Unqualified Offerings

By Mona
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Zbigniew Brzezinski sings it, let’s turn the pages:
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The “war on terror” has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration’s elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact on American democracy, on America’s psyche and on U.S. standing in the [...]

I ought to provide an example of the the obstinacy of the “mythological model” in Hauptfleisch’s Taking Liberties review.
Of course, on the brighter side, there’s plenty of Costello’s hook-happy infectiousness and wit, although some songs may still straddle a line between violence and whimsy. Costello may express a wish to be “Crawling to the U.S.A.,” [...]

On Blogcritics, GL Hauptfleisch tries to explain the miracle that was Elvis Costello’s Taking Liberties LP and mostly fails. I sympathize.
Many writers about pop music, and I’m not excepting myself here, suffer the twin handicaps of not knowing any music theory ourselves and, even if we did, not being able to assume the readership has [...]

Here’s the part that should most piss you off about John Doe’s National-Security Letter memoir in yesterday’s Post:
Living under the gag order has been stressful and surreal. Under the threat of criminal prosecution, I must hide all aspects of my involvement in the case — including the mere fact that I received an NSL — [...]

By Thoreau
I have to say that I’m pleased by the war funding bill that the House passed yesterday.  The bill sets a firm timetable (withdrawals must start by March 2008 and end by August 31, 2008) and includes some possible early withdrawals (if benchmarks are not met by the Iraqi gov’t, then withdrawal begins as [...]