I bought this book Friday evening and am almost finished. Rarely does that happen when I am reading a deep, dense book of what I would call 'high literature.' But it has and I cannot recommend W.G. Sebald's Rings of Saturn highly enough. It is sublime.

In one passage he discusses an English soldier and subsequent country squire who returns from the war.

Not a word is said of the Holocaust, or of LeStrange's thoughts or feelings about it or what he witnessed other than that he was present at the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.

And yet, the Holocaust hangs over the passage like a dark brooding cloud while Sebald describes Major LeStrange's lifelong descent into solitude, silence and finally isolation and death. I never thought literature could say so much about something, based on atmospherics alone; the subtle, minatory implications of a master craftsman at work. It is a vivid and moving passage, if terrible in its message.

The book fits into no one genre and pretty much explodes them all. It's one of the strangest, most elegant and well written books I've yet to encounter. If this is the best 'post-modern' literature has to offer then I'm all for it. It is a shame Sebald died in 2001.

May 12

BBC News - I'm always happy to get pleasantly surprised.
And indeed, the victory of the pro-European reform movement at the parliamentary elections in Serbia today is not only a pleasant, but a formidable surprise. Even if radical elements in the future coalition in Belgrade having some say can't be outright avoided, it's a great night for the Serbian people, who have forcefully rejected the ghosts of the past.
My criticism of the EU's policy towards Serbia, however, does not change a iota by this unexpected, but most gratifying development.

From the BBC:

Serbian reformers claim victory

Serbian President Boris Tadic has claimed victory in the general election with early results suggesting a big lead for his pro-Western alliance. Mr Tadic said Serbs had chosen the path of integration with Europe but he vowed his new government would not recognise Kosovo as an independent state.

You Are My Mother and My Friend

You are my mother and my friend,
Which is unusual.
Somehow our characters must blend:
Your wisdom and my will.

I turn, and you are there for me;
I speak, you understand.
I feel cared for, but also free;
You lead but don't command.

I'm fortunate that I was born
To someone just like you;
I love you, not just as my mom,
But for what you are and do

Here follows some passages, a bit disjointed in parts, that just don't make the cut for inclusion in the book.

In my dreams I see two cities. First is Bukhara, where deserts and dervishes suffuse monochrome mosques and madaris with venerable nobility. Then there is Samarkand, where tree lined boulevards and rolling hills meet blue domes and slender minarets, where crowded bazaars filled with the goods from China, India and beyond dissolve into a riot of color. One is perched in the peach colored foothills of mountains which begin their rise in a high arc towards the Subcontinent only to taper off into the Bay of Bengal; another is situated on the flat plains of an oasis: the guardian and gateway to the great Central Asian desert whose desolation and sun-scorched nothingness reaches all the way to the Persian Gulf and beyond. Two cities in one country could not be more dissimilar. Yet both share something that cannot be found anywhere else in the Islamic world.

Some found music I like a lot. Add yours or just enjoy these.

Wilco: Impossible Germany

Jay Ferrar: Highways and Cigarettes

Susan Tedeschi: (Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: King's Highway

The Corrs: Little Wing

Drive-By Truckers: Easy on Yourself

The Gibson Brothers: Forty Years of Trouble

Makin' Music with John Mayer

Mish on Hillary: (do read it all, and my comments at the end.)

Hillary is not demented. Her continuing an impossible race is all about trashing Obama as much as possible so that she does not have to run against a Democratic incumbent in 2012. At some point she will moderate her attack a bit, so as not to make it completely obvious. But she will stay in this race as long as she can, with any excuses that she can muster.

Coming up is a primary in West Virginia. She is likely to win that by a big margin. If she does, she will get to trash Obama for 2 more weeks, with no more hope of winning than she has now: zero.

This is just unreal. Not that there are people in America who think this way, but that there are highly educated college professors who think this way. Why? Is it because far too many Americans ever leave the borders of their own country? That America is a 'world apart?' Is it some kind of sick provincialism? What is it that prevents us, in a country of immigrants, to be so intolerant of other people(s) making different choices? The real irony is that a self-described conservative--in the best sense of the word, I hasten to add--would write something so culturally relativisitc. (I'm sure Col. Lang is aware of this irony, as well.) This is the kind of writing that comes with a deep, committed relationship with the world, ideas and other peoples, and the value of real liberty and real choice.

Republicans Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies, Kittens

Video at Think Progress

By Hannes Artens

No doubt, this Sunday's parliamentary elections in Serbia are the most decisive in the country's short but turbulent democratic history. Never since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic the stakes have been so high and prospects so ominous. In two days, the Serbian people will decide on whether they still envision a future in the European family of nations for their nation or decay into self-inflicted isolation and the status of a Trojan Horse for Russian great power aspirations. For the European Union, the elections will determine whether it can count on having an interlocutor in Belgrade to negotiate with past May 11, or face up to a nationalist Serbia acting as a permanent spirit of discord for the entire Western Balkans.

The unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo on February 17, sent shockwaves through the country that not only culminated in the ravage of several Western embassies and brought the government down, but also dominates this election campaign right down to the last comma on every stump. The collective national trauma of having ultimately lost the very territory mystified as the cradle of the Serbian nation and the impolitic signals the EU sent out over the last weeks render a radical-nationalist landslide a given. According to most recent polls, the nationalist bloc could bank on winning a super-majority of 55%, relegate all reform-minded powers into opposition, and set off to permanently disengage Serbia from Europe.

Lambert doesn't like what Matt Stoller saying about how Obama ran his campaign and how he's now consolidating power. He thinks Matt's kissing Obama's boots.

What Matt is saying is simple:

Obama is taking over the party and cutting out everyone who isn't in his camp. He believes in post-partisanship (this doesn't contradict having Daschle as your bud, y'know). Money flow is going to come mostly from Obama going forward, unless he loses the election. The independents-folks like MoveOn, ActBlue, the netroots, etc... are being cut out or marginalized, whether they realize it or not (and I know that some don't.) Obama doesn't feel he really needed them (sorry MoveOn), and he isn't planning on giving them any real say or power.

May 8-14

1. Number Of Acceptable Things Candidates Can Say Now Down To Four

After Sen. Barack Obama's comments last week about what he typically eats for dinner were criticized by Sen. Hillary Clinton as being offensive to both herself and the American voters, the number of acceptable phrases presidential candidates can now say are officially down to four.

"There would still be five phrases available to the candidates if the Obama camp hadn't accused Clinton of saying 'Glad to be here' with a little tinge of sarcasm during a stump speech in North Carolina." chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos said on Sunday's episode of This Week.

2. Economic Stimulus Check Burned for Warmth

Saying the extra bit of kindling material couldn't have come at a better time, 43-year-old Montana school teacher Tim Donaldson received his $618 rebate check from the Internal Revenue Service Tuesday, and then immediately burned it to provide warmth for his wife and two sons.

"It gets pretty cold here at night," said Donaldson, adding "I just want to thank the government for sending such a large check. It burned for quite a while." Donaldson, who could not afford matches or fuel to light the check, said he made do by placing the envelope's clear plastic address window at an angle underneath the sun to spark the initial flame, which his family then huddled around until they fell asleep.

I advocate all the time for talking as a means of resolving conflicts. Somehow this has become a somewhat radical idea, but like Roosevelt and Reagan I believe that we can talk with people even in the midst of conflict.

Talks encounter all kinds of hurdles. But that doesn't make it a bad idea to talk. When talks break down, the pessimists - and the hawks - will be quick to gloat over that fact, arguing that it reinforces the need for heavy-handed military solutions. And when that happens, sane people should remind everyone that shutting down channels of communication rarely works.

With that said, recent talks between Pakistan's civilian government and hardline pro-Taliban elements are breaking down. About a week and a half ago, the Taliban decided to suspend talks, citing the government's continued military presence in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan as an obstacle to an agreement, despite the fact that all parties seemed interested in the draft proposal that was then on the table.

I will be appearing on Virtually Speaking tonight at 9PM Eastern, in second life live, on Blog Talk Radio and podcast available later. I'll be speaking on a very simple idea: the coming Progressive Century, and why it is society, and not technology, that is going to be driving this change.

For people who have Second Life accounts - which are free and take only a few minutes to sign up for - the SLURL is In world Studios. Regular attendees in world include Jesus' General and other in world progressives. Previous guests have included McJoan of Daily Kos and Jeffery Feldman. Coming up is Darcy Burner on the 15th, Ed markey on the 22nd and Rick Perlstein, author of the just published Nixonland, on the 29. For those of you who don't kno the host Jay Ackroyd, he is a long time progressive media stalwart, with a sharp mind and a broad knowledge of politics and economics. This is sure to be an incisive discussion.

Brian and Numerian have added some very nice new additions to our blogroll, check them out here:

Brian Downing's Picks:

Al Jezeera, Asia Times, Night Watch, Emirates Journal, Soldiers for the Truth , The War Report, Iraq Casualties and Global Security

Numerian's choices:

Mother Jones, Tom Dispatch, Der Spiegel, Big Picture, Calculated Risk, Bonddad, House Bubble and Prudent Bear

And in the future you can find them midway down the right-hand column under the 'timely' divider.

Sarah Rohrs | Bay Area | May 8

San Jose Mercury News - Vallejo has become the first city of its size in California to seek bankruptcy protection.

The decision to file for bankruptcy came in a unanimous vote by the city council Tuesday night as hundreds of residents watched . . . Vallejo has been slammed by increasing costs of its public safety contracts, the housing crisis and lower property values. The city faces a $16 million deficit in the 2008-09 fiscal year that starts July 1. Tuesday night's vote came after months of fruitless talks between city and labor representatives.

Nota bene: They are the first, but they certainly won't be the last! ~spk Mish who is now on our blogroll has more.

This email comes from an email correspondent of mine who reads the site regularly. There are some interesting generational comments and observations here that might be the seeds of a fruitful discussion:

[War Inc. was] co-written by a very angry John Cusack. Most of the audience, which I would say was my age or older was very unconfortable with the over-the-top satire of Haliburton, US in Iraq etc. I guess it might be less uncomfortable to see if "Iraq" ever ends. Somewhere my generation's heart, boomer or no, is not prepared to confront our country'sactions as strictly driven by greed. But younger audiences at the Tribeca film festival had no problem accepting it.

I forget how much after the height of the cold war Doctor Strangelove was made and whether it was a hit as opposed to an Oscar nominee. It will be interesting to see how it does when it is released. It was made in Bulgaria by an Israeli production company.

Thoughts?

Many of you will no doubt remember and recognize my loathing of SUVs. I've blogged about it many, many times, most especially by laughing (and crying) at Detroit and it's errant stupidity when it comes to SUVs. Things haven't changed:

General Motors Corp still expects the U.S. economy to recover in the second half of 2008, pulling industry-wide auto sales higher, an executive said on Tuesday.
GM sales analyst Mike DiGiovanni, speaking to reporters and analysts on a conference call, said he saw "early signs" that the U.S. market was steadying.

One thing you can always bet on: stupidity at the Big Three, er Two and A Half now, or something. They haven't changed in Detroit--and one of them will probably have to die before they do. But things are changing elsewhere, as in, the consumers are tired of getting fleeced at the pump (admit it, paying $80 twice a week to fill up an SUV is fucking stupid) and are trading down:

Menicocci, a resident of the upscale Miami suburb of Palmetto Bay, recently placed his 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe with leather seats and 39,000 miles for sale on Craigslist for $16,000 -- roughly $2,000 less than what his research determined was the Kelley Blue Book value. He bought a 2003 Kia Spectra for $5,000 because he was tired of paying so much for gas with his heavy Tahoe. "I was wasting $30 a day compared to $10 a day," he said. "Everybody is like, `What is that? Is that the maid's car?"' said Menicocci, who sells marble and granite for a living. "But I don't care. At this point, I'm way past looks and appearances."

I can't help but reiterate when people says things like, "I'm way past looks and appearances," there is a sea change underway. And not a day too soon. Although, there will always be people with lots of money and little sense who will buy Hummers.

I drive a 20 year old Acura. It runs, gets decent milage and I could care less how it looks. It gets me where I need to go and that is all that ever mattered. But I do look forward to the day when the highways aren't full of huge behemoths and it's safe to putz around on a moped. Then I can really minimize my carbon footprint.

Maybe at some point I might have to eat my words, but I doubt it. Someone needs to tell Hillary it's over. She's doing more harm than good at this point. She cannot win without tearing the party apart. It's time to think of the country and the party, before herself. Bow out. Gracefully and then have a future. Don't bow out and go down hard, or win the nomination and lose in the general and wreck the party in the process? Just bow out.

Update: Obama camp says Oregon, May 20, is the day they wrap it all up. Regardless of my opinion, the numbers indicate that they are correct. It's inevitable at this point.

When Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president one year ago today, the US media were full of praise for him and expected a big improvement in transatlantic relations.

Sarkozy's pro-American rhetoric was very much appreciated, because it was a big contrast to Gerhard Schroeder's US critical election campaigns. With Schroeder replaced by Angela Merkel and Chirac now replaced by Sarkozy, many Americans were looking forward to a new era in transatlantic relations led by a younger generation of pro-American leaders in Europe.

I did not find this much convincing, but have been very critical of Sarkozy (and to a lesser extent of Merkel). In the last few months, however, President Sarkozy announced some policy changes that indicate more support for US interests, so perhaps I should reconsider my position on Sarko.

Gaelle Fisher has written a very balanced analysis on the question "Has Sarkozy truly improved the state of transatlantic relations and earned his reputation as the most pro-American president France has ever had?" She presents three arguments in favor and three against in a pro & con feature on Atlantic Community: Sarkozy l' Américain? Here is a snippet:

Sarkozy has agreed to increase France’s contribution to the war effort in Afghanistan by adding 1500 to 1700 to the existing French contingent of 1600, sending combat troops to the East, and providing military arsenal. Yet the main new element of French military cooperation with the United States is Sarkozy’s commitment to reintegrating France into NATO’s military wing.

On Sarko’s first anniversary in power, the French are very critical of his domestic policies (and his style), but I wonder what Americans think of his foreign policy. Has he met your expectations? Has he repaired the damage in transatlantic relations as expected by many in the US media?

As Dave Neiwart points out over at FDL, the results for Hillary in North Carolina and Indiana were less than she needed, and may have destroyed her chances with the superdelegates. Her speech sounded suspiciously like a concession speech. Now anyone counting Hillary out until she formally says she's out is taking a big chance, this is the energizer bunny of candidates. But let's assume she will decide the gig's up and to throw in the towel and turn our eyes forward.

Obama has his work cut out for him. The possibility that a lot of Hillary's white working class base could turn to McCain or stay home should be a real worry for him. There's been a great deal of bitterness and anger on both sides of the fight. And, to be crass and point out the unpalatable truth, there isn't a lot in it for Hillary to back Obama in a more than pro-forma "going through the motions" fashion. If he loses, she's the presumptive nominee in 4 years, after all. If he wins, she probably has to wait 8 years, and she's not getting any younger. If she really wants to be president, well, Obama's still in the way. Now I'm not saying she won't help Obama even if such thoughts are going through her mind, no doubt she understands what another 4 years of a Republican presidency would mean. Still, there's help, and there's going all out. And there's a lot of space between the two.

So if I'm Obama; if I'm one of Obama's advisors, no matter how much I may share the view of some associated with the campaign about Hillary, I'd be thinking real hard right now about what it's going to take to bring her and Bill onboard in a big way, so that they do everything possible to really deliver the votes of their supporters.

For Bill, probably a seat on the Supremes if the opportunity comes up (and it will, if Obama is elected.) For Hillary? Probably Senate Majority leader—it's not like Harry Reid really likes the job anyway.

For our hopes of there being a Democratic President taking office in 2009 I trust that similar thoughts are going through Obama's mind. Because he's going to need all the help he can get.

Don't know what this is about but it certainly bears watching:

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Office of Special Counsel here, seizing computers and documents belonging to the agency chief Scott Bloch and staff.

This guy may very well be a bad actor. Or he may not. He is, after all, investigating Karl Rove.

One of these days the guardian's of our elite establishment are going to wake up and realize they a.) either need Russia for something very serious or b.) realize that they have made a very serious mistake pushing them around for the last several years. John McCain's latest comments on Russia are just another exhibit in how awful (and hypocritical) our policy towards the Russians is:

McCain, 71, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, favors expelling Russia from the Group of Eight club of industrial powers. He calls for forging a ``League of Democracies'' to confront Putin and hand-picked successor Dmitry Medvedev, who takes over tomorrow, on Russian threats against former Soviet republics and rollbacks of domestic freedoms.

That's a brilliant idea. The only thing dumber than that would be adding the Ukraine and Georgia into NATO.

Oh, wait. All three candidates want to do that!

Here's a question for the guardian elites of America: are we willing to fight the Russians over this?

In recent weeks we’ve seen numerous supporters of the war point confidently to positive indicators and to benchmarks being met or neared. And we’ve also seen numerous critics of the war assert just as confidently that there’s been little if any progress. It all makes me think back to events long ago.

Late in the Vietnam War, I occasionally came into contact with a special forces captain. He stopped by to look at the militia units I worked with and we spoke often and in time informally. A former NCO, he had been in Southeast Asia intermittently for over nine years going back to the late fifties, mostly with S. Vietnamese (ARVN) units. I doubt anyone knew them better. Before he left for the states, after the usual farewell conversation I asked, “How long will this country last after the American troops leave?” The question was not if the ARVN would hold – any 19-year-old corporal could see they wouldn’t – but how long until the N. Vietnamese and Viet Cong inevitably overwhelmed them. It was a guileless if tactless question, and pondering it was unpleasant to someone who had worked with the ARVN so long and devotedly. He exhaled then began his reply.

Somalia is quickly slipping into a yet more gruesome circle of hell. Protests erupted today over food prices, and aid organizations are issuing panicky - but accurate - statements about impending mass tragedy.

Most headlines are simply reporting that two people died in today's protests. But the reality is one of extreme social disruption, and the casualties are already starting to climb:

Protestors took to the streets in Somalia's dangerous capital Monday to demonstrate against rising food prices and the business community's refusal to accept 1,000-note Somali Shillings, Radio Garowe reported.