http://www.swans.com
March 10, 2008
In this issue:
Note from the Editors: Following the money is not easy in this global
economy and all the schemes and scams that dot its landscape. Take, for
example, the path of $16 billion in contracts the U.S. awarded KBR, the
former subsidiary of Dick Cheney's Halliburton, for work in Iraq; money that
was funneled through shell companies in the Cayman Islands in order to avoid
paying US taxes, while Iraq's reconstruction languishes. Or consider the
growing number of billionaires on planet Earth in a zero-sum economic game
that rewards the lucky few with diamond-studded dog collars, and sends pets-
turned-financial-burdens back to the shelter for the unlucky many victims of
the subprime-credit-housing scandal that has only scratched the surface. Our
Martian Blips untangle these obscenities and more in their usual sardonic
fashion, with a few thoughts about the election, bien sûr. As always, it's we
the People that carry the burden on behalf of the elite in every city,
including San Francisco where the cost of crossing its landmark bridge is
about to increase to plug a budgetary pothole that half a day of war funding
could easily fill, as Jan Baughman laments. For a better understanding of the
corporate shenanigans leading us toward economic meltdown, read Michael
Doliner's excellent primer on the matter. Playing into the hands of those
powerful corporations is the dehumanization of children, women, and nature
that fuels our disrespect for life, which Carol Warner Christen analyses in
an excellent essay. Eugene Debs warned us about corporate power, and Martin
Murie heeds his words and shares one local success story of the People vs.
Noble Corporation.
Our Second Act is comprised of a wonderfully diverse cultural potpourri; from
an update on the Scottish independence movement by Joe Middleton, to a short
story of racism in a European seaside town by Peter Byrne. Charles Marowitz
directs us to New York and the multi-cultured Vaudeville of the 1930s, and
Isidor Saslav takes us on a musical journey to Texas with Sir James Galway.
From there we turn to Utah, September 11, 1857, through the poetry of John M.
Marshall, and Guido Monte & Francesca Saieva offer their poignant words and
images in remembrance of Philip Greenspan's journey. Finally, we close with
your letters, including more on economic demise and banketeering; a sad lark
bids au revoir to dear Phil; and divide and conquer tactics à l'Américaine.
# # # # #
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/desk067.html
Blips #67 - From the Martian Desk - Gilles d'Aymery
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/jeb188.html
The Increasing Economic Toll On The Masses - Jan Baughman
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/mdolin31.html
A Quick Look At The Credit Crisis - Michael Doliner
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/carenc31.html
An Assessment Of The Eleventh Hour - Carol Warner Christen
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/murie46.html
Leaders - Martin Murie
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/joemid05.html
Mass Petition Planned For Independence Referendum - Joe Middleton
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/pbyrne64.html
Seaside - Short Story by Peter Byrne
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/cmarow100.html
Anthony Slide's "New York City Vaudeville" - Book Review by Charles Marowitz
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/saslav06.html
Galway In Texas - Isidor Saslav
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/jmarsh02.html
Meadow Of The Mountains, The First 9/11 - Poem by John M. Marshall
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/gmonte39.html
Journey... n.5: Sphinx - Poem by Guido Monte & Francesca Saieva
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/letter135.html
Letters to the Editor
# # # # #
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Gilles d'Aymery
--
Swans
"Hungry man, reach for the book: It is a weapon." B. Brecht
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