Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 27, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Editor Morley Walker / 697-7307 b8 email Winnipeg free press sunday August 27, 2006 books watchdogs of democracy the Washington press corps and How it has failed the Public by Helen Thomas Scribner 215 pages $32 reviewed by Ron Kirbyson s he closed a John f. Kennedy press conference with thank you or. already a Veteran american journalist she went on to use that tag line with presidents for More than 40 years. Helen Thomas now an octogenarian declares that although she approached the office of president with some Awe she has had no rever ence for the particular men who held the office. She writes they should be tested and graded at every no wonder Thomas has the Confidence to scold the Washington press corps for becoming lapdogs instead of watchdogs. In recent years a columnist with Hearst newspapers Thomas earned a kind of legendary status As a correspondent and eventually Bureau chief at the White House for United press International. She has been the first woman to hold Many positions and her name is honoured with an a lifetime achievement award established by the White House correspondents association. Thomas is intent on recalling journalists responsibilities and challenging the Washington press corps to get Back to basics in keeping the govern ment honest. She delivers much More however than a one dimensional Sermon. As she draws on her Rich personal Back ground to make her Case she provides some fascinating largely political his tory. Understandably she indulges in some nostalgia such As when she recalls the changes in the Way reporters have worked since she graduated in 1943. Government management of the news is one topic she explores. She tells of the Kennedy use of personal Charm Lyndon Johnson a Micro managing Nixon a enemies list of reporters and Reagan a skilful Stag ing of announcements. President Clin tons management difficulties she attributes in part to his Lack of Street a chapter on press secretaries gives some fascinating insights on washing ton politics As Well As on presidents. The likes of Pierre Salinger whom she Calls Kennedy a Bon vivant spokesman and James Brady who took the assassins Bullet intended for Ronald Reagan filled their difficult roles in quite different ways. Thomas pulls no punches however political bullying altered worlds image of . 100 ways America is screwing up the world by John Tirman with a foreword by Howard Zinn Harper perennial 258 pages $18 reviewed by Rais Khan the world was respectful even admiring of America after the second world War for both its wartime contributions and Post War efforts. But All that has changed. Much of the world especially the Middle East and the former european colonies now perceives America As the new imperialist Power and increasingly despises everything it stands for. What happened John Tirman executive director of mits Centre for International studies and the author of several books offers his diagnosis political bullying and american corporate rapacity. His judgment is based on his examination of 100 ways in which America is screwing up the world and itself. The list obviously is Long and multifaceted. High on the list is the constant Trum Peting of the american dream. While plausible within the american Environ ment it distorts social and political choices and generates unreasonable expectations in milieus not conducive to its fulfilment. Consequently envy animosity and Rancour Are aroused among those who May have successfully done so. On a popular level he says the list include environment polluting sums gangsta rap and the culture of violence Mcdonald nation of our eating habits and even sexually provocative clothes for eight year Olds. America Tirman argues is screwing up the world through its Lack of Effort on controlling greenhouse Gas emission non adherence to Kyoto opposition to Stem cell research and being the worlds largest peddle of arms. Tirman a most severe condemnation of America is in the area of foreign pol icy. He criticizes All Post second world War presidents republicans and democrats alike for their handling of american foreign policy. Americas relationship with the world he insists is geared to promoting Amer ican interests regardless of the harm such a course might do and has done to the rest of the world. America has slipped from its moral High ground. The trumped up justification for the War in Iraq the centrality of Oil in both wars with Iraq but its con Stant denial Guantanamo Bay and Abu Gharib Are All reflective of americas moral decline. After using up the first 248 pages telling the Reader How America could do Little that was right Tirman lists ten things America does right in the among these America should continue to maintain the open door to Immi Gration honour diversity preserve secularism and the Rule of Law and build on its prevailing level of educational excellence and professional training. As with any rant of this nature the Book is littered with generalizations. There Are no footnotes and or references for statistical corroboration and for Bor rowed information. Admittedly Tirman invites readers to go to his website where he has references for the 100 ways and other Fea Tures. How Many readers would interrupt the flow of their Reading Scurry to the computer and log on to the web site to find a reference nevertheless the Book is interesting Reading for both the critics of and apologists for America. Critics will find More fodder. Apologists could learn How to counter. Rais Khan is retired professor and senior scholar in politics at the University of Winnipeg. When she gets to the present administration. Of Bush ii a first press Secre tary Ari Fleischer she writes truth took a she reviews a number of trends that she finds these include the Power of conservative elements in the concentration of ownership in the mass Media and the decline of newspaper readership. She believes these trends have contributed to major problems such As the political climate that led to the inva Sion of Iraq. Thomas underlines her Case for a return to vigilance by the Washington press corps with her final chapter. Here she recalls the greatest Ameri can journalists such As . Mencken Douglas Cornell her late husband and Edward r. Murrow All from the previous Century. Optimistically Thomas Hopes for a new crop of journalists who read history. And she sees the blog ? the new opinion poll ? As having potential for Good especially if it contributes to mainstream journalism. Her sympathies clearly lie with the progressives seeking to counter the actions of conservative bloggers ? described in the aug. 7 edition of the nation by Lakshmi Chaudry ? in their efforts to bring about responsible Ron Kirbyson is a Winnipeg writer and teacher. Well versed direct language often uncanny by Alison Calder selected writings by Nobel prize nominee Nichita Stanescu Are now available in occupational sickness Buschek books 112 pages $15a translation from the romanian by Oana Vasili Chioati. Stanescu who died in 1983, published More than 15 books of poetry but Only two have been translated into English. Stanescu a topics Are straightforward birth death love and War. He also writes of Angels horses and dreams. His direct language leads to a seem ing simplicity that is often uncanny As in the Anatomy lesson where a Corpse debates the etiquette of his situation. Not Only do i Wash i also put on perfume so when they open me up they wont be disgusted by my Given the poems location at the col Lection a opening its difficult not to read the Anatomy lesson As a com ment on the poet Reader relationship. Stanescu was Romanias leading modernist poet and his work has that kind of resonance. Though his topics Are heavy his wit often self mocking leavens the work. I resemble a tree every one of my words is a Leaf he writes. This comparison satisfies me and is a sign of ghost county Brick 111 pages $18the title of Victoria writer Steve Noyes third Book has a double Reso Nance. The ghost country is China the destination of the uncomprehending though his traveller and the site of his failed love topics Are affair with a chinese heavy his woman. At the same time wit often the traveller is him self mock self ghostly an i sub ing Leav Stantial presence who has Little effect on the ens the people and places work around him. The Story of the relationship unfolds gradually elegiac from the beginning. Other poems con Sider the travellers experiences in China in political and social terms. The speaker mourns relations that cannot get beyond the cliche As in his interaction with a Salesman in the mar Ket i do get cheated and he has duped the lao Wai thus affirming each others non Noyes verse evocative without being sentimental holds Reader inter est throughout. Vancouver writer David Zieroth a seventh collection the Village of sliding time Harbour 80 pages $17is a Memoir in the form of a Long poem. Guided by his younger self the speaker returns to the Prairie Winter in which he was conceived moving through childhood until his family a departure for the coast. The poem depicts a Community rather than an individual imbued with nostalgia the town is generalized. Because of this though readers May connect it to their own experiences. Perhaps the stories the speaker grows up with set him on his Way to becoming a writer As he recalls Hunt ing for some new noun to arrange neatly on the minds Wall until the mix Ture of the world was correctly Victoria writer Steven prices first collection Anatomy of keys Brick 141 pages $18takes Harry Houdini As its Central figure. Following the Young escape artist through adolescence love the death of his father education in the circus Fame and his own eventual death the Book centres on entrapment. The trunk alone understands the journey Price writes in the opening poem. The trunk is Houdini a stage prop but it is also the body the boat hold that brought immigrants to North America and the coffin that held Hou Dinis father. Saying All stories Are the opening of lids Price links narrative itself to the possibility of escape. Adopting the voice of a historical Fig ure is a popular poetic practice. It often raises of the question As does prices collection of Why a writer chose to use poetry to approach a topic. The subject matter is inherently interesting but what does the poetry do for its subject what kind of telling does poetry make possible that other biographical genres fiction or non fic Tion cannot do though prices topic is fascinating the Way in which he treats it does to take full advantage of the form. Alison Calder teaches English literature at the University of Manitoba. Her poetry column appears on the fourth sunday of the month ;