Archive for February, 2004
Gulbuddin
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (about whom I wrote in December) is perhaps the biggest threat to peace and democracy in Afghanistan. Here is what the Afghan chief of police has to say:
… Hekmatyar is now the greatest threat, more dangerous than (Taliban leader) Mullah Omar or (Osama) bin Laden,” Jan said, adding Hekmatyar is more familiar with […]
Shadows
A fun story about hunting down the lost original version of Shadows, Cassavetes brilliant first feature:
Because Cassavetes made most of his movies outside the studio system and financed them himself (paid for from the salary he made acting in other directors’ films), he was free from the constraints that limit Hollywood film-makers. He could take […]
Encyclopedia
When I was little I loved the Encyclopedia Brown detective stories, so I was happy to see this clever use of them to make fun of Bush. But then I discovered a whole trove of contemporary Encyclopedia Brown stories! Topics include music piracy and Bush v. Gore.
Oversight
If anyone is wondering how effective current official investigations into pre-war intelligence on Iraq will be, the answer can be found in this Mother Jones story. It explores the “Office of Special Plans” that was set up within the Pentagon by the White House to “cull” intelligence data about Iraq. But, because it is in […]
Knife
I have long argued that China’s attacks on Taiwanese democracy and independence are not as much about Taiwan as they are about keeping Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang, and other regions of China under control. This Washington Post article shows how tense things have gotten in Hong Kong:
China’s central government has issued a string of increasingly […]
Science
Preeminent Scientists Protest Bush Administration’s Misuse of Science
Nobel Laureates, National Medal of Science Recipients, and Other Leading Researchers Call for End to Scientific Abuses
Washington, D.C.—Today, more than 60 leading scientists—including Nobel laureates, leading medical experts, former federal agency directors and university chairs and presidents—issued a statement calling for regulatory and legislative action to restore scientific […]
Vérité
Truth died a little today.
I know it sounds trite, but how else to talk about the death of Jean Rouch, who died in a car crash in Niger at the age of 86?
Rouch is famed for his provocative style of documentary filmmaking, which came to be known as Cinéma Vérité. It is a name that […]
Bury
I come to bury Howard, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones:
So let it be with Howard. The noble pundits
Hath told you Howard was too angry:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Howard answer’d it.
…
(Via […]
BBC
Looks like the Brits are talking about dismantling the BBC:
Britain’s government is considering a plan to break up the BBC and remove its independent status in the wake of a bitter row with the state-funded broadcaster over the Iraq war, a report said.
Government papers detailing possible changes to the BBC’s structure proposed breaking it […]
Spies
An excellent two part (one, two) article by Michelle Goldberg in Salon about how Ashcroft is encouraging local police departments to spy on anti-war protesters. Michelle refers to an article from two years ago in the Nation:
In a Nation article from May 2002, Robert Dreyfuss wrote of that spillover effect. The Justice Department, he reported, […]
An anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, 
