Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Name That Sklar

In a baldfaced exercise in name-dropping, John Judis plugs Martin J. Sklar's magisterial "Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890-1916" in TNR... (and buries the lede: mentioning "that Sklar book" in the first graf but not identifying it until four grafs later.)

Why would this be confusing? Other good Sklar authors on the American beat: Kathryn Kish Sklar and Robert Sklar come to mind... and surely there are others.
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Just For the Record, Virgil's No Relation...

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Time To Stop Blaming the Media on Iraq?

Of course not! Long live the dolchstosslegende!
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Lieberman Hack Claims Deemed Wack

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Oops!

You probably saw this headline today:

"Pentagon wants $99.7B for more wars"

Actually, it was "Pentagon wants $99.7B more for wars" but I mis-read it... can I plead the extenuating circumstance of a Bush presidency?

On a serious note, according to information provided to the AP, "the military's request, if embraced by President Bush and approved by Congress, would boost this year's budget for the wars to about $170 billion." But this is only about 1/3 of the total Pentagon budget. Seems like it would be more than 1/3, doesn't it? (Hint: some monkey-business by the pencil-pushers?)

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Independent Bookstore Blurb

Clouds hang over the succession at Powell's...
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Anti-war Nostalgia

The somewhat threadbare question of why the two-thirds of Americans who oppose the war aren't in the streets...

As I've said before, I think the extent to which the 60s are sui generis can't be overestimated or overstated. It's not just the draft, it's the lack of a whole thriving, throbbing culture of protest against the establishment. Vive les annees soixantes!
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Damn You, Alan Keyes!

Did facing a shlemiel like Alan Keyes as his previous opponent do a disservice to Obama's future political ambitions? You betcha. Still, it's better for Obama that this is coming out now than in December 2007.
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It's a Political Barrier, Folks!

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