A Little of the Old In and Out



de-lovely. (image via americanpolitics/arianna)

In: Arianna Huffington. Arianna Huffington is like Herodotus' Phoenix, discarding and reinventing her social persona out of ashes, rising, again and again and again. She was, at 21, the first woman President of the Cambridge debating society (And still a killer on the mic); in 1988, the author of the psychologically penetrating book, "Picasso: Creator and Destroyer," then, in the mid-90s the Dark Lady of the Gingrich Revolution, and -- later, unpredictably -- a chief critic and skillful satirist of the excesses within that same 104th Congress, in 2003 she ran for Governor of California, and now, in 2005, we have: "HuffPo."

Earlier this week, our favorite social chronicler David Patrick Columbia and The Corsair were discussing how readable The Huffington Post has become as a result of the scandal-plagued White House, and how the blog form suits Arianna's enterprise with up-to-the-minute updates for her gang-of-insiders (Especially the incendiary "West Wing" Executive Producer, Lawrence O'Donnell). In her recent column-posting, another scoop (The scoops are as endless on HuffPo as her gilded rolodex) on the "Dadist" Judith Miller Times-silence:

"'I'm hearing that the Times' big Judy-culpa is definitely coming on Sunday -- and also that Judy's camp is worried that it's going to be very hard on her.

"'The team of reporters working on the story is absolutely top notch,' a Times source told me.

"'Don Van Atta is one of the best investigative reporters in the country.

"'If there is something gettable, they'll get it. And I'd be stunned if Sulzberger and Keller tried to suppress anything these reporters come up with.' The team has been interviewing what a source calls 'some of Judy's most ardent critics, people inside the paper who have worked with her in the past.'

"The question remains: how cooperative will Miller be?"

The full story here. We definitely still believe Arianna to be dark, forbidding -- not without danger, even -- and should be, by all means, approached with lingering caution; we are, though, gradually, and grudgingly becoming quite attracted to this rara avis.



Kony, at large. (image via inmwent.org)

Out: Joseph Kony, Lord's Resistance Army. We have always been "for" an International Criminal Court -- in theory, at least. A respect Internationalism (and its limits) runs through the blood of all Mwangaguhunga's, past and present. There are crimes -- human slavery in Moldova,"The Natasha's," snuff-filming in Kosovo, genocide, pirates operating outside the law of the seas (i.e, The South China Seas), for instance -- too great for any single nation, or, more likely, a decomposing nation, to prosecute on their own. But we -- as centrists who grew up as a "diplobrat" -- were skeptical.

We needed not to be; the ICC at the Hague did themselves proud in going after one of this planet's more fetid Geneva Convention-flouting lowlives, one: Joseph Kony (see smarmy picture above), a quasi-literate form of scum who clains to speak to God, and uses kidnapped child soldiers for to carry out his "inspired" works of butchery, raiding girls' schools on the vulnerable Ugandan border to be used for sex-slaves to keep up his "soldiers'" morale. According to Marlise Simmons of the Gray Lady:

"The new International Criminal Court in The Hague took a big step on Friday toward becoming a global human rights tribunal when it confirmed it had issued its first arrest warrants.

"The court, which has been working in The Hague since 2002 despite resistance and a continuing boycott by the United States, said it was seeking the arrest of the leader and four commanders of the Lord's Resistance Army, a two-decade-old rebel movement in Uganda.

"The charges include brutalizing civilians, including killing, raping and robbing them, and systematically kidnapping children, forcing them to fight and using them as slaves.

"President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda personally requested the court to investigate the rebel group, and while human rights group quickly welcomed the arrest warrants, some also criticized the prosecutor for not investigating reports of abuse by the Ugandan military."



Anna and Bee and The Iliad, makes 3. (image via fashionscribes)

In: Mother-Daughter Fashion World Collabos. We thought this a rather sweet post about the collaborations between mothers and daughters at the fashion shows, and, increasingly, in the rarified air of the fashion world in general. According to Faran Krentcil of Fashionweekdaily:

"What to do when you�re named after your mom? Take over her job. Carolina Herrera, Jr. is the spokesperson and muse for Carolina�s secondary line, CH, and also worked with her mom to create the label�s fragrance, 212. It shouldn�t be surprising that fashion blood runs strong in the Herrera family�the elder Carolina attended her first couture show (Balenciaga) with her grandmother at age 13."

And, of Anna Wintour and Bee Schaeffer:

"What�s the one thing that can melt Anna�s icy exterior? Her 18 year-old daughter, a Columbia freshman and the alleged inspiration for Teen Vogue, where she serves as a contributing editor. At the Fistula Foundation�s fashion show this spring, Anna broke into huge cheers as Bee walked down the runway in a Marc Jacobs gown. Her daughter returned the favor the way any teen would: a quick roll of her eyes."

Also mentioned, Tina and Beyonce Knowles, as well as Anna and Pat Cleveland, here.



(image via slam.canoe.ca)

Out: Bill Romanowski. Reason #785 why some hopped-up nimble asshole with a the pig-skin should not be a role model for children (Or, for that matter, a sweet hook-shot) . According to CBSNews.com:

"Former star linebacker Bill Romanowski, known as one of the most feared players in the NFL, admits he feels 'awful' about purposely breaking an opponent�s finger. 'Romo' also comes clean about his steroid use in a conversation with 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley this Sunday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. Romanowski writes about his 16 seasons in the NFL in an upcoming book, 'Romo: My Life on the Edge.' He says he took illegal steroids from spring 2001 to fall 2003 and got them from Victor Conte, head of the infamous Bay Area Lab Cooperative that supplied dietary supplements, including steroids.

"... Romanowski says he put his desire to win ahead of his own sense of right and wrong. 'I compromised my morality to get ahead, to play another year, to play two more years, to win another Super Bowl.' The finger incident was during a playoff game against the New York Giants; the running back was Dave Meggett. 'I am pissed ... down there just trying to rip that ball out of his hands,' says Romanowski. 'All I could get was a finger and, at the time, I thought it was his, but whatever it was ... I just snapped it and I could hear a scream at the bottom of the pile,' he says."

Sounds positively Bonaducci-esque (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) . (60 Minutes)



The American Red Fox, by the elegant John James Audubon. (image via minniesland)

In: The Realist School. How about that "Foxes and Hedgehogs Essay;" sweet, huh? (The Corsair gingerly sips his burgundy) In Sam Tanenhaus' fabulous Book Review (Updike on Post WWII Art; Pinsky on Didion) Jonathan Tepperman of Foreign Affairs does a bang-up job today on why imposing a "Unified Field Theory" to the subject of History (and thusly Reality) is using, quite frankly, a Daffy Duck method of logic.

We don't know whether or not it is the fact that The Corsair is pushing 35, or whatever, but our Centrism is seeing a pragmatic marriage of "political idealism" and "realpolitik" as the best way to view the fast-changing global situation. That doesn't mean, of course, that we'll be breaking bread with Henry Kissinger in the future (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment), of course. This just means only that we are having a greater appreciation of Brent Scowcroft's sober handling of the disintegration of the Soviet Empire these days. A much greater appreciation than me at 25 years old, fresh out of interning at The Nation Magazine. And that thought, to be honest, kind of freaks us the fuck out, to be honest.

Sayeth Tepperman:

" (Victor David) Hanson, a respected classics scholar turned cranky pundit, poses as a sort of Attic farmer-philosopher who implores us wimpy moderns to see the world as the ancients did, in tragic and heroic terms. Hopped up on Homeric glory, he advises us to fight the war on terror 'as we did in the past - hard, long, without guilt, apology or respite until our enemies are no more.' (Natan) Sharansky is similarly stark, insisting on 'moral clarity' in all things, with no excuses.

"Of course, it's much easier to state universal rules when you can ignore or gloss over exceptions. And Hanson, Sharansky and the rest provide little guidance for drawing their bright lines onto messy reality. They refuse to get bogged down in the mechanics of actual governance.

"But that's exactly the problem with these books, which are as impractical as they are engaging. They may be fun reading for policy makers, but they have little value for making policy. Hanson and Sharansky both preach democracy promotion - but they don't explain how democracy can be promoted in a nuclear-armed hermit regime like North Korea, or what to do about its destabilizing effects - if, for instance, the new democracies fall apart, attack their neighbors or elect governments hostile to the United States. Ferguson argues that a benign, free-trading empire is the solution to today's fractured and fractious world. It sounds good - but he never explains how Washington should sell the idea to reluctant Americans, or ward off the resentment and competition an American empire would breed. The big ideas are rhetorically attractive, but governments, working on day-to-day problems, don't have the luxury of relying on rhetoric."

Bravo, uh, we think.