HOLDING SARAH PALIN ACCOUNTABLE

In 1988, white supremacist Tom Metzger was successfully sued by the family of an Ethiopian man who was murdered by skinhead racists.  Metzger had not met the men personally nor had he specifically ordered them to kill anyone.  However, the rhetoric he spewed had created a situation where other racists felt compelled to kill people.

The shooting of Congresswoman Gabirelle Gifford and the killing of six other people by a mentally ill man who felt the government was trying to control his mind and was against health care and other things he saw as government interference in his life I believe is directly caused by the ratcheting up of violent rhetoric by the tea party and other groups associated with the republican party.

In particular, Sarah Palin’s use of gunsight bullseyes over the names and districts of politicians her PAC was attempting to defeat in the 2010 elections crossed the line.  It is one thing to want to defeat someone politically it is another thing to use firearm related rhetoric and words such as “lock and load”, “in the crosshairs”, and “rearm and reload” and put the contest in the context of violently taking another person out.

I hope that Rep. Giffords as well as the families who lost loved ones in this horrendous act consider filing a civil law suit against Sarah Palin….Like Tom Metzger, she should be held accountable.

BEST MUSIC OF 2010 PLUS WHAT I'D LIKE TO SEE MUSICALLY IN 2011

My favorite records of 2010….A diverse group to be sure

1.) MAN ALIVE - Everything Everything

2.) OLYMPIA - Bryan Ferry

3.) FORGET - Twin Shadow

4.) BANG GOES THE KNIGHTHOOD - The Divine Comedy

5.) TREATS - Sleigh Bells

6.) GEMINI - Wild Nothing

7.) WAKE UP THE NATION - Paul Weller

8.)I WILL BE - The Dum Dum Girls

9.) TEAR THE SIGNS DOWN -The Automatic

10.) THE GAME OF MONOGAMY - Tim Kashen



Honorable Mentions

PILGRIM’S PROGRESS – Kula Shakur

GOLDEN SEA - Our Broken Garden

WHAT WE LOSE IN THE FIRE WE GAINED IN THE FLOOD -The Mynabirds

NATIONAL RANSOM - Elvis Costello

LEARNING - Perfume Genius



Three I heard for the first time in 2010 and really liked that came out in earlier years

RUMSKIB – Rumskib

BEAST REST FORTH MOUTH - Bear in Heaven

THE GREAT ESCAPE – The Rifles

If there is one thing I would like to see in music for 2011 is a return to guitar based music….In 2010 there was a lot of electronic music made and also acoustic indie pop(which I am particularly tired of)….That’s okay but let’s get back to a big guitar sound….Currently two British bands THE VACCINES and BROTHER re being set up as saviors of British music ala Oasis and Blur in the 90’s… .We will see.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/nov/25/vaccines-brother-interview

COMING IN 2011 - SOLIDARITY WITH THE FLESH EATING MOSAIC AND OTHER POEMS

To end 2011 on a good note, I will be releasing a new book of poetry in 2011 entitled SOLIDARITY WITH THE FLESH EATING MOSAIC AND OTHER POEMS by Raj Dronamraju.  This is my second book after THE RETURN OF THE MAGNIFICENT NINNY AND OTHER POEMS. 

Release date - June 2011

THE FOLDED LEAF BY WILLIAM MAXWELL

THE FOLDED LEAF by William Maxwell is not a book that’s subtle despite a blurb on the back describing it as being about a love triangle between two boys who grow up together and a girl they meet in college.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Actually, the two main characters, Spud who is good at sports and has a bit of an attitude and Lymie who is poor at sports and sickly but excellent at his studies are in a homosexual relationship.

When I say this, I don’t mean that this is implied.  After all this book was written in 1945, when such things were not normally topics for the arts to address.  However, this book describes things in a way that there should be no doubt about the relationship between Spud and Lymie.  It’s amazingly open in that regard.

“He and Lymie were always the first ones to go up to the dorm.  In the big icy cold bed, they clung to each other, shivering like puppies, until the heat of their bodies began to penetrate through the outing flannel of their pajamas and their heavy woolen bathrobes.  Lymie slept on his right side and Spud curled against him, with his fists in the hollow of Lymie’s back”

In a way, this is a distraction as William Maxwell is one of the greatest American writers of the Twentieth Century.  I wrote about him before here  http://rgdinmalaysia.xanga.com/673512456/they-came-like-swallows-by-william-maxwell/

And still feel he is one of the greatest writers people have never heard about.

THE FOLDED LEAF shows all his strengths-An eye for every detail, an ability to shift mood with a minimum of verbiage, an understanding of how characters to really relate and connect to one another.

It’s a great work that doesn’t burden the story with points of high drama rather allowing the story to unfold naturally.  A great editor for other’s people work in his lifetime (as editor of the New Yorker’s fiction page for 40 years which overshadowed his own writing career) his own writing showed the touch of an expert.

THE REAL RICHARD HOLBROOKE RECORD

Richard Holbrooke who passed away this last week has recived scores of tributes as a great peacemaker and premier diplomat….Most of these are me too people who just want to speak without knowing anything and certainly know nothing of history

For Richard Holbrooke was a graduate of the Kissinger realpolitik school and conducted himself in the same amaoral way….The blood of American cold war crimes (and there is a lot of it) is also on his hands.

This article sums up his history better than I could

http://www.counterpunch.org/nevins12162010.html

Holbrooke was a chief enabler of Indonesian human rights violations against the people of East Timor committed by the Indonesian government.

In March 1977, Holbrooke told Australian diplomat James Dunn that Indonesia’s geographical location and oil wealth were “of considerable strategic importance to the U.S. As we see it,” Holbrooke explained, “the Suharto regime is the best of possible alternatives, and we will do nothing to destabilize it.” In other words, the Carter administration would not support East Timor, but would, instead of “staring down” Indonesia’s dictator, back him—with weapons, financial assistance, and diplomatic cover. Notwithstanding the horrific results of this policy, Holbrooke had the temerity to proclaim in a 1979 prepared statement to Congress that “[t]he welfare of the Timorese people is the major objective of our policy toward East Timor.” (2)

Just as he had lied to Congress in 1979, Holbrooke misled his listeners in Jakarta twenty years later. Indeed, he subsequently openly bragged about burying discussion of East Timor.

Holbrooke’s chief claim to fame was the Dayton Accords which supposedly ended the Bosnian conflict in 1995. The Clinton approach to Bosnia always struck me as closing the barn door after the horses had escaped. Horrible crimes on a massive scale had already been committed and America comes in at the end and pressures the….Bosnian Muslims the people who were mostly the victim of atrocities.

On top of that, Holbrooke was involved in the breaking away of Kosovo from Serbia….Here the US acted quickly and here the US was wrong….Kosovo has turned into a criminal state full of illegal organ transplanters, drug smugglers, and Islamic terrorists.

Couple this with his lifelong support of Israel no matter what they do and his ineptitude in recent years as the Afghanistan envoy and you have a record that shouldn’t make one too proud….

OBAMA'S TAX CUT/UNEMPLOYMENT DEAL SUCKS - IS CLINTON BEHIND IT?

Obama’s tax deal – two year renewal of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in exchange for an extension of one year for unemployment benefits- is a bad deal and feels more like capitulation than compromise.

There are several paths Obama can take following the recent election losses in the house and senate….This type of pathetic giving in is the one I had hoped he wouldn’t choose.

In particular, he is now surrounding himself with Clinton people including the big dog himself….This is exactly the kind of something for nothing deal we would expect from Clintonistas who are incrementalists closer in philosophy to the big business wing of the Republican party than to the progressive wing of the Democratic party.

Watching the disgusting spectacle of Bill Clinton hogging yesterday’s press conference….The ultimate fame junkie getting off on his drug of choice, I reached the end of my patience with Obama who is increasingly looking like an empty suit rather than a savior….”Change we’ve been waiting for “is still out there I'm thinking.

Coupled with the administration’s giving up on pushing for a continued settlement freeze in the West Bank and this was a terrible week for Obama….I partly chalk this up to who he chooses to associate with.

THE NINTH CONFIGURATION (ALT. TITLE - TWINKLE TWINKLE KILLER KANE)

THE NINTH CONFIGURATION (or its alternate name TWINKLE TWINKLE KILLER KANE) is a hard movie to classify.  It’s starts off as something akin to MASH with a comedic mixture of mental illness and the military then turns into a deeply philosophical series of discussions on the existence of God then turns into a horror movie for awhile then slides into an upbeat ending.

Written and directed by William Peter Blatty (who wrote THE EXORCIST), it’s a one of a kind movie, a truly unique film that features a who’s who of underrated or neglected actors such as Scott Wilson, Stacy Keach (His greatest performance), Jason Miller, Ed Flanders, Richard Lynch

It’s hard for me to go into detail what this film is about because it is complicated and I might reveal spoilers.  However, it is both an inspirational story of one man inspiring others as well as a meditation on violence and the Christ figure taking on other’s sins.

This is one of those virtually unknown movies even by film cultists just waiting to be re-discovered….A unique, fascinating, and powerful film.