Q: What Was Bush Doing
While the Economy Was Melting?
12.30.2008 | 02:26 PM •
A: Reading books.
Thanks to spinmaster Karl Rove, we now know that our
supreme leader is not a philistine book burner, but a
learned man of letters. In Rove’s new career, to
rehabilitate his puppet’s legacy, he offers
this WSJ column on how he and
W. competed to read the most books and pages
over the last few years. While it’s plausible
that Bush actually read the listed books, a few
investigators have done the math, in particular
this analysis over at Book
Patrol, which comes to the conclusion that it is
unlikely Bush could have plowed through his list
in so little time.
The above picture, I’ve just learned, is actually a
fake. This was disseminated not long after 9/11 when
Bush was reading along with an elementary school
class down in Florida as the planes hit the towers.
Snopes.com nailed the fraud
here. I hadn’t realized
though, that the book they were reading,
America, A Patriotic Primer, was
written by
Lynne Cheney. Perhaps the
only thing better than Oprah to enhance book
sales is to have your husband be the vice
president.
Finally the Nightmare Can
End!
11.05.2008 | 11:57 AM •
Congratulations, Barack! As the Onion said, you are
about to inherit
America’s worst job. Only ten
weeks until Inauguration, ten weeks for Bush to
continue his reign of
destruction. With a 25%
approval rating, I’m sure he’s more than happy
to gift industry with some more loose
regulations. After all, he’s going to need some
big donors to break ground on his
presidential library at SMU.
Halloween
10.31.2008 | 10:38 PM •
The nominees took some time out from their busy
campaigns to stroll with the crowds in the Park Slope
halloween parade.
Powell Finally Does the
Right Thing
10.19.2008 | 05:12 PM •
After tarnishing his reputation with his U.N. speech
about Iraq’s WMD, Colin Powell finally stopped
waffling and offered his well-reasoned
conclusion on why he’s
supporting Obama. While I’ve never been a fan of
generals, I did have respect for Powell’s calm,
smart demeanor, at least before he shamefully
toed the Bush line about the imminent danger of
Iraq. Whether pundits want to spin this as a
race thing or not, Powell did himself right this
time. Tireless diplomacy and engaged
multilateralism are the best approaches to
ensure world peace, not bullying and jumping
into unwinable conflicts. Powell’s experience
tells him this and he knows Obama is clearly the
better man for the moment.
Speaking of a calm, smart demeanor. The best
advertisement for Barack Obama happens to be his
appearance on Bill O’Reilly’s show on September 4th.
If you haven’t seen
this 4-part video, you
should. Under O’Reilly’s dogged pressure, Obama
remains confident, intelligent, and totally
reasonable, even displaying a sense of humor.
While the Fox News flat-tax, pro-corporate
commentator could have sharpened his chainsaw a
bit more, he was obviously impressed by Obama’s
command of the issues. The usual stuff is
discussed--class warfare, cap gains tax, Bill
Ayers, Iran, Afghanistan--with Obama refusing to
take O’Reilly’s inflammatory bait. Also
mentioned, are my two biggest Obama
disappointments, his support of FISA and embrace
of nuclear power, both of which clearly show
Obama is willing to imperil the citizenry at the
profit of big corporate power. (I can only hope
that this will not actually play out in his
presidency.)
The Manipulator
Manipulates McCain
09.21.2008 | 11:46 PM •
Somehow I missed this photojournalism
controversy last week. Jill Greenberg, aka
The Manipulator, was hired by
The Atlantic to shoot a portrait of John McCain
and she posted photoshopped outtakes (a few
shown here) from the shoot on her website (all
since removed). The editor of The Atlantic
released a
condemnation of Greenberg’s
actions as well as an apology to the McCain
campaign. The whole controversy has spawned some
lively discussions (
here,
here, and
here) on photojournalist
ethics. Though I find her actions unprofessional
and childish, I don’t see why Greenberg can’t
publicize her strong political views. Of course,
she won’t be working for The Atlantic again, but
so what? Maybe she’ll have to give up her title
of photojournalist, since she can’t remain
impartial. But that’s okay, she’s not
documenting reality anyway, she’s an artist
illustrator.
Artists can and should take stands; too often they
end up only making slick PR advertisements for the
subjects they shoot. Even if McCain’s image was made
into propaganda, it does not change the fact that
he’s a Bush lapdog, a man who has totally lost his
principles, and someone we should really fear running
this country.
For an interesting read on how a real pro dealt with
photographing a subject he considered evil, read
this about Arnold Newman
posing Alfred Krupp.



The End of
Unilateralism
01.28.2008 | 10:17 AM •

Photo Illustrations by
Kevin Van Aelst
Parag Khanna makes a long, persuasive
argument
in the Sunday Times Magazine about how the
future of the world is in the hands of the big
3: the U.S., Europe, and China. The most
important part of his essay is that it will be
the rising second world (countries like
Venezuela, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Brazil, Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan) who will have the leverage as
they grow, picking and choosing alliances with
the big 3.
Seen in this context, the Iraq War was an act of
desperation by a waning superpower run by an idiot
with an oedipal complex who all too willingly
bankrupted its coffers to benefit the biggest
multinational corporations. And it really was about
oil, securing the cheap, free flow of it, because
without cheap energy, the U.S.'s economic leverage is
greatly reduced. Starting in 2009, diplomacy and
innovation, not arrogance, will have to rule the day.
Barack will have quite a job ahead of him.