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Saturday, January 29, 2005Wow! Talk about a slam on Kennedy. Take a look at the excerpt on LGF.Short form: Does Teddy Kennedy have a committment problem? At least when it comes to Mary Jo and Iraq. 
posted by gbarto at 10:13 PM Successful Iraq elections I gather the polls are open over there now. And as we all know, it isn't going to go perfectly. We shouldn't expect it to. So, what's realistic? The U.S. manages around 50% participation. Maybe 60%. On the one hand, there's not usually as much at stake. On the other hand, nobody firebombs our voting booths these days. If the Iraqis manage to get 40% of eligible voters to the polls in spite of the death threats, I'd give them two cheers. If they break 50%, I'd pronounce it a triumph. And if it takes them less than 2 months to settle on a winner, they'll have us beat vis-à-vis 2000 too.
posted by gbarto at 9:53 PM from Arabella Stuart Felicia Hemans Death - what? Is death a locked and treasured thing, Guarded by swords of fire - a hidden spring, A fabled fruit - that I must thus endure, As if the world within me held no cure? Wherefore not spread free wings? Heaven, Heaven control These thoughts - they rush - I look into my soul As down a gulf, and tremble at the array Of fierce forms crowding it! Give strength to pray, So shall their dark host pass.
posted by gbarto at 1:00 AM Friday, January 28, 2005from A Song to DavidChristopher Smart Sweet the young nurse, with love intense, Which smiles o'er sleeping innocence; Sweet when the lost arrive; Sweet the musician's ardour beats, While his vague mind's in quest of sweets, The choicest flowers to hive. Sweeter, in all the strains of love, The language of thy turtle-dove, Paired to thy swelling chord; Sweeter, with every grace endued, The glory of thy gratitude Respired unto the Lord.
posted by gbarto at 11:49 PM Thursday, January 27, 2005The Blessed Damozel - selection two (of two)Dante Gabriel Rossetti "I wish that he were come to me, For he will come," she said. "Have I not prayed in Heaven? - on earth, Lord, Lord, has he not pray'd? Are not two prayers a perfect strength? And shall I feel afraid? "When round his head the aureole clings, And he is clothed in white, I'll take his hand and go with him To the deep wells of light; As unto a stream we will step down, And bathe there in God's sight."
posted by gbarto at 8:29 PM Peace is the Way Deepak Chopra Self-help guru Deepak Chopra has taken on a new and bigger challenge: Healing the whole planet. So, has he finally gone round the bend? To the contrary, he seems as sane as ever. His discussions are not rooted in pie-eyed fantasies about “what if they gave a war and nobody came?” but in a serious attempt to figure out how to bring out the best in human nature and help people overcome their worst impulses, especially those rooted in irrational fear. If enough people do this, he believes, the momentum will be with people supporting peace. The first thing to note about Chopra’s project is that he distinguishes between being pro-peace and anti-war. Too often, he says, activists get caught up in the anti- side of their causes, which does not solve the problem, only demonizes those who disagree about its nature or solution. Though I haven’t seen it directly cited, Chopra answers the old rhyme about “War, war, what is it good for?” quite nicely: too much. The source of war is not evil men in dark lairs plotting to ruin the planet’s day. It is a combination of social and economic factors that have given us the tools for war and an emotional context in which we’re suddenly glad to have them. The solution to war, in Deepak’s world, is not pat slogans and disdain for those who disagree with us. It is an understanding of where war comes from and a concerted effort to address its causes before it comes to that. The number one cause is fear, people defending themselves by attacking, hurting others to avoid being hurt. What is needed for this is not to look down upon those favoring war but to seek more constructive ways of living, first as individuals, then as societies. And it has to be understood that this takes time. You can’t march on Washington, declare you’ve done your part and go home. Peace isn’t promoted by celebrating peace, but by living it, respecting those you meet, helping people not just materially but with smiles and kindness, with attention to others when you’d rather focus on yourself. Notes Chopra, it’s easy for the average American to go days, weeks, months without killing a single human being. It’s not so easy for the society to do so. Making the move from an agglomeration of peaceful people to a peaceful society, though, will take a leap of imagination in which we start thinking about how to do collectively what we do individually. Chopra believes that human progress doesn’t always have to be a slow, uphill climb. Rather, new ideas fire the collective imagination and in a matter of months or years, the whole landscape changes. Though I’m only 32, I’ve seen this several times in my lifetime. I’ve watched us go from typewriters to word processors to computers. From the US Mail to FedEx to the fax to the Internet. From a world where people read from the selections at their public library to a world where if you click the book cover at the top of this article and give ‘em your credit card number, they’ll drop Deepak’s book on your doorstep in three or four days. All of these things involve the expansion of consciousness, enabling to say more, learn more and share more than we ever could before. Which means that if someone has a good idea, a lot of people can learn about it fast. Deepak hopes he has one of these ideas. He admits he isn’t sure. But he hopes that maybe he’s figured out a little bit of what’s gone wrong. And unlike Douglas Adams’ Fenchurch, he’s gotten his chance to tell us. It’s worth a hearing. It is striking to read this book the week after Bush’s inauguration. There are all sorts of little things that pop out because they sound exactly like the more idealistic notions Bush espouses. Deepak notes, in fact, the oddity of this wartime presidency. Glory, power, prosperity – the President disdains all the classic motives for war and instead announces that with no hope of profit or power we’re going to risk American lives and treasure so that other people who may or may not be grateful can live in freedom. Even if you don’t trust the President’s motives, his words tell us that we’re in a different world. I think Chopra may not be as far off as he fears. In World War II, we had the firestorm of Dresden – bombing so fierce that the very air caught fire – followed by Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And then we got sort of freaked out. Every war since then has been fought with careful attention to making sure that another atom bomb didn’t get used. MAD and SDI, whether you think them cunning or misguided, were the epitomes of this thinking, whole doctrines and programs built on the notion that we would make sure we wouldn’t use the weapons we had. And now? Now the symbol of military might is the ability to control without killing. Minimizing innocent casualties used to mean you only bombed factories making war materiel. Now it means you try to separate the conscripts who really don’t want to be there but will shoot if they have to from those who are actually dedicated to defeating your army. In the Carter era, we talked about neutron bombs vaporizing people without hurting the infrastructure. In the telecom era, we’re going to make electronic bombs that stop tanks’ engines without hurting the soldiers inside (we’ve already done a little in this direction). What happens when the most prosperous and militarily capable nation in the world starts losing its stomach for war? It depends. In an earlier era, it was bad news, making the world a playground for tyrants, murderers and thugs. But that’s because before you get rid of war, you have to come up with something better in its place. Some new way of addressing the needs and fears and wants of the world so that instead of lashing out at each other we can reach out to each other. Deepak’s version of this is conscious evolution, a deliberate decision to try to be better people individually so that when the time comes to choose between love and violence, we’ll make the right decision. It would be easy, of course, for the supposedly realistic to laugh at the idealism of it all. But then, why did President George W. Bush pop up at a mosque a few days after 9/11? We’ve got a ways to go before humanity works this war thing out of its system. Maybe it never will. But, from Bush’s call for universal freedom to Chopra’s call for universal love, there are signs that, maybe, just maybe, the world is shifting. Signs that if war is not to end, it is at least to become a much smaller part of human existence than it has been. Chopra notes an interesting statistic: Though we’ve passed a thousand American deaths in Iraq, the world has just experienced the 12-month period with the fewest war deaths since 1945. Forget the hippies chanting, “What if they gave a war and nobody came?” The real question is: What if peace came and no one was ready? Chopra offers a way to get ready and to maybe help make it happen. It’s worth a look.
posted by gbarto at 8:20 PM Wednesday, January 26, 2005Marcus, who most assuredly does not like President Bush, casts a jaundiced eye on the President's contention that one reason to change Social Security is that Black men, who tend to die younger, get robbed by the system.Marcus, of course, is just a little bothered by the political expediency of the whole thing, but hey, if the wedge fits... What I found interesting is this bit from the Congressional Black Caucus: Caucus leaders contend that blacks rely disproportionately on disability and survivors' benefits paid by Social Security, and that Bush's changes would jeopardize the entire system - hurting black beneficiaries far more than the private accounts might help them. [my emphasis]When's the last time the Congressional Black Caucus talked about blacks disproportionately benefiting from anything? By the way, this is the latest evidence that the Dems are really in total disarray. Where's the plan to save Social Security better, with the same Social Security payout plus a corporate tax to fund supplementary private accounts? If the Democrats can't even pull it together long enough to call for raising taxes on businesses to spend more on entitlements, the party really is moribund.
posted by gbarto at 5:19 PM I haven't talked much about the Seymour Hersh thing, indeed at all, because I'm not one-hundred percent sure how noteworthy it is. Had you asked me if we were running or putting together operations vis-à-vis Iran, my answer would have been, "Sure, or at least I hope so." Hersh has managed to tell us that what neocons hoped and liberals feared is true. As to the question of whether he endangered troops, one has to ask when that last stopped the MSM. It is the standard policy of journalists to play hardball with us, since the worst we do is subpoena them, while they cozy up to thugs who would otherwise kill them. Still, I guess Hersh has gone out of his way to get a scoop that could be bothersome to our policymakers and deadly for people willing to take far greater risks than Hersh for what they believe in. What to do about Hersh? Cicero has this to say: Mr. Hersh's piece was damnable, and [I] would like to see him jailed for running his mouth. In fact, in a sane world, he would be joining there several other journalists for publishing a number of stories that have done serious harm to the military interests of the US and our allies in this conflict.Probably about right.
posted by gbarto at 1:47 PM Yow! Ten Killed as Commuter Trains Crash in L.A. Suburb Police Say Suicidal Man Left SUV on Tracks He survived. And here you thought you were having a bad day.
posted by gbarto at 1:38 PM The Blessed Damozel - selection one (of two) Dante Gabriel Rossetti From the fixed place of Heaven she saw Time like a pulse shake fierce Through all the worlds. Her gaze still strove Within the gulf to pierce Its path; and now she spoke as when The stars sang in their spheres. The sun was gone now; the curled moon Was like a little feather Fluttering far down the gulf; and now She spoke through the still weather. Her voice was like the voice the stars Had when they sang together.
posted by gbarto at 1:44 AM Some people have been taking rather nasty shots at Robert Byrd for the way he's opposing Condi Rice, implying he's racist by suggesting that he's using the same legislative tactics to stall her nomination for SecState that he used to try and stall the Civil Rights Act of '64. How unfair! I, for one, think Byrd's made progress... In '64, he didn't want Black women anywhere near the front of the bus. Now he'll let them sit anywhere except in the driver's seat. Oops. I did it too.
posted by gbarto at 1:27 AM Tuesday, January 25, 2005from IsrafelEdgar Allan Poe The ecstasies above With thy burning measures suit - Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love, With the fervor of thy lute - Well may the stars be mute! Yes, Heaven is thine, but this Is a world of sweets and sours; Our flowers are merely - flowers, And the shadow of thy perfect bliss Is the sunshine of ours.
posted by gbarto at 10:35 PM Legal... but safe and rare? The AOL headline is about Hillary seeking to bridge opinion on abortion. Meanwhile, Guytak has the latest press release from Operation Rescue - about a woman who died from the aftermath of a botched abortion. She had the abortion on January 13. She died a few days later. According to one insider, Tiller's patient arrived at the hospital with "severe hemorrhaging" and died "a few days later" from undetermined causes but the source said, "are very likely to be the result of a botched abortion." According to 911 transcripts, the ambulance was requested by Tiller office worker Marguerite Reed, who according to 911 dispatch records was being "very evasive" and "refused to give any information about the patient."The TurkeyBlog sits resolutely on the fence on the larger abortion question, with the wishy-washy "personally opposed but not sure the government should decide" viewpoint. But when the people the pro-choicers claim to be advocates for are dying and the abortion providers are too busy covering their own butts to give the emergency teams information that might help the patient until they're sure it won't compromise them... It is often said that abortion should be a decision reached by a woman consulting her health care provider. Fine. But the abortion mills are not "health care providers." If pro-choice advocates are serious, they'll join Operation Rescue in calling for a full investigation into what happened with this woman, and disdaining any whitewash. Failing that, are they really advocates for women? Or just for abortion as a political principle?
posted by gbarto at 10:06 PM Monday, January 24, 2005A few thoughts on Johnny Carson:Carson was the last king of late night. He may also have been our last truly solid culture unifier. Americans come from a lot of backgrounds, culturally, politically, ethnically and religiously. But they split into two camps: Those who care about the news and those who don't. Carson's variety show had a way of bringing the two together: News geeks tuned in to see the latest jokes about the president, the congress, etc. And especially to see if he'd be obvious about taking someone's side. Carson had his finger on the public pulse, and if a pol or entertainer went from getting a gentle ribbing to truly being smacked, you knew they were on their way out. Not because Johnny was that popular, but because he had a big audience and kept it that way by not truly taking sides unless there was strong public consensus. While Johnny entertained the (should I say "us"?) news geeks, we usually stayed around for the interviews and saw a bit of pop culture. Meanwhile, a fair share of the non-news-geek population got its news from Johnny's monologue, which was funnier and better written than the evening news, and didn't require looking at Rather or Jennings (who was doing NBC news in the '80s? was Brokaw already there?) The result was that a whole lot of people were informed, entertained and had something to talk about at work, even if there was really nothing to talk about. The coolest thing about Johnny is that he wasn't cool the way comics are today. He was sharp and witty, but fairly self-effacing at the same time. The monologue was about the news, the bits were about stock figures like psychics, pols and used car salesmen - an American commedia del arte - and the interviews were about the interviewees. And what held it all together was a man smart enough to know just what to say to keep things light and fun without getting in the way. Other comics have their merits, but Carson will reign supreme, one of the few hosts to run a truly funny show not by being outrageous or funny but by bringing out the funniness in what was already there. Another comedian gave us "Thanks for the memories," but for Johnny, it's better to offer thanks for the laughter and good fun.
posted by gbarto at 1:44 AM Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - selected quatrains Edward Fitzgerald Into this Universe, and Why not knowing,' Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing; And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing. What, without asking, hither hurried Whence? And, without asking, Whither hurried Hence! Oh, many a Cup of this forbidden Wine Must drown the memory of that insolence!
posted by gbarto at 1:23 AM Sunday, January 23, 2005Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - selected quatrainsEdward Fitzgerald Some for the Glories of this world; and some Sight for the Prophet's Paradise to come; Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go, Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum! Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, Before we too into the Dust descend; Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and - sans End!
posted by gbarto at 11:57 PM Bear any burden?Dean Esmay is discussing "White House backpedaling" (Instapundit's paraphrase) on the Inaugural Address. But when one visits the WaPo story that's the core of the post, one gets the distinct impression that the Post found the folks it knew would be most reticent to boost this wholeheartedly and ask some deliberately obtuse questions. Officials responded that 1) the speech didn't say anything dramatically new, 2) it wasn't a "right turn," but 3) it did say some old things more clearly or directly. Dean Esmay asks, Did Lincoln's, JFK's, FDR's, Ronald Reagan's, Dwight Eisenhowers, Bill Clinton's advisors have to do this? When they have to say "It is not this...It is not that...It is not so and so" it means a failure of a basic goal: clear communication of a message.Bull. It means we've got a media that is fundamentally biased against this President and will do anything it can anytime it can to undermine the best of what he stands for. When President Kennedy was sworn in, did the Washington Post run a piece two days later entitled, "Bear Any Burden?: Bobby Kennedy concedes invasion of East Germany not imminent"? When Lincoln said, "With charity for all and malice toward none," did the newspaper headlines say, "Will all Rebs get clemency? Advisers say no"? (Actually, maybe some did.) Bottom line, this is not the reporting of news, but the manufacture of news. When Esmay asks if JFK, FDR, etc. had to do this, the answer is, of course not. No one would have had the chutzpah to go to a Kennedy adviser and say, "'Bear any burden' is nice, but between you and me, but if Moscow acts directly, will we really respond?" But today, a media hell-bent on taking down the president a peg any time he gains any ground cannot even let an inaugural address soar without trying to pull it back down. This says less about Bush than what has become of the MSM. Which is why the MSM is losing share and Bush got reelected despite all their efforts. Coming next week: Bush makes a bold statement, advisers rebuff opportunities to talk to reporters about the more nuanced implications of the president's remarks and the same WaPo reporter does a story wondering why the Bush administration is so inaccessible to the press. P.S. If you'd asked Pierre Salinger in 1960 if "bear any burden" included challenging Soviet troops with American ones in Prague, he'd have said "Hell no." And it would never have been reported.
posted by gbarto at 11:32 AM Johnny Carson is dead at 79, according to the BBC. It's strange. They were talking about him just a day or two ago on the radio, bringing thoughts of "wonder what he's been up to." Really wish it had been something better. More thoughts later.
posted by gbarto at 11:14 AM So, Peter Robinson, Bill Buckley and Peggy Noonan found Bush's speech a bit trying. And Robinson wants to know how it bodes for Bush if supporters found it grating. Mr. Robinson needs to look, on the flipside, at those who found it enthralling, or soaring or otherwise a damn fine piece of rhetoric. As someone who agrees with Austin Bay - The President’s inaugural speech said in spades what I wish he would say every day.I wonder what it is that makes this speech grate on some conservatives while others like it. Robinson says it's an overreach, but Jonah's right. This was for Islamism like Reagan's addresses vis-à-vis Communism. Bush has set some great guideposts for us that remind us of three important things: 1) Rights do not come from governments but from God; good governments secure them, bad ones erode them, but in principle they are always there. 2) Given the existence of inalienable rights, it is the right and proper - and inevitable - to see governments that secure rights succeed and those that erode them tumble. 3) When all is said and done, there should be no question as to which side the United States was on in this. As I said a day or two ago, Bush has set the stage for this to be something even better than a second American century: The Freedom Century. This is especially important, and especially called for, because it was Bush's first shot after being formally reaffirmed as our leader, to reply to the ultimate in rhetorical bombast, the bombing of the WTC. When Bush became president, there was massive skepticism. When he took the war on terror in directions not uniformly agreed upon, our enemies saw a chance to turn the United States against the idea even of a right to defend itself. Reaffirmed, Bush was finally in a position to announce that neither he nor the United States would deviate from a course consistent with our history and values as he understood them. This he did and it was a welcome blast, signaling clearly that our nation had not only the troops but also the ideals to challenge both the viciousness of Islamism and the defeatist indifference of the American left to the oppressed of the world.
posted by gbarto at 1:03 AM |
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