps at the opportunity to review Kate Holden's autobiography of her life of prostitution and addiction. Byrne also reviews To The Brink, The State Of Democracy In South Africa, and Marowitz returns with a review of equal-opportunity muckraking comedian Jackie Mason's farewell tour. In poetry, Marie Rennard shares her thoughts on the fragile scents in the last breaths of life; and Guido Monte's poetic blending captures les nouveaux temps of the world's insane political course. Finally, your letters on the bipartisan credit crisis, the end of a rEVOLution, Vive le Québec Libre!, and more.
As always, please form your OWN opinion, and let your friends (and foes) know about Swans. It's your voice that makes ours grow.
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Jan Baughman: Five Years And Still Drinking The Kool-Aid
Five years of war in Iraq: it's time to stop drinking the Kool-Aid and regain empathy for our fellow human beings, whose lives are being destroyed through endless years of endless war. More...
Carol Warner Christen: Is Our Planet Earth A Chessboard?
We the People have become pawns in the geopolitical game of chess pitting America against Eurasia and whose players have captured our livelihoods and control our earth's resources. More...
Martin Murie: Streets, Doors, Offices
In these near-fascist times, we can be careful about what we say so as not to lose our jobs, and we'll be headed straight back to the McCarthy era, in which we lost our jobs because of what we said. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Entertaining Hullabaloo
What a difference a fortnight makes: A review of the political, racial, salacious, and financial ides of March 2008. More...
Charles Marowitz: Low Crimes & Misdemeanors
The Eliot Spitzer sex scandal is a dirty-politics hit against the governor, not a crackdown on prostitution, and it is Silda Wall Spitzer who has to pay the price. More...
Peter Byrne: Kate Holden's In My Skin
With all the talk about call girls and politicians, it's an appropriate time to review Kate Holden's autobiography about her life as a prostitute and an addict. More...
Charles Marowitz: Jackie Mason: Return Of The Superjew
The great comic Jackie Mason, in his alleged Farewell Tour, doesn't disappoint for being an equal-opportunity muckraker -- and it helps to understand Yiddish. More...
Peter Byrne: I Write What I Like
Xolela Mangcu's To the Brink provides a frank and vivid glimpse into the civic life of South Africa. More...
Marie Rennard: Smelly Step To The Last Door
Poetic thoughts on the fragile scents in the last breaths of life. More...
Guido Monte: ...Temps Nouveaux
Monte remembers us, in a symbolic language/blending, his thinking over the dangerous Italian political situation, or the danger/tragedy of the world's insane political courses. More...
On Michael Doliner's analysis of the bipartisan -- not merely Bush -- credit crisis; entering Phase 2 of the rEVOLution; how to help pets of the homeless; and Kosovo's newest partner in independence: Vive le Québec Libre! More...
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