Swans Commentary
http://www.swans.com/
February 9, 2009
Note from the Editors: As the US economy shed another 600,000 jobs last
month for a total of 3.6 million in the past 13, Congress remains mired in
paralysis, engulfed in partisan bickering, and wealthy executives bitterly
whine that they cannot possibly live on $500K in Manhattan -- they'd need a
bare $1.6 million minimum to keep frequenting les salons dorés in good
company. Art Shay has a message for ces gens là that they should heed in a
hurry, as the ship is nonchalantly careening in stormy pre-Depression waters:
These people stink. Shay, with his renowned photographic memory, provides an
apercu of our pre-Depression dysfunctional age as well as reminiscences of
long forgotten yesteryears. Reading Jan Baughman, one has to wonder whether
we are well past the stage of dysfunction and have entered the territory of
irremediable dystopia, in spite of the anguished and angry calls by Charles
Marowitz for Obama to shake the darn tree so forcefully that all the dead,
rotten branches will finally complete their rotting process on the ground and
let the tree grow again, sound and alive. Though if you follow the continuing
saga of our Ponzters, Fraudsters, and Banksters that Gilles d'Aymery has been
faithfully portraying in his persistent Blips you should not hold your breath
for a favorable outcome. The system is not just corroded. It is putrefied.
And it's not limited to the financial world. Michael Barker, equally
persistent, underscores how much wealth controls and sets the agenda of human
rights organizations, this time in the Israel-Palestine conflict -- in the
same fashion the MSM controls the news and how countries are depicted; e.g.,
Nigeria as Femi Akomolafe reports. Not surprisingly, the same corrupt
processes extend to the environment as Martin Murie shows, taking the example
of the jaguar. Not a happy spectacle, to say the least.
Fortunately, to avoid falling into a deep depressive mood, Isidor Saslav
brings us a world of music thanks to his latest visit to the New York
Philharmonic; Peter Byrne reviews two books by Scott Turow; Guido Monte and
Marie Rennard add a touch of poetry; Raju Peddada explores the world of
luxury with some conclusions you will appreciate; and Scott Porter mulls over
the benefits of being attentive to others -- the art of listening. We end
this edition with your letters. Enjoy.
# # # # #
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/ashay08.html
The Real World of Deerfield And The Coming Depression - Art Shay
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/jeb205.html
National Priorities In The Economic And Digital Divide - Jan Baughman
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/cmarow129.html
Obama's Gordian Knot - Charles Marowitz
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/desk079.html
Blips #79 - From the Martian Desk - Gilles d'Aymery
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/barker13.html
Engineering Human Rights In The Israel-Palestine Conflict - Michael Barker
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/femia04.html
Understanding Nigeria - Femi Akomolafe
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/murie64.html
The Jaguar Scandal - Martin Murie
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/saslav11.html
Conductors' Guild Convention In New York 2009 - Isidor Saslav
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/pbyrne92.html
To Kill Or Not - Book Review by Peter Byrne
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/gmonte61.html
War n.2 - Multilingual Poem by Guido Monte
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/marier26.html
The Day I Die... - Poem by Marie Rennard
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/rajup07.html
What Is Luxury? - Raju Peddada
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/porter13.html
Learning From Everyone - R. Scott Porter
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/letter158.html
Letters to the Editor
# # # # #
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--
Swans
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