Swans Commentary http://www.swans.com/ November 7, 2008
@ @ @ @ @ *Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!* Please open your checkbook and contribute. We've only received $120 so far this year. Please do not cut us out because we have been strong supporters of Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez, and have taken an anti-Libertarian stand. Where else can you find thoughtful -- and properly edited -- articles whose content does not walk in lock step with the herd? http://www.swans.com/about/donate.html @ @ @ @ @ Note from the Editors: Change is in the air -- you can almost smell it, but for the thick smoke billowing from the annual Southern California bonfires -- as the Obama administration begins to take shape with former Clinton administration lawyers, lobbyists, and the like while the pundits giddily anticipate the announcement of Hillary's new role in the New Way Forward. Yet with only 2,063 days until the next election and the globe slowly admitting it's in a recession and entities from entire countries to states, companies, and individuals go bankrupt, anyone soon to take power must recall James Carville's famous words, "It's the economy, stupid." The economic meltdown that has yet to fully reveal itself is promising to make the Bonfire of the Vanities look tempered, while Treasury Secretary and former vanity himself Hank Paulson burns through the taxpayers' bailout with no apparent rhyme or reason. We would be well-served if Paulson reviewed Gilles d'Aymery's critique and implemented the Aymery Plan, which of course does little to safeguard the Wall Street lifestyle of yore... You'll certainly not find such criticism in The Nation magazine, which Louis Proyect notes has always been funded by members of the capitalist class who would never challenge the system it has criticized for over 100 years. And what of all the philanthropists who could turn their attention (and billions) to help out at home? Michael Barker once again follows the money, this time to the forces behind groups such as the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations and the National Endowment for Democracy. You'll be shocked by the strange bedfellows and agendas of these "liberal" foundations. With all this in mind, we'd like to take a moment to thank those remarkable individuals who work tirelessly, without gain, on behalf of our flailing democracy -- from Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez to Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente. We're reprinting Mr. Nader's overview of his 2008 campaign's accomplishments, while Martin Murie reflects on "fringe" candidates, gadflies, and who's really in charge of the planet. But enough of politics already! Let's move on to culture, at its best and worst; the latter according to Raju Peddada being the celluloid soft-porn that is the Indian "Bollywood" film industry, and the former being the best of the books on Ataturk, which Peter Byrne enthusiastically reviews. Charles Marowitz lends his witty and critical theatre-director eye to the dubious foundation on which The Alchemy of Theatre was constructed. Guido Monte and Alison Phipps try to find their fil rouge of life through the verses of ancient poets, with a stunning collage by Nicola Spacca, and R. Scott Porter uses light as metaphor in his poem on our personal quest for optimism. Finally, we close with your letters in support of our editorial line but not our bottom line, and a word of warning for the next four (to eight) years. # # # # # http://www.swans.com/library/art14/desk076.html Blips #76 - From the Martian Desk - Gilles d'Aymery http://www.swans.com/library/art14/lproy50.html The Early Days Of "The Nation" Magazine - Louis Proyect http://www.swans.com/library/art14/barker08.html Co-opting Intellectual Aggressors: The "Progressive" Face of the CIA - Michael Barker http://www.swans.com/library/art14/rnader03.html What We Accomplished Together - Ralph Nader http://www.swans.com/library/art14/murie59.html Today And Tomorrow - Martin Murie http://www.swans.com/library/art14/rajup04.html Bollywood Bungles - Raju Peddada http://www.swans.com/library/art14/pbyrne86.html He Is Turkey - Book Review by Peter Byrne http://www.swans.com/library/art14/cmarow121.html The Alchemy of Theatre - Book Review by Charles Marowitz http://www.swans.com/library/art14/gmonte55.html Fil Rouge (Omnitude) - Poem by Guido Monte & Alison Phipps http://www.swans.com/library/art14/porter09.html The Light - Poem by R. Scott Porter http://www.swans.com/library/art14/letter152.html Letters to the Editor # # # # # Swans (aka Swans Commentary), ISSN: 1554-4915, is a bi-weekly non- commercial ad-free Web-only magazine which provides original content to its readers. We encourage pulp publications to republish Swans' Work in print format. Please contact the publisher at <aymery AT ix.netcom.com>. Please, do not repost Swans' Work on the Web and other mailing lists: "Hypertext" links to any pages of Swans.com are authorized; however, republication of any part of this site, inlining, mirroring, and framing are expressly prohibited. We welcome your comments and suggestions. When writing to Swans, please indicate your first and last name as well as your city and state (country) of residence. You are receiving this E-mail notification for you have expressed your interest in Swans and the work of its team. If you wish not to receive these short notifications, simply reply to this E-mail (delete the content) and enter the word REMOVE in the subject line. We do NOT share your E-mail address with anyone. Cordially, Gilles d'Aymery -- Swans "Hungry man, reach for the book: It is a weapon." B. Brecht _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
