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'Wesley & Me': A Real-Life Docudrama

Here’s the real-life plot: A famous documentary filmmaker puts out a letter to a retired four-star general urging him to run for president. The essay quickly zooms through cyberspace and causes a big stir.

     For Michael Moore, the reaction is gratifying. Three days later, he thanks readers “for the astounding response to the Wesley Clark letter” and “for your kind comments to me.” But some of the reactions are more apoplectic than kind.

     Quite a few progressive activists are stunned, even infuriated, perhaps most of all by four words in Moore’s open letter to Gen. Clark: “And you oppose war.”

     The next sentence tries to back up the assertion: “You have said that war should always be the ‘last resort’ and that it is military men such as yourself who are the most for peace because it is YOU and your soldiers who have to do the dying.”

     But for some people who’ve greatly appreciated the insightful director of “Bowling for Columbine,” the claim is a real jaw-dropper. It could easily be refuted by mentioning a long list of names such as Colin Powell, Alexander Haig and William Westmoreland, along with John

Mourning Edward Said

Dear friends:

It is with great sadness that I mourn the death of the eminent scholar Professor Edward Said (see Associated Press story below).  Edward's work includes the seminal work on Orientalism which remains a classic text of comparative study of the Western works on the East.  Similarly his works exposing the mythologies of the Zionist enterprise have been nothing short of monumental.  He was truly a cultured man of many talents and expert knowledge in areas ranging from history, to culture, to music, to literature.  His quest for truth and his published work have had significant impact on the minds and hearts of millions of people.  Their impact will only increase over time as all of us, his students, colleagues and friends honor him by redoubling our efforts.

The last time I sat down with Edward for dinner was after his brilliant talk at Wesleyan University on 2/19/02 (many were turned back as the hall filled beyond capacity).  While he appeared frail then, I was inspired by his firm belief in the ultimate triumph of the human spirit over oppression and war.  I was even more inspired by his humility.  He

ADC Mourns Passing of Prof. Edward Said

Washington, DC, Sept. 25 - The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today expressed its profound sadness at the death of Prof. Edward Said.  Said was one of the best-known and respected Arab Americans and a staunch friend and supporter of ADC.

ADC President Mary Rose Oakar said, "Edward Said was a giant figure in the Arab-American community, and for Arabs in the Middle East and across the world.  We relied heavily on his wisdom and guidance in our work here at ADC over the years, and counted on his invaluable counsel and support.  He is an irreplaceable treasure, and we shall miss him beyond measure. " Former Congresswoman Oakar concluded, "we extend our most heartfelt condolences to his family and friends, and especially to his wonderful wife Miriam who was a member of ADC's Board of Directors for many years. We want them to know that we, the community at large, and millions of people of conscience around the world join them in mourning the passing of a truly great and noble man."

Prof. Edward Said was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City.  He was the past

Defend a key clean air protection

The Bush administration is continuing to work with polluters on one of the broadest efforts to weaken our clean air protections in the history of the Clean Air Act. We expect that Congress will be making a number of crucial decisions on clean air in September and October.

One such decision is on the nation's 130 million "non-road" engines, which emit smog-forming nitrogen oxides and dangerous fine particulate soot, contributing to thousands of premature deaths each year.

At the request of engine manufacturer Briggs and Stratton, Sen. Kit Bond (MO) added an amendment to the EPA funding bill to prevent states from cleaning up "non-road" equipment. Briggs and Stratton told the Senate and press that the debate is about jobs, but the company told the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a Sept. 2003 report that it "does not believe" new clean air rules "will have a material effect on its financial condition or results of operations."

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A QUESTION ALMOST UNTHINKABLE

         I love this line of thinking. It is obvious from your article that President Bush was indeed responsible for these attacks on 9/11 and we should launch an immediate attack on the White House and destroy him before he destroys all of us. My gosh, how could I have not seen it before???? Thank you for enlightening me that the real terrorist is in the white house. I guess I just never seen him in his Third Reich uniform before. Boy, I sure am glad to know this. And I thought the Nazi's were defeated in the last century and I find out that they not only were not defeated, but are thriving in the white house.

JUST THE FACTS......

Molly's columns

Your writings are truly the voice of the people who care.  The people who abhor the shambles created by the republicans. Thanks for being there! And your writing style is great!!

re Harvey Wasserman

Mr. Wasserman has so aptly exposed the Arnold Schwarzenegger follies. What disturbs me is that this pseudo-actor idiot might win. However, since the Calif. economy is so bad, would he be re-elected, and can the Republicans really take control?  There are still voters out there who can see patches of light.  Thanks.

Marc Widershien, Boston

Alan Dershowitz, plagiarist

Let's start with a passage from Alan Dershowitz's latest book, "The Case for Israel," now slithering into the upper tier of Amazon.com's sales charts. On page 213, we meet Dershowitz, occupant of the Felix Frankfurter (FF) chair at Harvard Law School, happily walloping a French prof called Faurisson, charged by the FF prof from Harvard U as being a fraud and a Holocaust denier: "There was no extensive historical research. Instead there was the fraudulent manufacturing of false antihistory. It was the kind of deception for which professors are rightly fired -- not because their views are controversial, but because they are violating the most basic canons of historical scholarship."

            Let me now usher into the narrative an important member of the cast: "From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict Over Palestine," a 601-page book by Joan Peters, published in 1984. Peter's polemical work strove to buttress the old Zionist thesis that the land of Israel had been "a land without people, awaiting a people without land." Peters' book was soon discredited as a charnel house of disingenuous

George W. Bush's America

SEATTLE -- Life rolls on in George W. Bush's America, forcing us to invent a new word -- greeed, with three E's in the middle -- to cover cases like that of Richard A. Grasso, who recently resigned as chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange.

            Grasso has been doing such a swell job of policing any corporate irregularities -- surely you've noticed -- that his board members felt he should be rewarded with a pay package worth $139.5 million. But, hey, he was willing to kick back $8 mill. What a guy.

            Now, those sophisticated folks at The Wall Street Journal keep pointing out that Grasso did nothing wrong -- he merely accepted a pay package that was foisted upon him by a board of directors who happened to be handpicked by Grasso, who were close friends of his and who kept their decisions secret. How could there be anything wrong with that? What a splendid example of open, transparent corporate governance and independent directors.

            If you look around you on almost any level, you'll notice that people who have special advantages almost always manage to convince

California nightmare: Arnold stalks for Bush 2004

Arnold Schwarzenegger could ensure another White House win for George W. Bush.

Especially now that the courts say it's ok for large numbers of citizens to have their votes not counted---votes that, in another tight election or two, could give Arnold and Bush final control of California and the nation.

Anyone who thinks that the White House and Karl Rove are not behind the Schwarzenegger assault is not paying attention.

The Republican juggernaut now controls the governorships of New York, Texas and Florida. With California they'd have the state houses of America's four biggest states, plus the White House, Congress, the Judiciary and the media. Is there another word for one party rule?

In 2000, Gov. Jeb Bush guaranteed his brother's grab of the White House. There were many twists and turns, but the core of the coup came with the systematic removal of more than 50,000 "convicted felons"---people of color and other suspected Democrats---from Florida's voting lists. Computer voting machine manipulations may have cost Al Gore thousands more votes with a few keystrokes.

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