Still no word from Thad or Trent.

However, I have yet another bone to pick with the Grauniad, that lamentable piece of commie tripe issuing forth like a vile stench from fair Britannia.

Let me quote the offending online articlette in full:

Burning Bush brandishes Dostoevsky

Given the Biblical language in which George Bush and his speechwriters are steeped, it is not surprising that the US president should invoke the imagery of fire, writes James Meek

Friday January 21, 2005
The Guardian

One of the models of American leadership is that of Moses, leading God's chosen people - then the Jews, now the Americans - towards a promised land, following a pillar of fire. At one point, according to the Bible, Moses was shown a sign: "Behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed."
But the key fire passage in the Burning Bush speech - "We have lit a fire as well; a fire in the minds of men" - actually has its origins in a novel by the 19th century Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Devils, about a group of terrorists' ineffectual struggle to bring down the tyrannical Tsarist regime.

One of the characters declares that it is pointless to try to put out a fire started by terrorists: "The fire is in the minds of men and not in the roofs of houses," he says.

The novel belongs to a period in Dostoevsky's life which the White House might find attractive, after he had been sent by the Tsar to a kind of Russian Guantánamo and emerged a deeply religious conservative.

Nonetheless, it is not clear whether Bush is identifying here with the terrorists - or the tyrants.

Now, re-read that. Think back to the last time you read Dostoevsky's Demons and then ask yourself: what fucking book did James Meek read?

Sure, the quote comes from Demons, but the book is about how Nechaev's socialism was an anarchist tool to destroy society. The book has very little to do with a struggle to bring down the Tsar; it's rather about a political murder perpetrated by anarchist terrorists, led by a transparent representation of Nechaev.

Here's an interesting, somewhat more detailed (note the heavy-handed sarcasm) report on Demons, that I found. It's clear to me that Meek is using an older, crap translation (Pevear and Volokhonsky are THE translators of Russian fiction), if in fact he has recently read the book at all. Maybe he's relying on some crib notes.

I suppose I should be used to worthless obscurantist crap from The Grauniad, but for Christ's sake, you'd think that when speaking of one of the greatest novelists ever, they'd do a spot check for accuracy.