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After Friday's closing bell of the stock market, in that shadowy space between the workweek and the weekend where bad news is stashed in the hopes it will be lost among the football playoffs and the Budweiser, Standard & Poor's announced the downgrading of nine EU countries' credit ratings, despite serious measures being taken to shore up their economies. Gilles d'Aymery has been following and analyzing the financial warfare being launched against the eurozone, and he scrutinizes the handful of so-called S&P experts whose "beliefs" will have serious consequences -- so much so that one is left wondering who is really behind the attacks on the euro. As Aymery has concluded, there's more to this story than meets the eye, and he provides some shenanigan-free suggestions that would solve the financial crisis in a hurry, but the elite surely will not listen. After all, consider that in America they've sacrificed an entire generation of students, giving them a substandard education and a college degree that leaves them shackled in debt. Manuel García, Jr. has some remedies to this institutional illness -- and no, the answer is not eugenics, as the likes of ethologist Konrad Lorenz espoused. Michael Barker presents Part I of a study on the relation between Lorenz and this brutal movement.
Turning to culture, Jonah Raskin reviews Waights Taylor's book Our Southern Home, which is part history and part memoir on the Alabama events that shaped the civil rights movement, and Gilles d'Aymery reviews Paul Buhle's latest book Robin Hood: People's Outlaw and Forest Hero -- a timely production as the pilfering of the masses by the few continues unabated. Peter Byrne examines the differing cultural responses to the deaths of two journalists, Giorgio Bocca and Christopher Hitchens; Charles Marowitz recalls his play Artaud at Rodez, a poetic interpretation of the life of Antonin Artaud; and Raju Peddada wanders through some gems of inscriptions in his old, second-hand books, concluding that books are actually our mirrors -- they never really belong to anyone.
Finally, Jan Baughman remembers -- with an illustration and photos -- our dearly missed cat who recently left this world and all of the troubles that brought her to us, and we repost Gilles d'Aymery's moving story of Priam, another endearing creature whose presence is still sorely missed three years after he passed. As Guido Monte's multilingual poem puts it, all that exists is creature... We close with your letters on Paul Buhle and David Harvey; Swans masthead quote; the demise of the eurozone; the continuing relevance of Boris Vian's song Le déserteur, and more.
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Gilles d'Aymery: Blips #121
A few selected issues that landed on the editor's desk, from the full-speed attacks on the eurozone; the Standard & Poor "beliefs" that justified its downgrade of nine EU countries; the so-called S&P experts that unleashed this turmoil; to some legitimate solutions that would help the EU economy. More...
Manuel García, Jr.: Beggaring Student Life
The adult population has a moral imperative to prepare the younger generation through adequate education and not saddling them with student debt when they graduate. More...
Michael Barker: On Konrad Lorenz (Part I of II)
Part I of a study of the relation between Konrad Lorenz and eugenics. More...
Jonah Raskin: Haunted By Racism
A review of Waights Taylor's book Our Southern Home, which is part history and part memoir on the Alabama events that shaped the civil rights movement. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Paul Buhle's Robin Hood
A review of Paul Buhle's latest book, Robin Hood: People's Outlaw and Forest Hero. More...
Peter Byrne: Journalists Mourned And Bemoaned
A look at the differing cultural responses to the deaths of two journalists, Giorgio Bocca and Christopher Hitchens. More...
Charles Marowitz: Artaud at Rodez
Charles Marowitz on his play Artaud at Rodez, a poetic interpretation of the life of Antonin Artaud. More...
Raju Peddada: The Book: A Palimpsest Of Many Tales
Books are actually our mirrors: they never really belong to anyone. More...
Jan Baughman: A Little "Soucie" And A Lot Of Joy
A little story about bad fences, bad neighbors, a little trouble, and a lot of joy in the form of a lovable cat, Blackie. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Dors Petit Homme, Dors Petit Frère
Remembering Priam, an extraordinary dog and inseparable companion whose life filled our hearts, and whose death broke them. (Written in November 2009.) More...
Guido Monte: Creature
Guido Monte repeats on and on, ad infinitum and on a multilingual way, that "all that exists is creature," a message of the Italian writer Paolo De Benedetti. More...
On Paul Buhle's article on David Harvey, reading that would benefit the Occupy movement; the origin of Gilles d'Aymery's Swans masthead quote; the death of a loveable cat; the demise of the eurozone; and the continuing relevance of Boris Vian's song Le déserteur. More...
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