or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
August 23, 2011
The Culprit Identified at Last
August 22, 1971: Aaron Datesman is born.
August 23, 1971: Exactly one day later, Lewis Powell gives the "Powell Memo" to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — the blueprint for the all-out attack on the middle class by Corporate America that we've endured for the past 40 years.
Given that Datesman was able to set this in motion in his first day on earth, I hate to think what he's been up to in the other 14,610 since then.
P.S. Due to a typo, the title for the Powell Memo (as you can see in a pdf) is actually "The Attack of American Free Enterprise System."
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at August 23, 2011 06:35 PMIt's worse than that: mere hours after my birth, I turned in the Camden 28.
Posted by: Aaron Datesman at August 23, 2011 07:02 PMMy god, you're a monster.
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at August 23, 2011 08:44 PMWit, comraderie, and the Powell Memo, and yet the whole post is hardly bigger than a peanut. Impressive!
Posted by: N E at August 23, 2011 09:39 PMAppearances are deceptive......
lol- the memo has many historical ironies, so much that it may be read as pure satire and be as entertaining as it is historically informative when read seriously- my favorites: his awe of Nader makes a real fan blush; his shout out to Marcuse, who is a most important underrated intellectual of this time; he co-ops the left's concept of 'the system' and both denies its existence and defends its existence in the same essay- his admonition to ceos to increase lobbying efforts as a prerequisite for systemic protection is Orwellian in lieu of the financial industry's collapse- we now have adopted the term 'systemic risk' to imply that these ceos are not protectorates but rather catalysts of bringing the system down; his vacillation between free speech rhetoric and implying top down policies to regulate rhetoric on 'the campus' and media is informative for the historical notion of the supreme courts deference to corporate lobbying as 'speech'
Posted by: frankenduf at August 24, 2011 02:02 PMThe Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions.
Posted by: Middle Seaman at August 25, 2011 08:02 AM
