Walter C Uhler » Archive
William Kristol, the New York Times and Nazi Gunter d’Alquen
It was an offhand remark, in 1971, by a Penn State professor to his political science students, that prompted me to become a devoted reader, then decades-long subscriber, to the New York Times: “If you don’t read the New York Times, you can’t begin to know what’s occurring in the U.S. and the world.” Over the years, I found overwhelming evidence — much of it amusing and delightful — to support his claim, even as I suppressed my suspicions that the “Old Grey Lady” was pimping for a muscular U.S. presence around the world. For years I lived with the conceit that sophisticated people spent much of their weekend mornings reading Sunday’s Times But, my-oh-my, how “Times” … Read entire article »
Filed under: Politics
Truth, Lies, Errors and Bullshit About Iraq and Iran
In his thought provoking little book, On Bullshit, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton University, Harry G. Frankfurt, cites an exchange between Fania Pascal and the renowned philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein: “I had my tonsils out and was in the Evelyn Nursing Home feeling sorry for myself. Wittgenstein called. I croaked: ‘I feel just like a dog that has been run over.’ He was disgusted: ‘You don’t know what a dog that has been run over feels like.” [p. 24] In Professor Frankfurt’s interpretation, Wittgenstein issued his harsh rejoinder because he believed Fania Pascal’s assertion was bullshit. In Frankfurt’s view, the essence of bullshit is an “indifference to how things really are.” Thus, whereas people who tell the truth and people … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bush Administration, Iraq War, Politics
Yuli Vorontsov: An Appreciation
In December 13, 2007, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation announced the death, the previous day, of former Soviet and Russian Ambassador Yuli Vorontsov: “The diplomatic talent of Yuli M. Vorontsov was conspicuous in every endeavor entrusted to him.” The product of a sophisticated culture, Vorontsov brilliantly displayed his “sharp intellect, high professionalism, gift for negotiations, encyclopedic knowledge and subtle understanding of the countries to which he was assigned.” The New York Times properly credited Mr. Vorontsov for his “roles in some of the watershed events in the cold war, from arms talks with Washington to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, where he was ambassador when Soviet troops withdrew in 1988 and 1989.” [New York Times, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Russian History
Philadelphia Inquirer Editor Gushes over Bush, Columnist Panders to Anti-Immigration Crowd
Liberal critics of the Philadelphia Inquirer have watched in amazement while the newspaper’s management outsourced much its international and national news gathering responsibilities and promoted the famously incompetent conservative ideologue, Kevin Ferris, to the post of Editor of the Commentary Page. And when we thought things couldn’t get much worse, the paper added Rick Santorum – yes, THAT Rick Santorum – to a bullpen of columnists already overstaffed with right-wing warmongers, who had gotten it so wrong on Iraq. Representative of this sorry situation is the latest piece of claptrap written by Ferris: “An Iraq campaign for hope.” There, he gushes like a child and waxes euphoric about the “passion and enthusiasm” of President Bush – as if Bush has ever … Read entire article »
Filed under: Iraq War
Press Secretary Dana Perino: Spinning Lies for the Butcher of Baghdad
Every American of conscience should read Michael Massing’s latest article in the New York Review of Books. It’s titled, “Iraq: The Hidden Human Costs.” As Mr. Massing makes clear, the human costs of Bush’s butchery in Iraq have remained hidden largely because there are “limitations imposed by the political climate in which the [mainstream] press works.” Massing attributes the reluctance of editors and producers to print and broadcast news about Bush’s butchery in Iraq to the fact that “most Americans simply do not want to know too much about the acts being carried out in their name.” Or, as Scott Ritter has put it, “very few Americans function as citizens anymore.” But, quoting from Generation Kill, by Evan Wright, Massing … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bush Administration, Iraq War
The Global Impact of Bush’s War Crimes in Iraq: King Midas in Reverse
Journalist Robert Fisk recently explained the Bush/Cheney abomination in the Middle East quite succinctly, when he asserted: “The world in the Middle East is growing darker and darker by the hour. Pakistan. Afghanistan. Iraq. “Palestine”. Lebanon. From the borders of Hindu Kush to the Mediterranean, we – we Westerners that is – are creating (as I have said before) a hell disaster. Next week, we are supposed to believe in peace in Annapolis, between the colorless American apparatchik and Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister who has no more interest in a Palestinian state than his predecessor Ariel Sharon.” [Robert Fisk, "Darkness falls on the Middle East," Independent.co.uk, 24 Nov. 2007] On Friday, November 23rd, a bomb exploded in a pet market … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bush Administration, Foreign Policy, Iraq War
Bush’s Campaign of Lies to Conceal War Crimes
During his recent, hour-long interview on Al-Arabiya TV, President Bush denied “the U.S. is gearing up to attack Iran” and dismissed as “‘gossip’ reports in the Arab press that he has issued orders to senior U.S. military officials to prepare for an attack on Iran at the end of January or in February.” [AP, Arizona Daily Star, Oct. 6, 2007] He then added: “Evidently, there’s a lot of gossip in parts of the country – world that try to scare people about me personally or my country or what we stand for.” Gossip is it? Or has the Decider simply repressed or forgotten all the lies he told during the run-up to his illegal, immoral invasion and murderous occupation of Iraq? For … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bush Administration, Foreign Policy, Iraq War
The Nation: Editor's Picks
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- The Obamas Need to Help Fix the Fashion Industry: Here's How May 20, 2013 Elizabeth Cline
- The Chicago Board of Education Votes This Week Whether to Shut Down Fifty-four Schools May 20, 2013 Allison Kilkenny