Forgot to post this yesterday, so you get two days worth for the price of one:
Monday:
Four miles (outisde — yippee!!) in 38:08, followed by 2,500 meters on the rowing machine in 12-plus minutes
Tuesday:
Five miles (outside again!) in 49:58 — a slow pace, but I got it done.
Double iPod selection: A mix that features new music from Wilco, R.E.M. and the Arctic Monkees.
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Journalism loses a great one. Peace be with you, Mr. Halberstam. (Good blog items from The Lede.)
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Thursday’s Dispatches column will focus on the need for protest against the war in Iraq (The Coalition for Peace Action of Monroe Township was out this weekend and expects to be out there again on Saturday), but I wanted to offer two links worth reading that neatly sum up my thoughts.
The first is an essay/column from Howard Zinn in the current issue of The Progressive that includes these paragraphs:
When a social movement adopts the compromises of legislators, it has forgotten its role, which is to push and challenge the politicians, not to fall in meekly behind them.
We who protest the war are not politicians. We are citizens. Whatever politicians may do, let them first feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not for what is winnable, in a shamefully timorous Congress.
The second is a sometimes overlooked speech given by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 40 years ago this month (I somehow failed to note it on the anniversary three weeks ago). From “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”:
Meanwhile, we in the churches and synagogues have a continuing task while we urge our government to disengage itself from a disgraceful commitment. We must be prepared to match actions with words by seeking out every creative means of protest possible.
As we counsel young men concerning military service we must clarify for them our nation’s role in Vietnam and challenge them with the alternative of conscientious objection. I am pleased to say that this is the path now being chosen by more than 70 students at my own Alma Mater, Morehouse College, and I recommend it to all who find the American course in Vietnam a dishonorable and unjust one. Moreover, I would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objectors. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.
As a button that I’ve had since I was probably 20 and that I still wear on occasion says: “Peace — protest and survive.”
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Dan Froomkin’s White House Watch is the best thing about The Washington Post Web site. Today, writing about what he calls “Bush’s bubble,” he offers this take:
President Bush’s public campaign to push back against Congressional demands for withdrawal from Iraq is becoming highly reminiscent of his failed effort two years ago to win support for a radical overhaul of Social Security.
The meticulously choreographed settings, the carefully controlled audiences, the mind-numbing repetition of hoary talking points (with a particular emphasis on stoking fears) — it’s like deja vu.
And so is the result: A public that is apparently more turned off to Bush’s ideas the more he talks about them.
As it was last time, Bush’s Bubble may be the central problem. Bush seems to think that through sheer force of will — and repetition — he will convince people that his cause is just — in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. And why does he think that? Quite possibly, because virtually everyone he talks to — and virtually everyone he sees — is already in his camp.
The question the White House has to confront is this: Is there another way? What if Bush sought out representative audiences, acknowledged the realities on the ground both in Iraq and at home, engaged his critics and honestly addressed their concerns?
He might or might not be more persuasive. But it would certainly be a good thing for the country.
True. But don’t bet on this happening. The Prez would need to emerge from the bubble first.
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Do we really need to read anymore about Jim McGreevey? I don’t care about his divorce and I can’t imagine why any college would hire him to teach ethics.
And, more to the point, I can’t imagine why anyone should care about him anymore.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
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Hank Kalet 