Notes

Good riddance to the Nepalese monarchy. While the guillotine may have gone out of style a century ago there are occasions where it ought, in the right hands, to be wheeled back out for an encore performance. In fact I have a few names to add to the set list…

Olmert is trying to stave off the inevitable by making it seem that he is leading the country to “peace”. It wont work. There are too many petty ambitions at play in the small world of the Israeli political elite to allow Olmert to continue. Livni, Barak and Netanyahu all have their eyes on the prize and will twist the knife at the first opportune moment…

Dien Bien Phu; the words conjure up a whole set of thoughts in my mind.  A man who left an indelible mark on his country and the world in the 20th century turns a hearty 97. He led armies that defeated several imperial legions and toppled the American Empire in Southeast Asia. Vo Nguyen Giap, a son of landless peasants, saw a good deal of his family executed by the French (his sister-in-law by guillotine). He joined the Communist Party in 1939, became Defense Minister in liberated North Vietnam and organized the military defense of Vietnam from US aggression.  For this he has our sincerest gratitude…

The fall of the House of Clinton continues unabated. I have to admit that I am at a loss as to the internal motivations for the Clinton camp to keep going. If they care about the politics they profess, rather than about their “legacy” which is as far as I can tell their one true motivation, they would be over the moon with Obama. Obama has absorbed all of the key elements of the neo-liberal Clinton years and then some. He is the new-New Democrat.

If the empire were smart they would gladly put him forward as the new, post-Bush face. Of course, a Judean peasant would be hard pressed to say that Hadrian was a better emperor than Caligula. And the US empire holds more Judean peasants than the Romans could ever dream of…

Harvey Korman has died at 81. His Hedley Lamarr in Brook’s Blazing Saddles was almost perfect. Call me a little stodgy for 36 but The Carol Burnett show is still one of the best comedy skit shows of all time. Korman and Tim Conway’s constant struggle to keep it together during the more ridiculous moments on the show were golden. I smile thinking about it now. Thanks for the smiles Harvey. Here’s the classic dentist scene between the two…