- Fell asleep last night listening to Morton Feldman, woke up with Morton Feldman in my head. Jeebusfuck, but for three or four of you, NOBODY wants to read here about DC United. Expect more soon. Also, late this week, for the slowest week of the year in Blegsylvania, Blegsylvanian history. Or not. It's written, anyway, whether it appears or not being internally debated: how much do I love you versus how much do I really love you. Now, onto my complicity (and your links before they go stale):
- Blogging and nothingness: It sure was a quiet weekend in the progressive blogosphere, where peace, justice and the alleviation of human suffering is an earnest, burning concern. At Eschaton, Atrios gave an amiable shrug and declared, "I got nothing to say." Digby and her co-pilot, David Atkins, did have a few things to say -- about Sarah Palin, General Pants-Down Petraeus, the grubby "Grand Bargaining" in the Beltway, and several examples of the stupidity and perfidy of right-wing Republicans. The posters at Daily Kos plied the same themes. If you were a follower of many of the major "progressive" bloggers, you could have passed the weekend blissfully unaware that the American-armed, American-backed Israeli military was busily raining death into the cramped and crowded concentration camp of Gaza. Children dying, old people being blown to bits in their houses, the Israeli government ordering a massive call-up of troops and reserves for a possible invasion; top officials from Egypt and Tunisia flying into the besieged camp to show solidarity, mass demonstrations across the Middle East, some meeting with violent repression, others threatening to escalate into revolutionary outpourings. On every side: death, turmoil, suffering, chaos, whole nations in ferment -- and Barack Obama standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Benjamin Netanyahu in defending assassination, aggression and the bombardment of defenseless civilians with massive military force. For many of our leading progressives, none of this was of the slightest interest. Even as the stage is clearly being set for a rerun of the "Cast Lead" operation in 2008-2009 -- a bloodbath that killed hundreds of innocent people and was followed by a strangulating blockade -- our earnest concerners could not be stirred to even a passing comment on the developments. The idea that someone somewhere was touting Sarah Palin for 2016 was obviously far more interesting -- far more concerning -- than the American-backed bloodshed in Gaza. After all, what if Sarah Palin did become president, huh? (Get your 2016 lesser evilism going now! Start early, avoid the rush!) Why, she might declare her full support for military assaults on civilian areas in Gaza, just like that evil George Bush did in 2008. And you know you don't want anyone like that to be president, do you?
- Elites will make Gazans of us all.
- The great trivialization.
- The infinite human capacity to deny reality.
- Ironist of history.
- On the above.
- The mandate of hell.
- Lessons from POTUS 12.
- American democracy's bad infinity.
- How to live without irony.
- The land that time and money forgot.
- Avedon Carol's latest linkages.
- Three hour conversation between Feldman and Cage.
- Maryland leaving ACC for Big Ten pissing people off.
- Of course it's about the money. What's isn't?
- Vendler interview.
- Memory traps.
- Mieville's 50 SF/Fantasy novels every socialist should read.
- Thirteen ways of looking at the pragmatist Ashbery.
- The Bungalows.
- Le Monocle de Mon Onkle.
- Further tales from the rural electrification files.
- One last Gilbert poem below in celebration of his life and work (until the next one).
SUDDENLY ADULT
Jack Gilbert
The train's stopping wakes me.
Weeds in the gully are white
with the year's first snow.
A lighted train goes
slowly past absolutely empty.
Also going to Fukuoka.
I feel around in myself
to see if I mind. Maybe
I am lonely. It is hard
to know. It could be
hidden in familiarity.
