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Saturday, August 10, 2002
Today's question: Does bad prose justify regime change? Regardless of details, and of the nature of evolution between successive historical chapters, the human lesson derived is that the present of any nation or people cannot be isolated from its past; and that, according to this, nations and peoples have established their present, even though it might be distinguishable from their past in terms of advancement or retraction..." _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ You're a pal, Rich, but I hope I get to say you were wrong wrong wrong... I like Richard Bennett, but I always cringe a bit when I click to his weblog, because he's going to tell me it's "Bye-bye to the Simon-for-Governor campaign." Then my heart is crushed, and my soul is bleak, until I stumble on something that says otherwise, like this, from NewsMax:Why the Pessimism on Frontrunner Bill Simon?The fraud conviction against Simon's company sounds like bolshoi to me, but even if it isn't, sensible voters will probably still find him more attractive than Grayvis. Of course sensible leaves out a heck of a lot of Californians, but still ... people might prefer a competent fraudster to an incompetent one such as we have now. This rush to declare Simon dead sounds like wishful thinking by the press to me. The fraud trial, from what I've read, looks like a jury run amok when even the judge didn't think there was a case. Of course, those jurors are also ... you guessed it, California voters.  Update: Richard responds that NewsMax is being biased itself, not mentioning that the poll was before the verdict, and not mentioning an unpublished poll that showed a 20% drop after it. So I'm down in the dumps again, and feeling very dubious about NewsMax.
I'm no expert on practical politics, but it would seem to me that (assuming that the verdict is as bogus as I've heard), this could almost be an opportunity. You're are trying to get voters to listen to your message, and what will catch their attention like talking about your own worst scandal? Run ads about it; Here's the fraud conviction my opponents are hollering about, here's the truth, you be the judge; and BY THE WAY, the real fraud is going on in Sacramento. But bold honesty and openness are not things that political consultants are going to recommend; it would tend to put them out of business. Just like computer consultants are never going to recommend Macintoshes; once they are up and running they don't provide much work for consultants. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Friday, August 09, 2002
Joanne writes: You guys will have to start praising NPR's superb judgment in selecting open-minded, thoughtful, intelligent commentators: I'm making my debut on "All Things Considered" today (Friday) at 5:20, 7:20 and 9:20 pm Eastern time with a commentary on the move to require all students to take college-prep classes. It looks like this will be a semi-regular free-lance gig. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Real Life "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Thursday, August 08, 2002
So when are we going to start cleaning their clocks? News item: Iran Establishes Rocket Training Centers In Lebanon _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Wednesday, August 07, 2002
A Rhymed HAIKU At Homeland Security By Will Warren (via Natalie Solent) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Posted
8:40 AM
Tuesday, August 06, 2002
The BLOGSPHERE could make a difference Isn't it time for a YAHOO BOYCOTT???YAHOO is the only non-Chinese portal to agree to censor the Internet and prevent people in China from hearing things their brutal authoritarian government doesn't like. Story Here. ...Most notable among the self-censoring signatories of the pledge is U.S.-based Yahoo!, which maintains a Chinese-language website. It appears to be the only non-China-based company among the hundreds that have bowed to Beijing's pressure to."...As Megan said, read it and weep. If lots of webloggers spread the word, a significant boycott could happen. If a thousand weblogs ran the headline: I'm boycotting Yahoo as long as they boycott Freedom, then millions of people would read about it. We could hit Yahoo where it hurts. And they deserve it; few companies have benefited from the Internet and the freedoms we enjoy as much as Yahoo. Now they are betraying the very values that made them successful. If they want to uphold "the ethical norms of the socialist cultural civilization, they need to get smacked with the ethical norms of Capitalist civilization! (And this would not be a distraction from the War on Terror. The Chinese government has been very chummy with various Axis of Evil types. They haven't been getting nearly enough input from the Free World.) Jennie Taliaferro writes: John, I'm pretty fed up with Yahoo,too, and the way they choose photos for their Slideshows of the Middle East Conflict.
See my post today called A Tale of 2 Funerals where I talk about it. Yahoo is the CNN of the Internet! (Who knew?) Aziz Poonawalla writes:John, I have some thoughts about the proposed boycott, which I just thought I'd share (feel free to quote me if you like, I would blog these ideas, but I don't have access to the web browser for the rest of the day)What do YOU think? Give me some feedback... ranting screeds says:I'm not a big fan of boycotts, nor are I opposed to them. I'd actually recommend people simply barrage Yahoo! with complaint letters on the subject. They've introduced policies in the past that users have found abhorrent, and after enough complaining they have often bowed to the pressure. Likewise, they can and should be shamed: Yahoo! often tries to present itself as a forum for the expression of just about anything, and likewise since they are apparently alone on this right now, can be made to feel alone in abandoning free-speech principles. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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8:44 AM
Fog over Tehran Glenn Frazier is trying to follow events in Iran, but things are very murky right now: It is morning in TehranIt's things like this that make me question my own sanity. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Monday, August 05, 2002
KAUS on KRUG... Mickey Kaus on how Krugman grudgingly admits error -- to readers of his Web site, anyway.Rhinos, 1; Krugman, 0: Will Paul Krugman's next column acknowledge the serious fact mistake in his July 16 column on George W. Bush's Texas Rangers investment? The mistake was pointed out in a letter to the NYT, dated 7/22 but printed last Friday. Krugman admitted the mistake yesterday, in weaselly best-defense-is-a-good-offense fashion, on his own Web site. But how many NYT readers read Krugman's Web site? Don't NYT columnists print corrections of their errors in the same space where the errors were made?... _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Keep 'em on the reservation "Almost fifty years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the government couldn't stand in the schoolhouse doors and keep minority children out. The Supreme Court [now says] those same government officials can't stand in the doorway and keep minority children in. Parents should have the freedom in America to choose which schools their kids go to, especially when the local public school isn't cutting the mustard. This Supreme Court decision...will save thousands and thousands of urban children from bad educations in the short-term and equally provide assistance in ending what has become an unfortunate cycle of poverty." --ACU Chairman David Keene _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Low-Carb Lemon Curd... Mrs Random Jottings and I like to cook, and our time in the kitchen is distinctly Kafkaesque. What could that mean? As the Weidners try to gain control over their nightmarish souffles, they succeed only in accelerating their own excruciating downward spiral...No no, not that Kafka. We mean Barbara Kafka, writer of cookbooks. Her book Roasting: A Simple Art, is one of our favorites. And in her Microwave Gourmet is this recipe for Lemon Curd, which Charlene just modified for her Low-Carbohydrate diet.LEMON CURDThe recipe was modified by substituting 14 packets of Equal sweetener for the sugar. Also, since we have a little Meyer Lemon tree, which was in a good mood and gave us some fruit, we increased the juice. Meyer Lemons are sweeter than ordinary lemons. Real Life "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Sunday, August 04, 2002
Clinton War Plan I've been hearing about the plan that Clinton prepared to fix Al Qaeda's wagon. The mind reels with the possibilities...GWB: Condi, Condi, look what I found in the drawer of my big new desk! It's some wierd kinda plan. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Whimsey... Charlene just read this out loud to me, by Warnie Lewis:...the party broke up, Tolkien, Dyson, J. ["Jack," C.S. Lewis] , a little unobtrusive clergyman, and myself walking back to Magdalen where we strolled about in the grove, where the deer were flitting about in the twilight -- Tolkien swept off his hat to them and remarked "Hail fallow well met."Warnie is C.S. Lewis' brother Warren, an interesting person in his own right. The brothers were extremely close, though often separated because Warren was a career Army officer. Warren wrote several charming books about the Court of Louis the Fourteenth, and I have a fascinating collection from his diaries. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Iran protests Glenn Frazier writes:Tomorrow at 8pm Tehran time (11:30am US EDT, I believe), there are to be gatherings and demonstrations to mark the anniversary of their 1906 Constitutional Revolution. I have no idea how well the media will cover them, nor whether the Iranian government will succeed at keeping them small and/or disrupted, but we'll see. The Jacksonian Tradition Steven den Beste has a strong answer to a peacenik, and in it he refers to this essay: The Jacksonian Tradition by Walter Russell Mead. I highly recommend it, it makes many things clear about America, things I tend not to notice just because I'm so close to them....Suspicious of untrammeled federal power (Waco), skeptical about the prospects for domestic and foreign do-gooding (welfare at home, foreign aid abroad), opposed to federal taxes but obstinately fond of federal programs seen as primarily helping the middle class (Social Security and Medicare, mortgage interest subsidies), Jacksonians constitute a large political interest...The essay answered one question that has bothered me for a long time. Admiral Gallery wrote in one of his books about how he was part of a war-planning group in the Pentagon during WWII. He pointed out then that, just like Britain, Japan was completely dependent on foreign trade, and therefore there was no need to invade. An effective blockade would be enough to defeat them. He was presenting an obvious truth, but nobody paid any attention! ...For the first Jacksonian rule of war is that wars must be fought with all available force. The use of limited force is deeply repugnant. Jacksonians see war as a switch that is either "on" or "off." They do not like the idea of violence on a dimmer switch. Either the stakes are important enough to fight for—in which case you should fight with everything you have—or they are not, in which case you should mind your own business and stay home. To engage in a limited war is one of the costliest political decisions an American president can make—neither Truman nor Johnson survived it...For me the most interesting thing is that while Jacksonian America has its origins in the Scotch-Irish frontier culture, predictions that it would die out as America became urbanized and sophisticated have proved totally wrong. Rather, Jacksonian style has spread widely, and infiltrated other cultures. For instance, many from urban Catholic immigrant backgrounds have become suburbanites with decidedly Jacksonian views. One wonders, can it spread beyond America? Another interesting thing is that the racial prejudice that was traditionally Jacksonian is eroding. The military is now the most racially integrated place in America. A pal of mine once expressed a quintessential Jacksonian view when he said, "I'm not prejudiced against anybody. As long as they're white people who work hard and pay their taxes." He was joking, but also not joking. But probably white people would now include any black or asian neighbors who maintained similar standards... |
