Journalism

WHEN GEORGE BUSH saw pictures of Auschwitz at Yad Vashem, Israel’s museum of the Holocaust, he said — with “tears in his eyes” — “we should have bombed it.”  Could he have read The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust 1941–1945 by David Wyman? That’s the 1984 book that made the refusal to bomb Auschwitz the lasting symbol of FDR’s failure to help Jews in World War II Europe. . . .
Review of FDR and the Jews, at LA Review of Books, HERE.

Fox News featured the story: The Independent Oil & Gas Association, our friendly frackers, filed a formal complaint against Yoko Ono and her organization, Artists Against Fracking, claiming the group is violating New York state law by failing to register as lobbyists. They seem to have forgotten that “the right of the people” to “petition their government for a redress of grievances” is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution…
. . . continued at TheNation.com  http://tinyurl.com/dyru6mk

Greg Valentini is a homeless vet in Los Angeles who participated in the assault on Tora Bora that sought Osama bin Laden. He’s also a plaintiff in the class action suit brought by the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU-SC) arguing that the VA has “misused large portions of its West Los Angeles campus and failed to provide adequate housing and treatment for the people it was intended to serve.” . . .  continued at TheNation.com,  http://www.thenation.com/blog/173498/homeless-vets-vs-va-la-story-continues.

The VA has almost 400 acres of land in Brentwood, part of which it has leased for rent-a-car storage and a commercial laundry.  Meanwhile, homeless vets sleep on the street outside the locked gates.
Why is that?
“LA’s Homeless Vets” in The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/article/173459/las-homeless-vets

Here’s how California treats its public colleges and universities: first, cut public funds, and thus classes; then wait for over-enrollment, as students are unable to get the classes they need to graduate; finally, shift classes online, for profit.. . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE

I do not think Watergate should be the only display at the Nixon Library. The problem is that it’s missing from the new exhibit in Yorba Linda.  I didn’t criticize the library or the National Archives for what is in the new show; I criticized them for what has been left out. 
Is it really necessary to explain why Watergate belongs in the story of Nixon’s life? . . . continued at the LA Times, HERE

The Nixon Presidential Library and Museum opened a new exhibit in Yorba Linda and online Feb. 15, “Patriot, President, Peacemaker.” It covers Richard Nixon‘s entire life, like the permanent installation there, and claims to present “a fuller picture” than ever before.  But there’s a gap, reminiscent of the 18 1/2-minute gap in the famous White House tapes. . . . What’s missing is Watergate.
. . . continued at LA Times, HERE.

February 18 is Yoko Ono’s 80th birthday—it’s a day to celebrate her art, music and activism. She’s done more in the last year than most of us do in a decade: campaigned against fracking and honored Julian Assange; mounted a major retrospective of her art in London last summer at the prestigious Serpentine Gallery, and another, bigger one in Frankfurt last week. . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE (or HERE )

Thanks to Steven Spielberg and his film Lincoln, we’ve been hit by a new wave of management wisdom supposedly gleaned from the film’s central character.  Business Week ran a piece titled “Career Lessons from Spielberg’s Lincoln”; the New York Times called theirs “Lincoln’s School of Management.”. . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE

The fight against the Catholic Church cover-up of sexual abuse of children by priests is a story that has heroes as well as victims.  Alex Gibney’s new documentary, “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” is playing on HBO throughout February.
. . . Q&A with Alex Gibney at TheNation.com, HERE.