Mahler's Prodigal Son

The New York Times has a Public Editor. Kinda internal ombudsman. The current occupant of the position reflects on the publishing of the newspaper, the pressures time-wise, the blurring between reporting and opinion and what readers expect from their newspaper. "Four months as public editor has given me a working list, perhaps only that, of the challenges The Times faces and the faults readers find in this most important of American newspapers. As a representative of the reader, I’d like to post that list today and invite you to consider it, then add to it as you will." Continue reading here. You may not agree with anything Brisbane writes, but it might provide an insight into what the NYT , with its banner "All the News Fit to Print", seeks to do in publishing its daily newspaper.

From the New York Review of Books an article which calls for no explanation or analysis. It only serves to highlight that Israel is sitting on a time-bomb......with very ugly consequences, both internally and in relation to the Palestinians, unless it stops the present blight which is the illegal occupation as well as the blatant discrimination of the Arab community which makes up 20% of Israel's population. "The publication in Jerusalem of Occupation of the Territories: Israeli Soldiers’ Testimonies 2000-2010—unprecedented first-hand accounts by over one hundred Israeli soldiers of their experiences while serving in the IDF—coincides with an appalling yet unsurprising incident I learned of only a few days ago. On Tuesday, December 28, 2010, at 3:00 AM, Hajja Sara Nawaja, a Palestinian grandmother living in a tent with her family in the arid hills of south Hebron, on the occupied West Bank, woke to the sound of dogs barking. She smelled smoke. She discovered that two adjacen...

For those living outside America, it has been hard to comprehend the bile, vitriol, sheer nastiness and downright lies peddled by some politicians and many so-called commentators, a la the Glenn Beck types on Fox News, or Rush Limbaugh on radio, directed at Obama and some politicians. Name-calling of Obama, and others, has also in the last years been a characteristic of American politics and the general populaces' attitude to elected leaders. Now the consequences are in - with the tragic shooting of a Congresswoman. Toxic atmospheres lead to cause and effect. Stand up Sarah Palin for having bulls-eyes on the faces of certain politicians. Why have them there? What can that suggest, especially to the weak-minded, other than violence? And if they weren't designed to engender something bad, why has Palin now removed the images from her web site post the shooting? The media is already full dissecting the shooting and possible causes. This piece on The Daily Bea...

Whatever one might have read or seen on TV about the situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, cannot prepare one for the reality of seeing for one self what is happening on the ground. The interminable lines and waiting at border-crossings, the separate roads for Palestinians and Israels (apartheid at its best!) the demolitions of houses [see here and here ] and what is thrown up by the Israelis, in the most calculated and deliberate way, to make life difficult and irritating for Palestinians. A few things not widely reported: making telephone calls into the West Bank, even to a large town like Ramallah, can be difficult, if not downright impossible traffic lights at intersections configured so that in the direction Israelis are travelling the lights are green far longer than for Palestinians driving in the direction they do. Or roundabouts of Israeli and Palestinian roads where the roundabout is so designed to give Israeli drivers preference at a demonstration at Bi...

Those who are avid users of Facebook or Tweet, will be surprised to learn that those exchanges with friends and family may not be private at all. Witness what is happening via the American Department of Justice seeking Twitter record s from those it suspects have been somehow associated with WikiLeaks. "Last night, Birgitta Jónsdóttir -- a former WikiLeaks volunteer and current member of the Icelandic Parliament -- announced (on Twitter) that she had been notified by Twitter that the DOJ had served a Subpoena demanding information "about all my tweets and more since November 1st 2009." Several news outlets, including The Guardian, wrote about Jónsdóttir's announcement. What hasn't been reported is that the Subpoena served on Twitter -- which is actually an Order from a federal court that the DOJ requested -- seeks the same information for numerous other individuals currently or formerly associated with WikiLeaks, including Jacob Appelbaum, Rop Gonggrijp, an...

Another attack on our food-chain by a chemical company - this time it's Bayer - with a vested interest and seemingly government inaction, principally that of the US Environmental Protection Agency. "Silently, billions of bees are dying off and our entire food chain is in danger. Bees don't just make honey, they are a giant, humble workforce, pollinating 90% of the plants we grow. Multiple scientific studies blame one group of toxic pesticides for their rapid demise, and bee populations have soared in four European countries that have banned these chemicals. But powerful chemical companies are lobbying hard to keep selling this poison. Our best chance to save bees now is to push the US and EU to join the ban -- their action is critical and will have a ripple effect on the rest of the world. Bees are vital to life on earth -- every year pollinating plants and crops with an estimated $40bn value, over one third of the food supply in many countries. Without immediate action to...

Life is not a constant. The influences through events and people with whom one is related or connected can change things, sometimes in small, other times, in big ways. Social mores, religious affiliations and moral bearings have obviously changed too - yet another impact on our lives. It's a topic not often the subject of either analysis or discussion, in the media at least. Two aspects of life 2011 style are thrown up in these two pieces, one from Salon (" Regrets of a stay-at-home mom ") and the other from the Sydney Morning Herald (" Taking the grand out of grandma "). "We had wonderful times together, my sons and I. The parks. The beaches. The swing set moments when I would realize, watching the boys swoop back and forth, that someday these afternoons would seem to have rushed past in nanoseconds, and I would pause, mid-push, to savor the experience while it lasted. Now I lie awake at 3 a.m., terrified that as a result I am perm...