Month: September 2006

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The selling of Bush’s Iraq disaster is one of the key stories of the last half-century. DAVID CORN, Washington editor of The Nation, connects the dots between Bush’s hatred of Saddam, the bitter battles between the CIA and the White House, and the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. David’s book, co-authored with Michael Isikoff, is Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War; it’s #8 on the best-seller list this week.
Web extra: David Corn debates Christopher Hitchens at Slate.com

Also: how JOHN LENNON joined the anti-war movement in Britain: TARIQ ALI explains; he was one of Lennon’s key friends in London’s New Left in the late sixties. Tariq is featured in the new documentary “The U.S. vs. John Lennon,” which will be playing citywide in Los Angeles starting Friday.
PLAYLIST: Beatles “Revolution” (fast version from single, Past Masters v2); Lennon “Power to the People”; Beatles “Revolution 1” (slow version from the White Album)

Plus: Corporate Greed in Iraq: billions of US taxpayer dollars have been stolen or wasted in Iraq by companies like Hallburton while Iraqis suffer and their country disintegrates. T. Christian Miller will tell that story; he’s an investigative reporter for the LA Times, and his new book is Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq.

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“IRAQ FOR SALE: THE WAR PROFITEERS” is the powerful new documentary about what happens to ordinary Americans when corporations go to war. In the film, by Robert Greenwald, soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children talk about how their lives have been shattered by profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq. RICK JACOBS will talk about the film – he’s co-executive producer. He’s also Chair of the Courage Campaign, and he chaired the presidential campaign of Howard Dean in California. He writes for The Huffington Post.
Watch the trailer for “Iraq for Sale” — Order the DVD

Also: THE POLITICS OF TORTURE: George Bush wants to torture – but some key Republican senators don’t: HAROLD MEYERSON talks about the Senate Armed Services Committee rejecting the President’s military detainee bill. One key issue: the accountability of high government officials for war crimes. Harold writes for the Washington Post op-ed page, the LA Weekly, and the American Prospect.

Plus: THE HIDDEN LIFE OF GARBAGE: Heather Rogers explores the underworld of garbage and the meaning of what we throw away. The U.S. is the planet’s number one producer of trash; the average American throws out 4.5 pounds daily. Heather Rogers is a filmmaker and journalist who has written for The Nation, Utne Reader, and Punk Planet. Her book is Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage.

More Stuff to Read: “‘The U.S. vs. John Lennon‘: Politics and Music, Then and Now,” my new piece at TheNation.com — the film is playing now in LA and NYC.

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The fifth anniversary of 9-11 is coming up, which makes us wonder how safe we are: David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz ask ARE WE READY? They’ll talk about how 9-11 permanently altered the political, cultural, and organizational life of the country, and consider whether we are now better prepared to withstand another potentially devastating attack. Their new book is Are We Ready? Public Health since 9/11.

Plus: WHAT IS HEZBOLLAH? JUAN COLE explains that it’s not a terrorist network like Al Qaeda – he writes the key blog on the Mideast, “Informed Comment,” teaches history at the U. of Michigan, and is past president of the Middle East Studies Association.

Plus: AMY WILENTZ talks about what it’s like for a Jersey Girl who moves to L.A. – she analyzes the Schwarzenegger thing, and she ridicules the rich in her new book I Feel Earthquakes More Often than they Happen. Amy was Jerusalem corresponent for The New Yorker and is a contributing editor of The Nation. She will be reading and signing at Vromans Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, Thurs 9/7, 7pm.

Web extra: Your Minnesota Moment: “Once a Progressive State, Minnesota Is Now a Fief of the N.R.A.,” a great piece by Verlyn Klinkenborg in Tuesday’s New York Times.