All Greek to Me

One of the other reasons I subscribe to Harper's is that Scott Horton not only excerpts a passage from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, he connects it both to historical parallels between Athens and the U.S.  and to architecture in Germany, with additional Bruckner.

This is the sort of thing public intellectuals are supposed to do.

No Man Can Find the War

Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker on major U. S. wars since WWII.  There's also a Roger Angell article (the baseball season is not over until Mr. Angell has analyzed the Yankees' part in it, and since that included a World Champeenship, there was more to write), but that's not available on-line unless you subscribe, and while I do, I'm not up for ladling out any more data than I already have.  So there.

Arctic Sea Ice

Melting like ice in a warm drink.

Yawn

Apparently that business about the Governor having died early this morning was a dream (I thought I'd heard an announcement on the news, turned over and went back to sleep, and have not yet found the slightest hint of confirmation).

Different Journey

Terrance of Republic of T on Alcoholics Anonymous (today being the birthday of one of the founders of AA) and Thanksgiving.

In Trust

So the question for you is: Do you trust this system? Do you? I would offer one further point: the degree to which you think global warming is a genuine crisis requiring urgent action, is the precise degree to which you should trust this system even less. If you think the entire globe faces a frightening crisis of truly unprecedented proportions, do you trust a system where decisions are made on the basis of friendships, alliances, connections, "influence" and doing "favors" for those one prefers, for whatever reason? No matter how sincere some individuals may be, do you trust a system which invites and encourages the participation of people who aren't sincere in any measurable degree, but are primarily and sometimes solely concerned with increasing their own wealth and power?

Well, do you?

Read the rest.

Researching

Apparently Phil Agre has dropped out of sight.

Random Acts of Senseless Clickiness

So apropos of nothin'-in-particular, I was thinking of Tony Bennett yesterday (no, not the basketball coach) and well-aged singers, which led to poking around skippy's blogroll, which led to Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, posting about movies and baseball.  (I heard that "Do tell.")

Most of it is so rich that I can only nosh for half an hour, but have the entry on Halloween Leftovers for a thorough overview of early horror movies.

More in Sorrow Than in Anger

The word for this is not Schadenfreude, but it's close.

Opening That Door

This being a Monday morning (pries open one eyelid and mainlines decaf) of a short work-week, I poke around the usual Web readings of a morning and found a couple of inspirational things, which caused inspiration to blossom inspirationally, and I think I'm sending the characters in the story I am not writing (not.  not.  not) to a party.  But that comes later, after I unearth a really spectacular bad pun.

Sorry.  Anyway.  J. C. Hutchins at tor.com suggested two questions to move a story along, good.  But Shark-fu gets to a deeper issue:

So, while the blessed few among us who are able to defeat our fear and experience creativity go about the bitness of making and eating sumptuous cakes, the rest of us eat crackers…all because we afraid to risk fucking a few cakes up before we get that shit right.

Because society punishes the creative among us when they do fuck up…because deep down in the core of too many of us is a resentment toward those pretty ass cake making motherfuckers.

(The talk she refers to is a video with subtitles one needs to turn on.)

So, yes, I've been terrified of mistakes in writing for a while.  But it's time to grab that back.  Even if I have to do it in pieces.

Watch this space.  (Not too closely, mind.)

(xposted to Dreamwidth journal)

Organized Football Takes a Stand

Remember the article on concussions in football and the consequences thereof?  The NFL is arranging to have independent neurologists work with teams on concussion issues.

They're also relying on self-reporting and teammates voicing concerns.

The Associated Press this month conducted a survey of 160 NFL players — about 10 percent of the league — and 30 replied that they have hidden or played down the effects of a concussion.

Unemployment by the Month

In easy visual form:  http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html.

You can supply the thousand words.

Antelope Freeway, 1/128 mi.

Via The Sideshow:  Our intelligentsia ain't too bright.

(Yes, the "ain't" is deliberate.  Yes, it's Salon; close the ad.)

As leading opinion-makers, Broder and Diehl are paid to carefully ponder issues and then offer their considered thoughts. That's not part of what they're supposed to do -- it's what they are singularly employed to do. It's how they earn their living and credibility -- indeed, it's their entire raison d'être. And yet, these leading lights of the intelligentsia are overtly preaching anti-intelligence, insisting the president must avoid taking time to think through his actions.

This isn't interpretation -- it's what these Beltway sages are literally saying. Broder is explicitly demanding Obama make a knee-jerk decision -- any decision -- even if it has catastrophic consequences. Likewise, Diehl is calling for Obama to immediately risk thousands of American lives simply because that's what Diehl believes the establishment wants.

At least today, I like this David Sirota guy.

Cy Young Winners

Zack Greinke, K. C. Royals; Tim Lincecum, S. F. Giants.

The Dunes of Seattle

Mrs. Robinson is back!

Sara Robinson on the Copenhagen climate change conference and possible results.

Pass the Popcorn, Please

Driftglass is mocking Thomas Friedman.

We keep being told that all that conservative venom is shellac, and we keep waiting for it to dry...

Stuff from Harper's

Scott Horton features Hannah Arendt on political falsehoods:

The historian knows how vulnerable is the whole texture of facts in which we spend our daily life; it is always in danger of being perforated by single lies or torn to shreds by the organized lying of groups, nations, or classes, or denied and distorted, often carefully covered up by reams of falsehoods or simply allowed to fall into oblivion. Facts need testimony to be remembered and trustworthy witnesses to be established in order to find a secure dwelling place in the domain of human affairs.

He also has a brief piece on contractor immunity:

The contractor had been required by U.S. contracting rules to take out insurance to cover just such an event–not that it mattered, since no American court could require them to pay. Neither could any court in Iraq, it turns out, because of Order No. 17, issued by Paul Bremer as American proconsul, which had granted contractors immunity from process in Iraqi courts. The contractor, it turned out, had been completely immunized for its wrongful acts.

John R. MacArthur draws a lesson from William L. Shirer.  No, not that one:

At the end of his first chapter, Shirer takes stock of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 with nearly 100,000 troops. The Red Army, he wrote, was “reported to be meeting the usual reception which Afghans gave foreign invaders…. To the surprise of no one who knew the land, the Russian troops apparently were having a more difficult time than Moscow had envisaged.”

Here Comes The Judge

You see the critical point of common agreement: the United States is the bestest ever, in this and every other universe. God, we love us. Verily, 'tis a romance for the ages.

On the issues involved in trying the supposed 9/11 co-conspirators:

1. Sentence first, then trial;
2. Fruit of poisoned tree;
3. Corruption of justice.

No, that's my condensed summary. You still need to read the whole article.

It's Not Paranoia if They're Really Out to Get You

Coverage for women's health seems to be getting chipped away.  Gee, I can't imagine why I'd think that.

For Your Edification

Dictionary definitions of Mrs. Palin's favorite epithet.  Via piranha.

Bring Popcorn

Arthur Silber illustrates cultural misogyny with Andrew Sullivan.

(Yes, the sentence may be read two ways.)

Heads' Up

An alert from Mills River Progressive, via Allen L. Roland's Salon blog; I want to see more information before broadcasting.

In Memoriam

Sy Syms, clothing retailer.

Because I heard that commercial at least 5 times a day.  Much lower key than Crazy Eddie, though.

Coincidence

I Like Pie, Spot places tongues firmly in cheek for Blackwater Massacre Legal Services.

Peekaboo!

While I wasn't looking, Fafnir and the Medium Lobster popped up and posted.

Tour de force

Profile of Patricia Racette, soprano.  Seen at Iron Tongue of Midnight.

Sirens Blazing

Progressives following the conservative path, with quotes from Barbara Tuchman.

Connections

Susie Bright notes some similarities:

In the midst of this reality-fantasy convergence, another piece of patriarchal-creep rocked the country— this time, affecting more people than Ft. Hood and Mad Men's viewership combined. We witnessed the Orwellian "health care reform" process become derailed by what I call "The Stupid Amendment," a wildly successful Vatican intervention to make sure that whatever health care plan comes out of Congress, it will be engineered to control women's wombs.

In other words, health insurance for men, not for women.

Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott

John Calvin and James Madison on the necessity of government and Madison's religious life.  (It's Scott Horton's Harper's column, but there is at present no by-line given.)

With 4th movement of Mendelsohn's 5th Symphony as counterpoint.

Listening to the Yardbirds

Silber on American foreign policy, then and now.

Watching the Watchbirds

Suspicious behavior from prosecutors--what to do?

The question that remains is simple: what happens when Justice Department prosecutors break the law, abusing the prosecutorial powers of the United States in the process? In general, the Justice Department’s reaction is to sweep the whole affair under the carpet. There’s no evidence here that this case has been treated any differently. If prosecutors are able to intimidate and cajole the press in violation of Justice Department orders with impunity, that suggests that the attorney general doesn’t treat his own guidelines very seriously.

Note:  This matter occurred prior to current U.S. Attorney General tenure.

Health Care Comparison Shopping 2

1. The legislative path, with obstacles and a Sphinx playing at shortstop.
2. Conservatives are conservatives.
3. Some wisdom:

   I'm all for bloggers pointing out how the conservatives are lying about the public option, but not before pointing out how Democrats are lying about it, too. The fact is, both the supporters and the opponents in Congress are lying about the public option and the whole damn health care bill. Every single one of us should be opposing this bill. Every single one of us should be refusing to be a party to this complete sell-out to the insurance companies and the forced-pregancy forces and the proponents of the Savonarola approach to women and the damned neo-Calvinists who are trying to destroy us all. -- Avedon Carol, The Sideshow
   

With all this tooth-grinding, I'm going to need a dentist...

Follow-Up Article

Conviction in a murder case.  (via supergee.)  Note that the article has rather a different slant from the one at the time of the murder.  (Mentioned here.)

Recent Not-Exactly-Prognostication

In July, Lou Dobbs of CNN allied with the birthers.  (Links to my post, which links to Southern Beale's account, which links to Media Matters, just so you have the complete chain of evidence.)

Mr. Dobbs is leaving CNN, effective today.

I can't help wondering whether there were subtle pressures applied.  Subtly.

Veterans Day

Thanks, appreciation, and gratitude to those who served.  (My father, uncle, and elder cousins in particular.)

1.  Bossymarmalade on Dreamwidth posted the video of the National Film Board of Canada's documentary on Chinese veterans of WWII (copyright 1999), which is both heartbreaking and stirring.
2.  Making Light's annual posting is not yet up, but here's last year's.
3. Ruminations on Armistice Day, by Terry Karney. ETA:  More recent thoughts.
4. Shark-fu lays down the law.
5. What I said.  See also this (Prof. Susurro).

34 Years Ago

The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Pat Kight was a young reporter then; her account is here.

Dr. Grumpy posted the lyrics to the Gordon Lightfoot song and adds a little-known fact.

On Authoritarianism

Two parts of an ongoing series on authoritarianism (remember when Republicans were going to great trouble to distinguish authoritarianism from totalitarianism?  Specious) running in Cogitations, which I will add to the blogroll.

Part I.

Democracy, you see, requires compromise, and truly listening to what others have to say so that compromise can be achieved. Because of the authoritarian orientation that closes doors to open discourse and marches roughshod in condemnatory righteousness over “enemies” (Let’s take our country back! We’re the Real America!) – we are losing or have already lost our channels of true bipartisanship. It is increasingly difficult to find common ground in national issues. The disconnect between liberals and conservatives has become a gaping chasm, and authoritarianism is the underlying dynamic, I think, behind why the country has become so polarized, so Red State/Blue, “Us or Them”, most markedly over the last decade.

Part II.

(The Germans knocked down the Berlin Wall on November 9th 20 years ago.)

(Next year will be the 25th (!) anniversary of the recording of "We Are the World" and I find it still moves me, so I've been running the video, and then I realized there had to be a Making Of feature, and there is, and it's in 9 parts.  [Jimmy Thudpucker was apparently not in camera range. ;-)]  I'm bookmarking everything and (YouTube Willing) will link or post videos next spring.

The Song Remains the Same

Driftglass excoriates the Bloviators of Sunday (that's Led Zeppelin in the background).

...Lindsey Graham warned “the public option will destroy private insurance.”

Just as public parks and gyms have destroyed for-profit fitness clubs, public beaches have destroyed private seaside resorts, public transit has destroyed the car, Segue, motorcycle, bike and scooter industries, public libraries have driven Amazon into bankruptcy, taxpayer-funded police departments have wiped out the market for private security firms, the US Armed Forces have put Blackwater out of business, community colleges have killed the Ivy League, public playgrounds have destroyed private sports franchises, public washrooms have people turning their bathrooms into extra closet space, public housing has destroyed the housing market, public drinking fountains have crushed Evian and Ice Mountain.

[snipped]

Of course, even if you accept Graham’s bullshit premise, he still failed to explain why it would be a bad thing.

It got worse:

Luntz: The public is most angry about wasteful Washington spending. (Luntz then reads his own polling questions as if they mean something.)

Cokie Roberts: The problem is, people want jobs and don’t want to spend any money. How oh how will they do that?

Will: I remember how the Carthaginians handled a similar problem in the…

Luntz: I’m gonna throw out a completely unrelated issue which my PR firm is contractually obligated to drag into this conversation: Governors releasing prisoners.

At which point you can actually see Donna Brazile roll her eyes.

Drifty is a treasure from the Steve Gilliard school.

Daughter of Linguistic Oddity

Guy in dark green t-shirt which read "Eu no trabalho aqui."

Think he browses in Portuguese bookstores?

One Reaction to Passage by House of Health Care Payment Reform

Not only bad, but destructive.

Another reaction.

So I was looking at one of my regular stops [found it--Body Impolitic], noted someone objecting to "homophobia" [4th comment] as a term for people who object to gays, lesbians, transgendered, bisexuals, and generally sexually speaking not heteronormative, on principle rather than out of fear, wondered whether this person realizes that there is a fairly sizable intersection set of people who have principles and also in some sense fear queerness (for whatever reason), and am considering whether the term "homobigot" should be brought back, even though the word seems to mean "same bigotries" rather than "intolerant of GLBTQ&" and might therefore confuse.  Perhaps (one of the distinguishing characteristics of the human in the wild is the insistence on distinguishing characteristics) I need to resort to mathematical notation.  So in the Venn diagram, we get the set of not-phobic, not-friendly, not-gay [in the umbrella sense].  Homotolerantsorta?

New Series

Arthur Silber begins a new series somewhat related to the series on Tribalism.

When a small number of individuals seek to effect major change in the societies in which they live, the success of their efforts depends on a variety of factors. Among them are the clarity of their vision (what precisely it is they "see," using that word with Sondheim's meaning), the degree of dedication they bring to their task, their imagination and passion, and the specific methods of advocacy and action they adopt. In terms of how successful they are, one factor can be of great importance: the alliances they are able to forge, and the segments of society to which the different parts of that alliance appeal. Such alliances can be determinative in the success of the overall effort.

Essay touches on the struggle to end slavery and the agenda of "teabaggers" (political version).

In Memoriam

Stacy Rowles, jazz musician.

Cookie Jill Brings More Corroboration

[Paraphrase] We're big wealthy (having stolen taxpayer money) companies and one of our employees might have a child who is exposed to this H1N1 virus thing and who doesn't have a nanny, so we need to be vaccinated against swine flu before pregnant women, children, child-care providers, medical-care professionals, and people with chronic conditions!  Because we're big and rich and we should get it first! [/paraphrase]

I hear John of Gaunt, myself.

Corroboration

What Digby said.

War is hell and that's no lie. And the wars the military are fighting today have their own special spin on that hell. But the problem with Matthews and other pampered gasbags is that they apparently think war is some sort of a pageant and never fully grasp that war is always about lethal, bloody violence. Which is why we shouldn't do it unless there is absolutely no choice. Using it to "send messages" or "protect the country's prestige" not only kills the other, it kills your own --- and not just on the battlefield.

It's not that human beings haven't evolved. It's that not enough have evolved enough.

Ongoing

I'm as disappointed as the rest of you, but at least the Phillies didn't get swept this time.

Home truths from Avedon Carol.

I am holding the victims and families of the Fort Hood shooters up to the Light; back when we lived in Germany, a lot of the people we knew who were being rotated Stateside were going to Fort Hood, so even if the chances are slim-to-none that I'd know anyone there now...it's a connection, tenuous though it is.

Let the River Run

Fafnir is streaming his consciousness again.

Must be that New Jerusalem.

Somersby Smacks Rich.

I never did get why Frank Rich turned from theater criticism to politics.

Odd Things in the Corners of The New York Times

Chuck Berry considered as poetry master.

Guess Who's Coming to Town?

Right down Santa Claus Lane.

Also, the first sighting of eggnog occurred today at 6:04 PST.  Alas, there is an astonishing amount of cholesterol in eggnog and I now have to be concerned with that.  Rats.  (And yes, it has to be the real thing; reduced fat eggnog tastes awful.)

And so begins the two month flogging of The Season of Spending Money.  Some say the recession is over.  I don't believe that.  Do you believe that?  The recession is over and Sauron really didn't want the One Ring.  Right.

Remember The Beatitudes

Arthur Silber on hatred of women, the rape in Richmond, and learning to be bullies.

In the most crucial sense, this is not a culture that deserves to survive. In all those ways that are conducive to fulfillment and joy, those ways that concern the sanctity of life and the possibility of happiness, such a culture is already dead.

And then there is Senator Lieberman.

Good News

GI Bill amended to include children of service members.