Wednesday, October 19, 2005

It ain’t over ‘til the whiny lady sings


I watched tonight’s Frontline on Abu Ghraib, which didn’t quite succeed in making torture boring, but had little new (there were some “home movies” I hadn’t seen before that are worth seeing; they are at about 73 minutes in), and could have used some editing. I’d be interested in other people’s opinions, in comments.

After the revelations, didn’t we promise to turn Abu Ghraib over to the Iraqis? What ever happened with that? A bunch of prisoners were released just before the referendum, suggesting either that the US suddenly received information clearing several hundred prisoners all at the same time, or... no, that’s what it must have been. But while prisoners are kept waiting in their dungeons for months while any allegations against them are investigated ever... so... slowly, there are evidently plenty of resources available for the show trial of Saddam Hussein. I still want to know if the Americans would let him go if he were acquitted.

From the NYT arts section:
Anyone searching for an opera built on violent conflict more recent than the Trojan Wars need look no farther than Tufts University, where plans are in progress for a spring production of “Nancy and Tonya: The Opera,” based on the rivalry between the ice skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding that led to an attack on Ms. Kerrigan before the 1994 Winter Olympics. PlaybillArts.com reported that the opera, with a libretto by the novelist Elizabeth Searle and music by Abigail Al-Doory, a Tufts graduate student, features an aria based on Ms. Kerrigan’s lament: “Why? Why? Why?”
The WaPo has a scoop: “Class, Color May Drive New Orleans’s Future.” D’ya think?

According to the WaPo, Secretary of War Rumsfeld “began his first official visit to China on Wednesday by urging an audience of rising Communist Party leaders to play a greater role in global affairs” etc. Yeah, he really, really wants the Chinese to play a greater role in global affairs.

Caption contest:




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