Wednesday, July 24, 2002

Chaim Potok Obit A very nice long obituary in the NYT for Chaim Potok. I loved his novels as a kid, and reread several of them about 5 years ago and still liked them. Permalink  2:00:29 AM   Google It!  What do you think?  [] comments.

From a `pinpoint' operation to massive casualties It is always interesting to see the different perspective that Israeli papers have on Israeli leaders. Ariel Sharon doesn't come across as a "man of peace" in this article from Ha'aretz, a liberal/mildly leftist Israeli newspaper. Excerpts: Salah Shehadeh's assassination, accompanied by the deaths of at least 15 civilians, has already yielded one result - the IDF will be forced to remain in the West Bank cities for a long time: at least until the end of summer, if not longer. The truth is Israel has been playing with fire for quite some time. It seems something very basic has gone wrong in the decision makers' judgment. In light of the horrifying terror attacks on Israeli citizens and the urgent need to prevent further attacks, a kind of apathetic indifference to the possibility of Palestinian casualties has set in. The decision to drop a heavy bomb into a residential neighborhood was the natural consequence of previous moves. This time, it simply turned out much worse. It is sad, and there doesn't appear to be right anywhere. Tip o' the hat to the War in Context site for the link. Permalink  1:06:02 AM   Google It!  What do you think?  [] comments.

Must Read: Tapped Tapped is quickly becoming a must read. This gem was in yesterday's post: SHADES OF POPPY, AGAIN. Ignore all the other things Bush said yesterday in his speech about the accounting bill. Focus on the things he's saying that people will remember, to his detriment. Bush has been quick to express sympathy for people who are suffering financially in what his aides say is an effort to avoid one of the mistakes of his father, President George H.W. Bush. For instance, President Bush said his biggest concern about Sunday's record bankruptcy filing by WorldCom Inc. is the effect on the employees. "I worry that people will lose work," he said. That's the best he can do? "I worry that people will lose work"? Way to go, buddy. It reminds me of Poppy buying socks at the department store to revive the economy (and wondering what that cool scanner thing was). And there is this gem from yesterday, featuring my favorite flack, Ari Fliesher: SPEAKING OF "ECONOMIC NONSENSE." Ari Fleischer doesn't like the way the cable nets ran stock tickers during George W. Bush's speech last week. ... Fleischer complains that such a depiction "suggests to viewers there's a causal connection between a president's speech and minute-by-minute market shifts, which is a misleading representation. . . . It's economic nonsense." Fleischer, of course, would know a great deal about "economic nonsense," having had to defend Bush's tax cut. What a hoot! Unfair of the networks, true, but also just desserts. Permalink  12:52:30 AM   Google It!  What do you think?  [] comments.