Rachel Setzer's blog

In 2006, as everyone else in northern Baghdad was closing down shop, Hassan Nassar opened an art gallery in the hopes that the arts could help his neighbors battle the feelings of fear and hatred that overwhelm the regions. The gallery is not profitable financially speaking, but it maintains an intellectual wealth that is sadly missing in the country torn by civil war.  Read More »

The art world is in an uproar today as word spreads about a raid executed by Greek authorities on an art exhibit in Athens, which the authorities deemed "indecent". Even by ignoring the artistic, literary, and theatrical history of Greece, it is impossible come to any other conclusion than: WHAT?!  Read More »

Since my return to ProgU, I've been reading a lot of the entries of people whose names I don't recognize. I've noticed a lot of topics regarding religion, homosexuality, abortion -- you know, those classically devisive topics about which everyone has an opinion and that opinion is never going to change. Before you even ask, no, I'm not surprised.  Read More »

Yes friends, I have returned from my unscheduled hiatus at the request of some of the administrators. It was a hectic semester, but I survived, completed my BFA show and my degree. Now I'm a regular 8-5er. I'll come up with something interesting for you to read in the next couple of days, I think. We shall see. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on right now.  Read More »

World News

*This week, Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki made an effort to reach out to Sunni Muslims, and reconcile the damage done under the reign of Saddam Hussein. But the different sects continued to kill each other, and at least 23 people were killed Saturday. In addition, some 53 bodies were found blindfolded, bound, and (not surprisingly) shot to death. It is easy to see why major players on the Sunni/Shiite divide don’t really think that al-Maliki’s plea of “can’t we all just get along” is going to make it too far. In other news from (or for) Iraq, the United States has announced plans to armor Iraqi police vehicles (gee, sure wish the
US had done that for its own people); and that President Bush wants to send 35,000 more troops to the civil-war-torn country. One more brain-buster after another, eh Georgie?  Read More »

Okay, no real pro/con here, just some analysis care of James Burnham, and via Conservatives without Conscience by John Dean (who is, himself, a Goldwater conservative). What follows is a summary of James Burnham's analysis of conservatism, circa 1950. Dean's summary paraphrases Burnham, and I will summarize and comment upon Dean's summary. I will also make an effort, having read Dean's book, to make adjustments for contemporary cons and libs. This should be at least moderately interesting. (Or at least get me some last minute points for conspicuous blogging.)  Read More »

My boyfriend is a conservative -- I know, shocking. We have been having a discussion about Universal health care: blog style. What follows is my blog about why he's wrong, and his rebuttal. After that, please feel free to discuss, and back either argument. (His name has been edited to protect his... ahem, innocence)

My blog entry:
In honor of World AIDS Day, I've decided to write about why [my boyfriend] is wrong about socialized medicine. His arguments, in order of competence are:  Read More »

World News

*Despite the pre-election insistence by Vice President Dick Cheney, that the Iraqis were only increasing violence so as to have an effect on the Midterm elections: violence in
Iraq not only continues, but continues to increase. So much so that major news outlets in the
United States are finally calling the “sectarian violence” a civil war. The latest news, (as of Saturday morning), was that a triple car-bombing in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in
Baghdad has killed at least 51 people, and wounded 90 others. This is a day after Iraqi and US forces performed a raid against Sunni insurgents in a nearby neighborhood. Meanwhile, the last of the Italian troops committed to the Coalition of the Willing, joined instead the Coalition of the Leaving, and returned to
Rome, Saturday. That being said, it is clear that the country that gave birth to fascism (and then hanged it and dragged its body through the streets), knows a bad idea when it sees one… after a while.  Read More »