Swans Commentary
http://www.swans.com/
September 22, 2008
Note from the Editors: You respond to the call and do the patriotic thing --
join the military to spread democracy and rid the world of evil, or go
shopping to sustain the bloated war economy, but when crisis strikes, whether
from a blown-off limb or an overblown mortgage, you're on your own in the
unforgiving world of trickle-up economics and financial Darwinism. Yet, God
bless America, we discovered that those hundreds of billions of dollars we
didn't have for universal health care, or a free, quality education for all,
or rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure are suddenly available to rescue
the financial institutions that have been profiting from our losses for
years! We must move quickly on the mother of all bailouts -- no time to
debate executive salary caps or a pittance for the taxpayers, says Treasury
Secretary Henry Paulson, who must be watching his $800 million net worth sink
faster than a Gulf Coast city. The magnitude of this crisis is unfathomable,
but our resident economist and Swans Editor Gilles d'Aymery leads us through
the finances and practices paving our path to financial ruin. Carol Warner
Christen examines the human toll the corporate state takes on our public
life, and Martin Murie brings us down to earth to consider the symbiosis of
dirt and its inhabitants, and the revolutionary changes that must be made to
our Western way of life. Those changes will not result from a carefully-
considered choice between McCain and Obama; we must start with a return to
our Constitution, as R. Scott Porter appeals. Jan Baughman invokes a parable
to mourn the diminishing pool of candidates for *real* change that our
elections offer. We recently lost one such activist, Peter Camejo -- a
revolutionary socialist, Green Party member, and visionary leader whose
passion and integrity are eloquently honored by Louis Proyect who was a good
friend of Peter.
One of the last critics standing, Charles Marowitz, poignantly connects the
patterns of power, from Apartheid Africa to Bush's America; China's civil
rights abuses and US torture; violence as entertainment and blanket
complacency; while Louis Proyect brilliantly unravels the revisionist legend
of Jesse James in an in-depth study of the real man and the reactionary and
racist effect that he and his men had, and still have, on American politics.
Legendary photojournalist Art Shay's creativity and wit are revealed in the
snapshots and tales from his Felliniesque life touched by the likes of Ernest
Hemingway and Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and Jessica Lange. On to Cairo,
with Peter Byrne's review of "Living With Djinns" by Barbara Drieskens, then
Guido Monte and Alison Phipps take us on an embroidered gossamer of poetic
ascensional blending words to "Purgatorio," while Marie Rennard paints a
fantasy polesy for the miswedded alley cat and saxophone-playing homunculus.
We close with your letters on Swans donation recession (depression?), voting
for sanity, Jimmy Carter's Gulag, resuscitating the antiwar movement, a
Paulista revolution waged against Gilles d'Aymery, and more.
Hang on to your hats, tighten your belts, and as always, please form your OWN
opinion, and let your friends (and foes) know about Swans. It's your voice
that makes ours grow.
# # # # #
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/desk073.html
Blips #73 - From the Martian Desk - Gilles d'Aymery
(On the financial tsunami...with a tiny wink to the Paulistas.)
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/carenc45.html
A Disintegrating Nation Being Boiled Slowly Alive - Carol Warner Christen
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/murie57.html
Low Life - Martin Murie
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/porter05.html
The Government We Deserve - R. Scott Porter
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/jeb198.html
Ice Cream For Diversity - Jan Baughman
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/nader08.html
How To Help The Nader-Gonzalez '08 Campaign
- Gilles d'Aymery & Jan Baughman (updated Sept. 22, 2008)
(As of September 22, the Nader-Gonzalez Campaign has filed for a ballot line
in 45 states. Kudos! Now, we need to help them Open the Debates!!!)
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/lproy48.html
Red Inside, Green Outside: Our Great Loss
Peter Camejo (1939-2008) - by Louis Proyect
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/cmarow117.html
En Passant - Charles Marowitz
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/lproy47.html
Jesse James: The Myth And The Man - Louis Proyect
(Brilliant analysis of the racist and reactionary nature of James & co.)
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/ashay04.html
Rare Medium - Art Shay
(The legendary photojournalist offers snapshots and tales from his
Felliniesque life.)
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/pbyrne81.html
In Search Of Djinns - Book Review by Peter Byrne
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/gmonte51.html
Mondana Commedia n.2: Purgatorio
- Multilingual Poem by Guido Monte & Alison Phipps
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/marier21.html
Miswedding - Polesy by Marie Rennard
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/letter148.html
Letters to the Editor
# # # # #
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Gilles d'Aymery
--
Swans
"Hungry man, reach for the book: It is a weapon." B. Brecht
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