Christopher Buckley, Best Selling Author & Satirist, to Join the Civility Forum

The Connecticut Forum Announces:
Christopher Buckley to Join David Gergen at
The End of Civility?
Saturday, October 2, 2010

Tom Wolfe has called Christopher Buckley, "one of the funniest writers in the English language." Buckley is the author of 13 books, many of them satirical, including Little Green Men, Supreme Courtship and Thank You For Smoking, which was made into a major motion picture. He is most recently the author of Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir.

Christopher Buckley comes from a conservative pedigree; the son of William F. Buckley and Patricia Buckley, he was a long time columnist for The National Review, the conservative magazine founded by his father, as well as the chief speechwriter for George H.W. Bush when he was Vice President. In 2008, Buckley surprisingly endorsed Barack Obama in a piece for The Daily Beast titled "Sorry Dad, I'm Voting for Obama." His column in The National Review was promptly revoked.

Buckley has written for most national newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, TIME, The Atlantic Monthly, US News and World Report, Vanity Fair, and Vogue. He is currently a regular columnist for The Daily Beast. He has published over 50 comic essays in The New Yorker. In 2002, Buckley received the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence.

Watch Christopher Buckley on The Daily Show:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Christopher Buckley
www.thedailyshow.com
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Bob Woodward leaks confidential Afghanistan Policy Report in The Washington Post

Bob Woodward, known as one of the greatest investigative reporters of our time, has done it again.

In a front page article of The Washington Post yesterday, Woodward leaked the details of a confidential 66-page report, in which top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal explains to President Barack Obama that if more troops are not sent overseas, U.S. Military efforts "will likely result in failure." In the article, McChrystal goes on to explain:
"Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) -- while Afghan security capacity matures -- risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible."

While many are calling the leak a political embarrassment, there is no indication that the White House plans to launch a formal investigation into the leaker's identity or intentions, and some are speculating that it might even have been an intentional leak from the Obama administration.

Known for his ability to shake down administrations through high powered sources and leaks, Woodward is one of the most renowned, and perhaps feared journalists in D.C. Here, he shares tips on investigative reporting:

Want more? Mr. Woodward will visit The Connecticut Forum
on Thursday, March 4, 2010 as part of the World of Change panel!
For more details, visit www.ctforum.org.

Beers across America

So, by now everybody and his uncle who cares about such things saw that Jim Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department, Skip Gates, Joe Biden and Barack Obama (you know, just four regular guys) sat down and had beers. I personally found the scene depicted above rather troubling.

Now I'm almost certain that Jim is drinking a Blue Moon. It is definitely a hefeweizen. Nice Jim...nice.

Skip reported that he liked Red Stripe. That is a perfectly respectable choice, though I have it on good authority that unless you get it and drink in in Jamaica, it is just not the same. The beer in his glass, however, does not look like Red Stripe to me. That, my dear friends, is not pilsner lager.

Here's where things get bad, though. It has been widely reported that Messrs. Obama and Biden would be drinking (gag) Bud Light. The #1 and #2 leaders of the free world can do no better than Bud Light? In the immortal words of Studs Terkel, "It's not the bomb we have to worry about...it's banality. We aren't going to go out in a big bang. We're going to go with a sigh." [from our 1997 Forum Wisdom of Sages]

There is some hope, however. I have polled some experts on the subject who have these recommendations for the President about a proper beer to drink...

Erin: Black Butte Porter, Deuschutes Brewery
Becky: Something by Sam Adams, Boston Brewery...not elitist but tasty. Many options for every palate.
Benjamin: Ballast Point IPA, San Diego OR Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
Leon: Sam Adams Summer or any of the seasonals
Katlyn: Said something about blueberry beer, but it was starting to get a little fuzzy at theis point.

And I? Well, I have two favorite beers: free and cold. After that, I'm no connoisseur.

Speaking of race relations...if you really wanted to find divergent yet thoughtful ideas about race in America, who would you choose? How about, oh...William F. Buckley and Chuck D.?

NY Post "Stimulus Monkey" Cartoon Stirs Controversy

Popular cartoonist Sean Delonas has found himself in hot water following this cartoon that ran on page 12 of The New York Post Wednesday.

The cartoon depicts two police officers making the comment, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill" over the body of a dead chimpanzee, presumably that of the chimp that mauled a Stamford, CT woman earlier this week.

While some simply see the cartoon's meaning to be that the stimulus bill was so crazy a monkey must have written it, others see a darker side.

"The cartoon in today's New York Post is troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys," said Reverend Al Sharpton in a statement yesterday. "One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual reference to this when in the cartoon they have police saying after shooting a chimpanzee that 'Now they will have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill'."

"Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama (the first African American president) and has become synonymous with him it is not a reach to wonder are they inferring that a monkey wrote the last bill?"

This morning Coe Allen, editor-in-chief of The New York Post released a statement countering Sharpton's remarks:

"The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."

What do you think?

poll by twiigs.com

If you ever wondered how writers and artists spend their days...

This blog is an amazing compilation of the daily routines of "writers, artists, and other interesting people" from Emily Dickinson to Benjamin Franklin to Barack Obama. Maybe you didn't need to know that Truman Capote claimed he could only think while lying down, but the site is a lot of fun to peruse for the habits of your own favorite artist.

Art or Plagiarism?

In the newest aspect of his intriguing copyright case Shepard Fairey, the creator of the now famous campaign image of Barack Obama, has filed a pre-emptive lawsuit against the Associated Press. At issue is ownership: the AP says it owns the photo, the freelance photographer who took it also claims ownership, and Fairey contends that the photo was merely a starting point for his art and not of importance at all. While Fairey's image does bear an undeniable likeness to the photo, Fairey clearly enhanced and abstracted it, and in the end his image makes a much different statement than the original photo. (Not to mention that he cropped it; in the AP photo Obama is sitting next to George Clooney).


No matter how the court rules, the case has already brought additional attention to Fairey's art, currently featured at the ICA in Boston, MA. In addition, it raises interesting questions: what are the guidelines regarding artistic usage of images readily available on the internet? Can artists react to one another without the risk of copyright infringement? How and where do we draw the line between criminal plagarism and simple inspiration?

What's Eating Anthony Bourdain?

Apparently, it's Alice Waters.

In November, 2008 following the presidential election, Alice wrote an open letter to President Obama, urging that the new White House Chef be " A person with integrity and devotion to the ideals of environmentalism, health, and conservation would send a powerful message to our country: that food choices matter."

In a Janurary 19th interview with DC List, Bourdain reacted:

"I'll tell you. Alice Waters annoys the living sh*t out of me. We're all in the middle of a recession, like we're all going to start buying expensive organic food and running to the green market. There's something very Khmer Rouge about Alice Waters that has become unrealistic. I mean I'm not crazy about our obsession with corn or ethanol and all that, but I'm a little uncomfortable with legislating good eating habits. I'm suspicious of orthodoxy, the kind of orthodoxy when it comes to what you put in your mouth. I'm a little reluctant to admit that maybe Americans are too stupid to figure out that the food we're eating is killing us. But I don't know if it's time to send out special squads to close all the McDonald's. My libertarian side is at odds with my revulsion at what we as a country have done to ourselves physically with what we've chosen to eat and our fast food culture. I'm really divided on that issue. It'd be great if he [Obama] served better food at the White House than what I suspect the Bushies were serving. It's gotta be better than Nixon. He liked starting up a roaring fire, turning up the air conditioning, and eating a bowl of cottage cheese with ketchup. Anything above that is a good thing. He's from Chicago, so he knows what good food is."

Looks like the pot is being stirred for an interesting evening!Anthony Bourdain and Alice Waters, along with Duff Goldman will be appearing at The Connecticut Forum's Food for Thought on May 14, 2009.

Forum Panelists React to Inauguration

Yesterday, we heard Yale Alum Elizabeth Alexander deliver the Inaugural Poem on the steps of The Capitol.

Earlier this week, NPR encouraged some of the nation's most renowned poets to write their own inaugural poems...including two former Forum Panelists!


Suzan Lori-Parks, MacArthur “Genius" & Playwright of Topdog/Underdog visited us in November 2008 for Storytellers and the Stories They Tell. Here is her inaugural poem, U Being U.

U Being U
[Listen to Suzan-Lori read her poem here.]

U Being U
Mr. President-Elect
Makes me wanna get MY stuff
correct

I feel like starting with something RADICAL
Like,
Love my Neighbor
Like share what I've got
Like think for myself
Like ask the hard questions
Like lean toward the good and help keep the peace

U being U
Makes me wanna do something new
Like Go Green, or at least try to.

You being you, Mr. President-Elect
Makes me want to look on others with respect
Makes me wanna
practice Radical Inclusion, you know,
Open my heart wide, especially in the presence of folks who
Are not like me, you know,
work to see my Brother
In the Other
You make me want to entertain all my far-out ideas
Make me wanna represent the race, as in the human race,
And know that, like You, I too am Prized.

And to those who say yr a Magic Negro,
I love them just the same
And my love helps us weave a United States.

Mr. President,
Heaven sent
Since heaven is just a place where possibility
becomes possible
And where hostility
holsters
its hostile,
I feel like picking up the trash in the park or on the beach
I think I'll teach, and learn, from all I meet
I think I'll apologize in person for all our faults
and try to make amends for our shortcomings
And also, I think,
I'll brag,
Just a little bit,
About how cool We The People are

Oh, I just had to sing you a little something
Because you,
Mr. President,
You are embarking with Us on an awesome and beautiful
And potentially perilous journey
And so I am giving you
All the Love
All the Love
All the Love
All the Love
Mr. President
That I've got
Because I believe
In the dream
And I am ready
To wake up
And live it.


American Journalist and Humorist Calvin Trillin visited The Forum in 2002 for The Forum Food Fest. Here is his poem, Anticipating the Inauguration of Barack Obama


Anticipating the Inauguration of Barack Obama

[Listen to Calvin read the poem here.]

Inauguration is the day
The nation's hopes go on display —
When through one man we all convey
Our dream that things will go our way.
His resume we can't gainsay.
In politics, we know, his play
Is worthy of the NBA.
He proved that in the recent fray,
Though he had help from Tina Fey.
And now this solemn matinee
Awards the winner's bright bouquet.

First, Pastor Warren's going to pray
For everyone who isn't gay.
Obama then will stand and say,
"I take this oath that I'll obey
The statutes of the U. S. A."
In his address, he might portray
The dragons he intends to slay:
How Wall Street's sky will turn from gray
To blue as blues are chased away,
How workers will collect good pay
For turning out a Chevrolet,
How in Iraq we'll end our stay
With shortest possible delay,
How pay-to-play will be passe
So K Street suits will not hold sway.
Yes, how we'll triumph, come what may:
We'll rise up like a good souffle
'Til life's just like a cabaret.

Obamacans will shout hooray
And toast their man with Chardonnay
As commentators all make hay
Comparing him to JFK.
The Beltway types, those still blase,
Might think that soon, with some dismay,
We'll wonder if his feet are clay.
But that's all for another day

For more poems, visit NPR's Inaugural Poetry 2009 page

A Dream Realized

Today the words and wisdom of Dr. Martin Luther King were realized as Barack Obama broke the racial and political barriers of old, becoming the first African American President of the United States.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Before he was President-Elect...

This photograph from 1996 accompanies an excerpt from Mariana Cook's interview with Michelle and Barack Obama that same year.

Michelle mused: "There is a strong possibility that Barack will pursue a political career, although it’s unclear. There is a little tension with that. I’m very wary of politics. I think he’s too much of a good guy for the kind of brutality, the skepticism."

You can read more of the interview in The New Yorker.

Reactions from Around the World

The world responds to the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of The United States.