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Monday, Sep 22, 2003
fly like an eagle
"But a far more devastating criticism of theory can be launched. Cultural theory as we have it promises to grapple with some fundamental problems, but on the whole fails to deliver. It has been shamefaced about morality and metaphysics, embarrassed about love, biology, religion and revolution, largely silent about evil, reticent about death and suffering, dogmatic about essences, universals and foundations, and superficial about truth, objectivity and disinterestedness. This, on any estimate, is rather a large slice of human existence to fall down on. It is also rather an awkward moment in history to find oneself with little or nothing to say about such fundamental questions."
past & present
"None of these historians, though, achieved greater worldwide prominence than Eric Hobsbawm, a co-founder of Past & Present. His subject—pursued in a series of books that traced social, economic, and political developments from the French Revolution to the late twentieth century—was modernity itself. Perhaps Great Man history was dead, but Hobsbawm himself acquired something of the aura of a great man. He never had a “school”—the Historians’ Group, in the decade following the Second World War, met upstairs at the Garibaldi Restaurant, on London’s Saffron Hill—but he did have notoriety. In the Historians’ Group painting, Hobsbawm appears farthest to the left, and his placement is entirely appropriate. After the Soviet invasion of Hungary, in 1956, the other prominent Marxist historians—like countless idealists of their generation—renounced the Party. But Hobsbawm stuck it out, refusing to repudiate the Communist dream. And so an obvious question arises: How could such a celebrated and accomplished historian have remained so oblivious of the lessons of recent history?"
Sunday, Sep 21, 2003
pizza pizza
"The other guys awoke late, as Dean dragged them into the war debate many wanted to avoid, so they on pounding on him now. Fair enough, but if their knife work goes too far, it could fulfill their claim by rendering him "unelectable" in the general election (the party establishment did that to McGovern in ‘72). Dean represents an alien substance that has entered the body of the club. Beltway Dems have a very large stake in expelling him."
Friday, Sep 19, 2003
pax train
interview with salam pax on nprs fresh air.
Saturday, Sep 13, 2003
huzzah
ye olde ethyl returns from a long summer lull. we hope he is refreshed.
general election
"Michael Moore to Wesley Clark: Run!"
kick me
"The soccer movie, titled Goal!, is to be a fictional story of a Latino soccer player who rises from the slums of Los Angeles to join a small northern English club and eventually plays in the World Cup, is scheduled for release at the end of 2004. The sequel in expected in 2005 and the third film in 2006.
Bender described the project as similar to the famous Rocky series of boxing movies, "only bigger.""
wright of way
"Still, viewed against the backdrop of history, the case for a kind of manifest destiny is stronger than ever. In this version, America's mission is different from the ones libertarians and neoconservatives have in mind — passive role model or aggressive evangelizer, respectively. It is in some ways a grander mission, carrying a deep and subtle moral challenge. Indeed, the challenge is so deep, and so natural an outgrowth of history, that the idea of destiny in some nonsecular sense isn't beyond the pale. In any event, Sept. 11, 2001, illustrates the challenge in painfully vivid form."
Thursday, Sep 04, 2003
buggy code
delay defoliated
making change
another new groupblog entry of and by european issues -- a fistful of euros.