Harper's Magazine

Washington on the Threat of Partisan Entrenchment

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:26:33 -0400

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:26:33 -0400 I have already intimated to you the danger of Parties in the State… Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party generally. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—The Washington Post, After Watergate

Ken Silverstein — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:23:43 -0400

Ken Silverstein Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:23:43 -0400 From Alexander Cockburn: . . .

Music for the Fourth of July

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:58:44 -0400

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:58:44 -0400 Aaron Copeland’s “Lincoln Portrait” (1942). The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra performs and Gregory Peck provides the narration drawn from an array of Lincoln texts, including the Gettysburg Address. . . .

WYATT MASON—Weekend Read: “A difference of imagination”

Wyatt Mason — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:37:17 -0400

Wyatt Mason Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:37:17 -0400 So begins one of the twentieth century’s most varied, diverting, probing and re-readable works of thought and prose, Guy Davenport’s The Geography of the Imagation. First published in 1980 by Jack Shoemaker’s late great North Point Press, its forty essays on literature and art have provided a generation of writers and readers a continuing education on how to look, think, write, feel. . . .

WYATT MASON—There must I begin to be: Guy Davenport's heretical fictions

Wyatt Mason — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:57:43 -0400

Wyatt Mason Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:57:43 -0400 One consistent feature of truly innovative writing has been how it lays claim to a previously overlooked milieu, turning what once was tedium or even taboo into appropriate material for fiction. Flaubert made art out of the shallowness of the bourgeoisie; Joyce allowed the drama of one’s own bodily functions to play a prominent role in the proceedings; Barth made the process and principles of storytelling into viable literature. For the young writer, then, in addition to learning the craft upon which all quality depends, much of the drama of the early years involves finding, or failing to discover, his subject. . . .

MR. FISH—A Cartoon

Mr. Fish — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:27:15 -0400

Mr. Fish Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:27:15 -0400 . . .

SCOTT HORTON—Mr. Twain Offers a Lesson on Patriotism

Scott Horton — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:17:26 -0400

Scott Horton Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:17:26 -0400 It was March 16, 1901. A lanky man with elegant and flowing white hair and a prominent moustache strode to the podium. He hardly needed an introduction: the audience would immediately have recognized what was arguably the best-known face in America. The event was a meeting of the Male Teachers Association of the City of New York. It was a convivial gathering for dinner at the Albert Hotel in Greenwich Village, at the corner of University Place and Eleventh Street. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Rick Renzi, American

Ken Silverstein — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:33:19 -0400

Ken Silverstein Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:33:19 -0400 A reader sends in this heartwarming patriotic moment, just in time for the July 4th holiday: . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Will the Bush Administration Strike Iran?

Ken Silverstein — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:39:42 -0400

Ken Silverstein Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:39:42 -0400 Laura Rozen has been running an interesting forum on Iran at Mother Jones, which asks: “How likely is a scenario in which the United States or Israel strikes Iran before Bush leaves office? (Or is the Left falling for the hawks’ propaganda?)” . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—After Losing in Court, Government Keeps Al-Arian Jailed With “Contempt” Charges

Ken Silverstein — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:02:26 -0400

Ken Silverstein Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:02:26 -0400 From IPS: . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—James Wolcott on Bob Kerrey’s “Recipe for Loserdom”

Ken Silverstein — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:58:57 -0400

Ken Silverstein Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:58:57 -0400 I’ve been away for the past week so over the next few days I’m going to catch up by posting some of the best stories and items I read on vacation. First up is this terrific piece by James Wolcott, which should be savored word by delicious word. In it, Wolcott eviscerates former Senator Bob Kerrey (”one of those bipartisan junkies who thinks the only way to solve America’s problems is to glue an Abe Lincoln beard on Sam Waterston and heed his craggy wisdom”) for the unsolicited advice he recently offered Barack Obama on how to conduct himself with John McCain. Obama should handle Kerrey’s advice “with tongs and dispose of in a plastic baggy,” Wolcott writes: . . .

WYATT MASON—A Staggering Mother

Wyatt Mason — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:05:19 -0400

Wyatt Mason Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:05:19 -0400 Who wouldn’t leap to read more by the author of these sentences? “All eyes and nerves,” is terse and visible description despite abstractness. “Muggy drizzle” on one side of the see-saw line is rhythmically and melodically balanced by “tipsy father”. And then there’s the unspooling of effect in the second sentence that roots us in place (“In Dublin”), plants a sociological seed (“I have more than once seen”), adds actors (“children”), personalizes them unobtrusively (“younger than my brother was at that time”), offers a hopeful gerundive (“trying to lead”) that simultaneously suggests its possible opposite (for trying suggests one might fail) and then concludes, after all that careful effort, with a few, gutting last steps (“a staggering mother”—worse, somehow, than a “a staggering father”) before the sentence shuts, before the destination (“home”) can be attained. . . .

WENDELL BERRY—Faustian economics: Hell hath no limits

Wendell Berry — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:24:32 -0400

Wendell Berry Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:24:32 -0400 The general reaction to the apparent end of the era of cheap fossil fuel, as to other readily foreseeable curtailments, has been to delay any sort of reckoning. The strategies of delay, so far, have been a sort of willed oblivion, or visions of large profits to the manufacturers of such “biofuels” as ethanol from corn or switchgrass, or the familiar unscientific faith that “science will find an answer.” The dominant response, in short, is a dogged belief that what we call the American Way of Life will prove somehow indestructible. We will keep on consuming, spending, wasting, and driving, as before, at any cost to anything and everybody but ourselves. . . .

GARRET KEIZER—Turning away from Jesus: Gay rights and the war for the Episcopal Church

Garret Keizer — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:53:33 -0400

Garret Keizer Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:53:33 -0400 As an American Episcopalian I belong to a family of forty-four autonomous churches Of the forty-four churches, thirty-eight are large enough to count as provinces (a collection of at least three dioceses). called the Anglican Communion, which currently numbers some 80 million members around the globe and which is now close to schism because of a bitter dispute about homosexuality. I must admit that until quite recently I did not pay much attention to what is often called “the crisis in the Anglican Communion”—in spite of, though perhaps also because of, the fact that for many years I worked some hours of each week as the lay vicar and later as the indigenous priest of a small Episcopal church in rural Vermont.My ordination was under a special canon of the church that allowed for indigenous clergy in places too small, poor, or remote to have a professional priest. I have never been to seminary. I had other things on my mind. But while I was making the rounds of my parish, things were afoot in the larger church that were not dissimilar to the zealotry and self-delusion that would mesmerize our national politics and mire us in Iraq. In other words, what might strike you as an irrelevant story about a religious dispute is in some ways your story, whether you are religious or not, and whether you like it or not. The story invites us to ask if what we see happening to the institutions we love is not at least partly the result of our having loved them less attentively than we supposed. . . .

SCOTT HORTON—Six Questions for Paul Alexander, Author of Machiavelli’s Shadow

Scott Horton — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:09:44 -0400

Scott Horton Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:09:44 -0400 Paul Alexander is a former reporter for Time magazine who has also written for Rolling Stone, the New York Times Magazine and various other publications. He is also a radio talk show host for WABC and the author of a series of popular biographies, including one of the most appealing portraits of John McCain, Man of the People, published in 2004. Alexander hones his skills as a biographer with a headline-grabbing look at the life and career of Karl Rove entitled Machiavelli’s Shadow, just out. I put six questions to Alexander about his book. . . .

PAUL FORD—Weekly Review

Paul Ford — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Paul Ford Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 The Supreme Court overturned the 32-year ban on handguns in Washington, D.C., ruling 5-4 that there is a Second Amendment right to own a gun for personal use. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in his dissent that the court's ruling, its first on the Second Amendment in 70 years, showed a lack of “respect for the well-settled views of all of our predecessors on the court, and for the rule of law itself.” The National Rifle Association promptly brought lawsuits against five other cities with handgun bans, including San Francisco, Chicago, and Oak Park, Illinois. “It's just completely befuddling,” said the Oak Park village manager, “that our Supreme Court would be in alliance with the gangbangers.” The New York Times NPR The court also determined that Exxon need pay only $507.5 million (about four days' worth of recent profits) of the $5 billion in punitive damages initially awarded to victims of the 1989 “Valdez” oil spill, CNN Money AP via Yahoo! News and that child rapists should not be sentenced to death if their crime “did not result, and was not intended to result, in the victim's death.” John McCain disagreed with that ruling and suggested that by executing those found guilty of “the most heinous of crimes” the United States could protect the innocence of its children, while Barack Obama suggested that the rape of a small child, “six or eight years old,” could be punished by death without violating the Constitution. AFP Some Obama supporters were taking his middle name, Hussein, as their own; “My name is such a vanilla, white-girl American name,” said Ashley Hussein Holmes. The New York Times Ireland was expecting its first recession since 1983. RTE News . . .

WYATT MASON—Cannot Be Confined Too Fine

Wyatt Mason — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:13:26 -0400

Wyatt Mason Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:13:26 -0400 “Athletes and people who take an interest in the care of the body do not confine their attentions to physical exercise and attaining a good condition,” begins a novel that recently arrived on my desk: . . .

Williams’s Song

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:26:25 -0400

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:26:25 -0400 I’d rather read an account of a hidden Carolina swamp where the white heron breeds protected from the hunters reached only across half sunken logs a place difficult of access the females building their nests in the stifling heat the males in their mating splendor than to witness . . .

MR. FISH—A Cartoon

Mr. Fish — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:04:33 -0400

Mr. Fish Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:04:33 -0400 . . .

Adam Smith on the Nature of Human Virtue

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:02:59 -0400

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:02:59 -0400 Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of connexion with that part of the world, would be affected upon receiving intelligence of this dreadful calamity. He would, I imagine, first of all, express very strongly his sorrow for the misfortune of that unhappy people, he would make many melancholy reflections upon the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of all the labours of man, which could thus be annihilated in a moment. He would too, perhaps, if he was a man of speculation, enter into many reasonings concerning the effects which this disaster might produce upon the commerce of Europe, and the trade and business of the world in general. And when all this fine philosophy was over, when all these humane sentiments had been once fairly expressed, he would pursue his business or his pleasure, take his repose or his diversion, with the same ease and tranquillity, as if no such accident had happened. . . If he was to lose his little finger to-morrow, he would not sleep to-night; but, provided he never saw them, he will snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred millions of his brethren, and the destruction of that immense multitude seems plainly an object less interesting to him, than this paltry misfortune of his own to prevent, therefore, this paltry misfortune to himself, would a man of humanity be willing to sacrifice the lives of a hundred millions of his brethren, provided he had never seen them? Human nature startles with horror at the thought, and the world, in its greatest depravity and corruption, never produced such a villain as could be capable of entertaining it. But what makes this difference? When our passive feelings are almost always so sordid and so selfish, how comes it that our active principles should often be so generous and so noble? When we are always so much more deeply affected by whatever concerns ourselves, than by whatever concerns other men; what is it which prompts the generous, upon all occasions, and the mean upon many, to sacrifice their own interests to the greater interests of others? It is not the soft power of humanity, it is not that feeble spark of benevolence which Nature has lighted up in the human heart, that is thus capable of counteracting the strongest impulses of self-love. It is a stronger power, a more forcible motive, which exerts itself upon such occasions. It is reason, principle, conscience, the inhabitant of the breast, the man within, the great judge and arbiter of our conduct. It is he who, whenever we are about to act so as to affect the happiness of others, calls to us, with a voice capable of astonishing the most presumptuous of our passions, that we are but one of the multitude, in no respect better than any other in it; and that when we prefer ourselves so shamefully and so blindly to others, we become the proper objects of resentment, abhorrence, and execration. It is from him only that we learn the real littleness of ourselves, and of whatever relates to ourselves, and the natural misrepresentations of self-love can be corrected only by the eye of this impartial spectator. It is he who shows us the propriety of generosity and the deformity of injustice; the propriety of resigning the greatest interests of our own, for the yet greater interests of others, and the deformity of doing the smallest injury to another, in order to obtain the greatest benefit to ourselves. It is not the love of our neighbour, it is not the love of mankind, which upon many occasions prompts us to the practice of those divine virtues. It is a stronger love, a more powerful affection, which generally takes place upon such occasions; the love of what is honourable and noble, of the grandeur, and dignity, and superiority of our own characters. . . .

WYATT MASON—Weekend Read: “I’ll dance at your wedding.”

Wyatt Mason — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:01:16 -0400

Wyatt Mason Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:01:16 -0400 The great mass of everything now being sold and promoted everywhere leaves those of us looking for something particularly good at a loss, in the welter, for where to turn. Last year, the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux simplified things for many of us by bringing back into print the work of one of the house’s best writers, Leonard Michaels. . . .

SCOTT HORTON—Assessing Yoo and Addington

Scott Horton — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:55:13 -0400

Scott Horton Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:55:13 -0400 I reviewed the highlights and assessed the performance of David Addington and John Yoo during their appearance yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee on this morning’s Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. Check your local affiliate for the show or catch it here. . . .

WYATT MASON—The Solid Shelf of Rock

Wyatt Mason — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:11:48 -0400

Wyatt Mason Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:11:48 -0400 “Kent would have to be raised up by his father, pulled to the solid shelf of rock by his mother.” . . .

SCOTT HORTON—Six Questions for Mohsin Hamid

Scott Horton — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:34:20 -0400

Scott Horton Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:34:20 -0400 American interest in Pakistan has grown since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto last December, as recent developments have increasingly put Pakistan’s democratically-elected government on shaky ground. The bombing of Pakistani troops by the United States, economic crises, and a popular movement to impeach President Musharraf have all tested the coalition government’s fragile unity. This turmoil carries significant implications for U.S. policy and the presidential elections. Less frequently remarked upon, but by no means unnoticed, Pakistan is also experiencing a cultural renaissance of film, literature, and art, in part fomented by a growing middle class and independent media. It seems appropriate to turn not just to the conventional punditry, but to a star among this rising group of artists for some insights. Mohsin Hamid was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan and attended Princeton, where he studied writing with Joyce Carol Oates and Toni Morrison. He went on to law school at Harvard—though he says he found the law boring—and after a brief career in investment banking, he turned to work with branding firm in London while pursuing his literary talents on the side. His first novel, Moth Smoke (2000, Farrar, Straus & Giroux) was a New York Times Notable Book, won the Betty Trask First Book Award, and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for best first novel in America. His second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007, Harcourt), was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and was a New York Times bestseller. By any reckoning, Hamid is off to a brilliant start. I put six questions to Mohsin Hamid on Pakistan’s trials and aspirations. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Parental Warning: Obscene David Broder video follows

Ken Silverstein — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:00:14 -0400

Ken Silverstein Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:00:14 -0400 I’m on vacation for a week, but before taking off I wanted to do a final column on the journalists’ speakers circuit I’ve been reporting on recently. The most surprising thing about Bob Woodward’s and David Broder’s well-paid speaking gigs is that all of this comes so soon after big name journalists were embarrassed by the buckraking scandal a short decade back. Despite that scandal, journalists and commentators were soon again accepting corporate-sponsored speaking gigs. . . .

SCOTT HORTON—Will the National Surveillance State Prevail Again?

Scott Horton — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:19:18 -0400

Scott Horton Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:19:18 -0400 Late last week, the House Democratic leadership (which is to say, Congressman Steny Hoyer) announced a “breakthrough” in discussions with the White House and the Republicans which would produce a “compromise” in the long fight over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. I have taken several days to look over the legislation and have some comments. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Alhurra’s Paid Commentators

Ken Silverstein — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:10:48 -0400

Ken Silverstein Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:10:48 -0400 From ProPublica: . . .

SCOTT HORTON—The Addington–Yoo Hearing, Gavel-to-gavel

Scott Horton — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:04:17 -0400

Scott Horton Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:04:17 -0400 On Thursday, June 26, the House Judiciary Committee will conduct hearings into the legal genesis of the Bush Administration’s torture policies. Featured witnesses will be David Addington, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, and University of California–Berkeley law professor John C. Yoo, who as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, was the principal draftsman of the torture memoranda. The Bay Area’s KPFA (94.1 FM in Berkeley) and participating Pacifica Network stations will be carrying the hearing live, gavel-to-gavel, starting at 9:00 a.m. Eastern (6:00 a.m. Pacific) time. Pacifica’s Larry Bensky and Harper’s legal affairs contributor Scott Horton will be co-anchoring the broadcast, which can be monitored through a streaming webcast. . . .

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Thar She Blows: The joys of offshore drilling

Ken Silverstein — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:18:32 -0400

Ken Silverstein Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:18:32 -0400 From American Prospect: . . .

SAM STARK—Weekly Review

Sam Stark — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Sam Stark Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 Oil reached a record $139.89 a barrel. Four Western companies met with Iraq's Oil Ministry to finalize no-bid contracts to tap Iraqi oil fields, and the Nigerian government distributed billions of dollars of windfall to corrupt state officials. Thirty-five countries and 25 oil companies met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to try to fix global oil prices, which have caused strikes, riots, and inflation around the world. Many OPEC countries blamed speculators for the price increase, as did some representatives of oil companies and oil-dependent industries. United States Energy Secretary Sam Bodman blamed supply and demand, as did lobbyists for Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. ABC AFP via Google BBC NYT Jakarta Post NYT LAT WP AP via Mercury News WYTV Ohio Bloomberg Drivers in the Gaza strip, where Israel limits fuel supplies and black market gas costs $27 per gallon, used vegetable oil and turpentine as fuel, producing toxic fumes that result in diarrhea and stomach pain. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cancelled four global-warming research expeditions, citing the cost of fuel. American cowboys could not afford to drive their horses to rodeos, and those who lived near the border were filling their tanks in Mexico, where gas is subsidized. AP via Anchorage Daily News AP via Detroit Free Press Houston Chron LAT LAT WP Giant iguanas continued their conquest of South Florida, surrounding Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissioner Bob Kanjian at a golf course in Lake Worth. “I had 25 to 30 iguanas,” he said, “staring at me while I was playing.” Miami Herald . . .