I heard Keyes interviewed on an NPR talk show this afternoon. He had the temerity to call Barack Obama’s stand on abortion “the slaveowners’ position” and to accuse Obama of lying about favoring civil unions over gay marriage. Keyes, one of the most polemical politicians I have ever heard speak, boasted that while others’ political positions are made via assertion, his are made via argument, and then went on to make unargued assertions on every point in his conservative platform. It may have been the fault of the cowed interviewer (who could not stand up to the withering blasts of pompous articulacy from his guest) that he did not justify, explain or argue anything, but I think Keyes is so caught up in the idea of his own brilliance that he is incapable of seeing his absurdity. Let us hope the Illinois voters can tell the difference. (The first poll after he got into the race showed him trailing Obama 67-28%).

Oh, yes, Keyes was asked to justify his carpetbagging entry into the Illinois race from Maryland in light of his oft-quoted condemnation of Hilary Clinton’s run for a Senate seat in New York. In what had to be the most entertaining moment of this galling interview, he actually invoked states’ rights and the protection of sovereignty in explaining the difference — Illinois wanted him, whereas Clinton was not New York’s choice. Uhhh, Alan, it looks like it is going to be precisely the other way around…

“The full text online of a short story by Will Self from his new collection Dr Mukti And Other Tales of Woe“. (willself.org.uk)

Leading US daily admits underplaying stories critical of White House push for Iraq war (Yahoo! News)

An interesting critique of Alan Ball and Six Feet Under from critic Dale Peck who, among other things, finds it too painful to watch the characters’ stupid choices:

“The most common criticism of the show is that such high jinks are a little too reminiscent of soap-opera plotting. The critics are right, of course, but before one acknowledges that, one should also acknowledge the fact that the characters on Six Feet Under are what pollsters call “self-selecting”; in this case, a peer group of incredibly destructive people who create most of the drama in their lives. Mr. Ball’s characters choose among potential acquaintances and mates the same way doomed heroines choose between the ax and the flashlight in horror movies: They pick up the flashlight every time, so they can shine it in the face of death as it swoops down on them. This is an expression of the form, but it’s also an expression of Thanatos, by which I mean that, yes, it’s big and Greek and a little silly, but you don’t get to have one without the other. In fact, the heroine doesn’t really choose the flashlight over the ax—vision over protection, knowledge over life. Rather, death chooses her, as it eventually chooses all of us. This is the core of Six Feet Under, clumsily driven home by the high-concept funeral-home setup, yet delicately, empathically reinforced by the continued suffering of its characters. If the show is often mawkish—especially in the more outré kill scenes, which seem culled from horror movies—it also often achieves a Weltschmerz you won’t find anywhere else on TV. By which I mean that I got mad at American Beauty because it is, ultimately, a stupid story; but I get mad at the characters on Six Feet Under because they make stupid choices. And even though I know it’ll never happen, I still hope they make the right choice at some point.” (New York Observer)

But his real pain is reserved for the depiction of homosexuality and the controversial third episode of this season in which David is the victim of a heinous crime. Peck both finds the violence gratuitous and opines that Six Feet Under consistently treats gay desire as acting-out and something to be punished for. All I can say, as a viewer who finds the character development on this show to be some of the most sophisticated ever on television, is that this is an incredible demonstration of Peck’s selective attention in order to spin a yarn.