The housing and credit bubbles notwithstanding, when the military-industrial complex bubble finally bursts, what effects will it have on this soon-to-be former superpower and the rest of the globe? Michael Doliner postulates in a fascinating and compelling essay that America's economic decline will have dire consequences on its beacon of Middle East democracy, Israel, who would become a hollowed-out shell of a nation in the midst of the destabilized region, rendering any likelihood of a two-state solution with the Palestinians, or any-state solution for that matter, off the table. Meantime, propaganda continues to extol the virtues of exporting American-style democracy around the globe, where We the Elite and We the Corporations rule supreme. One can watch firsthand our very democracy at work as the presidential candidates try to manipulate their party's rules to win the ultimate prize: Power. Carol Warner Christen has some potent thoughts on power, the eroded Constitution, the Corporate Fourth Estate, and the results for We the People. If after reading her fine essay you still believe America is a democracy, then read Gilles d'Aymery's detailed description of the state our mythical Founding Fathers intended all along, a Constitutional Republic controlled by the moneyed class; a look at the American Dream of the gilded few; Obama's "new kind of politics"; and more. It will take far more than the departure of George W. Bush for systemic change to emerge; Martin Murie brushes us up on our country's murderous history -- and present.
But on to more cultural matters, resident playwright Charles Marowitz treats us to an oddity that has fascinated his psyche for many years, Heiner Müller's Hamlet Machine, and the ever-cultured Peter Byrne takes us on a musical journey with a review of John Hammond and the Soul of American Music. Jan Baughman walks us through her development of dentist phobia, and as one should expect from the psychiatrist's couch, all roads lead to mother... Finally, we close with the multilingual poetry of Guido Monte and Francesca Saieva with a Giuseppe Zimmardi collage, To Philip Greenspan, that would no doubt have made the good man smile; the multi-faceted poetry of Marie Rennard; and your letters, on the arrogance of Dick Cheney and the short supply of intellectual empathy; quoting Calvin Coolidge and dodging foreclosure; and Parisians swooning over Obama and democracy.
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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Michael Doliner: The No-State Solution
America's costly war on Iraq and present economic troubles may have widespread consequences on its relationship with Israel and any hopes for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. More...
Carol Warner Christen: Power, Profits, Propaganda Unbound
From racism to sexism, anti-Islam to anti-environment, America is not a democracy, but a Constitutional Republic that dishonors our law without the consent of We the People. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Blips #68
A few selected issues that landed on the Editor's desk to deconstruct American Democracy, from the Founding Fathers' fears to their Bill of Rights compromise; to proportional representation devoid of any proportion; ballot access and election fraud; to preserving the duopoly through authoritarian bureaucracy; to how great the system works for the moneyed class like Larry Ellison of Oracle; all the way to Barack Obama's "new kind of politics," and more -- with a few words about Isidor and Ann Saslav, and a wonderful San Francisco bookstore and Chinese neighborhood. More...
Martin Murie: Murder
An examination of the history of Wyoming to modern-day American warfare: from cattle barons to threatened polar bears, Corporation First remains the mantra -- with Sampling of murders committed by rulers in early Wyoming. More...
Charles Marowitz: Heiner Müller's Hamlet Machine
Playwright and critic Charles Marowitz reviews one of theatre's greatest oddities, Heiner Müller's Hamlet Machine, which reflects the contemporary relevance of the tragedies that were beset upon the people of East Germany. More...
Peter Byrne: The Jazz Man From Vanderbilt Heaven
Dunstan Prial's The Producer: John Hammond and the Soul of American Music
A review of Dunstan Prial's biography of the eclectic producer John Hammond, who transcended wealth and race to bring musical talents from Billie Holiday and Benny Goodman, to Aretha Franklin and Bruce Springsteen, to their status as cultural icons. More...
Jan Baughman: My Mother, My Teeth
The Mundane History of my Dentist Phobia
The author recounts a childhood of braces, the horrors of headgear, the threats of a mother, and the resulting fear of dentists that are enough to land her on a psychiatrist's couch. More...
Guido Monte & Francesca Saieva: Dialogue
Today we're dimmed by the human "domineeringness" and madness: the "brother" Occident overpowers the world. More...
Marie Rennard: Omnium-Gatherum
A four-dimensional poem for the seasons. More...
On the arrogance of Dick Cheney and the short supply of intellectual empathy; quoting Calvin Coolidge and dodging foreclosure; and Parisians swooning over Obama and democracy -- April Fools! More...
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