Welcome to Swans Commentary http://www.swans.com/ March 22, 2010
Note from the Editors: It is time to go to press, and we still don't
know if America is about to collapse into socialisticommiemarxism over
so-called health care reform that will not even take effect until the
insurance companies have pillaged the public for another 4 years, so
we'll have to save our analysis of the outcome for next time around. And
frankly, we have much more interesting matters to discuss than the faux
debate over health care reform, or sick care non-reform as Gilles
d'Aymery aptly calls it in his real-life look at health insurance, the
last of the so-called progressives, failing banks, succeeding
billionaires, and the greatest country in cyberspace. (Aymery, along
with Marie Rennard, also shares some thoughts on and links to the
comrade and extraordinary French singer Jean Ferrat.) Should the watered
down health care bill pass, time will tell if its proponents are correct
in their assertion that any reform is better than none, though Joel
Hirschhorn argues otherwise; while Charles Marowitz, feeling
pessimistic, just needs a good rant. The hope for true reform remains
dim when considering Michael Barker's history of Planned Parenthood.
Barker demonstrates why their activism serves the interests of
capitalist elite and not those of their target -- the rest of the
planet. Meanwhile, please take a moment to write to attorney Lynne
Stewart, who was imprisoned after representing Sheikh Omar for the 1993
bombing of the World Trade Center. Martin Murie tells the tragic story
of his friend and fellow antiwar activist, and the fate of attorneys who
dare represent accused terrorists.
Moving away from our impoverished society to our rich culture, Paul
Buhle welcomes the radical comics that are picking up steam, and Femi
Akomolafe pens Nigerian humor on the return of the country's missing
president, who's still MIA. Art Shay anxiously awaits Johnny Depp's
purported portrayal of his friend Nelson Algren on the big screen, and
wonders if Danny DeVito will shrink to new lows to play him. Isidor
Saslav presents Part Two of his operatic observations, an article that
landed Swans co-editor in the bureaucratic Permissions Request lap of
the Gray Lady, leading Aymery to consider Fair Use, copyrights, and
copynorms. Peter Byrne spins a yarn about his open gate through which a
mysterious woman meets him each morning for conversation.
Dans le coin français, Christine Spadacinni performs her linguistic
acrobatics with ironic observations on France's Day of the Woman. In the
wake of a vulgar news item Jean-Claude Seine reminds us that racism is
alive and well in France. Marie Rennard tells everything you want to
know about snails -- there is much to learn about them. Christian
Cottard shows how life, books, the life of books, and destiny can be
surprising; and we end le coin with a short poem by Simone Alié- Daram.
We close this issue with Guido Monte and Silvia Dello Russo who remember
the mysterious verses of old and recent poets, and your letters.
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Cordially, Gilles d'Aymery
-- Swans
"Hungry man, reach for the book: It is a weapon." B. Brecht
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