In his weekly address, President Barack Obama addressed the latest economic news and urged the passing of an America Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. He also announced that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is preparing a new strategy for reviving our financial system -- which will not only ensure that CEOs aren't abusing taxpayer dollars, but also get credit flowing and lower mortgage costs.
Rarely in history has our country faced economic problems as devastating as this crisis. But the strength of the American people compels us to come together. The road ahead will be long, but I promise you that every day that I go to work in the Oval Office I carry with me your stories, and my administration is dedicated to alleviating your struggles and advancing your dreams. You are calling for action. Now is the time for those of us in Washington to live up to our responsibilities.
The Republican response so far is to do anything but come together: Both the recovery plan and the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed the House along party lines. My Congressman, supposed Republican moderate Dave Reichert, voted "nay" on both bills. I sent him the following emails, first regarding the recovery plan:
I wish to express my extreme disappoint that you chose to oppose the economic recovery package supported by President Obama.
Our country's economy is in serious condition. The rigidities of ideological laissez-faire conservatism have not only failed, they have led the country into its present situation. In the past, you have shown an admirable independence from the hard-core right wing of your party and voted as a true moderate. I am surprised and disappointed that your independent values failed you on this critical issue. Simply put, it appears that you voted to obstruct because you are more committed to opposing the President than you are to working across party lines to face down the recession.
You will have another opportunity to support the recovery package when it emerges from conference committee. Please put country ahead of party and support economic recovery.
Regarding the Ledbetter Act:
It is beyond me why you voted against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The intent of the act is a matter of simple fair play and decency; by opposing the legislation you allied yourself with the most reactionary elements of your party. I for one am not willing to see the 8th District become synonymous with the politics of Deep South Republicans. Shame on you.
Mardi Gras Parades have started! The New Orleans Daily Photo has a picture of last year's Bacchus Parade here. Go here for a complete schedule of this year's parades...
Eunice, in St. Landry Parish, is typical of many Cajun communities that hold Mardi Gras “runs,” known as Courir de Mardi Gras. Revelers don homemade costumes and painted wire-screen masks, and they ride through the countryside on horseback or flatbed trucks, “begging” from their neighbors...
Carlton Dufrechou, executive director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, flew over the work Friday afternoon and was ecstatic.
"This is a bright doggone day for the coast, " he said. "It's one little rinky-dink project in the grand scope of things, but this will start to restore the natural hydrology, the natural plumbing.
"The coast finally has a chance to start healing itself."
Around south Louisiana, local authorities...expressed optimism that Napolitano and her eventual FEMA director will bring a fresh outlook following multiple rounds of wrangling with former Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and FEMA Director David Paulison during the Bush administration.
Friday's Choice: In his heyday, master vaudevillian Eddie Cantor was as big a name in comedy as Jackie Gleason or Rodney Dangerfield or anyone else. Here's why:
The intent is to demonstrate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's utter cluelessness by getting him to state that paying taxes in the United States is a voluntary act and not a coerced transaction by which unwilling Americans are forced to transfer their hard-earned dollars to undeserving welfare recipients. In the video, a hapless Reid makes the mistake of giving a technical answer to a gotcha question.
(Note: For any Palinistas reading, the interviewer in this video asks gotcha questions, which -- no matter how much you think to the contrary -- differ from a straightforward inquiry about which magazines Reid reads. Also, I'm not defending Reid's ineffectual response: He ought to be able to handle the questions. I do wonder why he consented to an interview with this doofus in the first place.)
The plain fact is, though, that in this country we choose to tax ourselves. If enough people decided that we should no longer tax ourselves, they would elect candidates who would eliminate taxation (along with public safety, national defense, public education, roads, basic scientific research, what little public health system we have, and so forth). I'm not unsympathetic to the dilemma of tax dollars going to undeserving recipients. If someone could figure out a way for me to earmark my taxes so that none go to the Iraq war, no-bid Halliburton contracts, and a bloated military, I'd listen with open ears.
In the absence of that, though, I and everyone else are stuck with an imperfect social contract under which we all agree to pay taxes distributed -- for better or worse -- by our elected representatives. This is called "taxation with representation," and we fought a war to establish that particular practice as a right of the people. If I don't like what's happening, I vote to change it. I'm also free to contribute time and money to that end. The field of play is hardly even, but it's the one we've got.
My message to right-wingers like the interviewer above is this: You had eight years in power and you screwed up. Completely. Both ideology and competence of your standard bearers are discredited. And the best you can do now is to ask Harry Reid a couple of cheap shot questions?...
New Orleans offers an unprecedented opportunity to find more effective ways to make urban coastal areas safer around the world, Törnqvist and Meffert say. “A concerted effort to restore and transform a coastal urban center whose functioning is inextricably tied to its surrounding natural ecosystem can only lead to new knowledge and understanding that will prove critical once comparable conditions confront Shanghai, Tokyo and New York City,” the authors write.
I won’t describe the swearing-in ceremony since I’m sure you saw it for yourself. What I will tell you is that the emotions of all the people around us were on display. Families hugged, children sat on shoulders and tears of happiness were shed, including more than a few from Papa. We hung on every word and didn’t leave when it was over. No one wanted to leave. Everyone wanted to feel the way they felt at that moment forever. If only we could.
R. I. P., John Updyke. If you've never read his classic New Yorker essay "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu," treat yourself now. You don't have to be a fan of baseball, the Red Sox, or Ted Williams to appreciate writing this good:
Fenway Park, in Boston, is a lyric little bandbox of a ballpark. Everything is painted green and seems in curiously sharp focus, like the inside of an old-fashioned peeping-type Easter egg. It was built in 1912 and rebuilt in 1934, and offers, as do most Boston artifacts, a compromise between Man's Euclidian determinations and Nature's beguiling irregularities...
Longtime Boston Globe sportswriter Bob Ryan remembers how the famous essay came about and contributes his own assessment of it...
President Obama's first weekly address reviews his plan for economic recovery:
As part of his commitment to operate an open government, the president announced a new web site called recovery.gov as a vehicle for citizens to track the the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and see "how and where your tax dollars are spent..."
I am pro-choice and come from a close-knit family. Although I know better in my head, the term "pro choice" conjures a decision to get an abortion as something that comes about after reasoned consultation with family and with the family physician, and that the aftermath will occur in the context of a supportive environment. I find myself oddly pleased that the abortion will not occur in a back alley or back room. At Caterpillars and Butterflies, Molly the Dog's account of a poor and pregnant 20-year old who can't go through another abortion reminds me that -- for too many women -- this is a fantasy:
She began to tell me about her dreams of going to college in the fall. She wants to be a medical assistant but now doesn't know if she can do it. She started telling me in a young, whiny voice how tired she is and wants a note to let her employer know why she keeps putting her head down on the desk. I was struck by the immaturity of this, the need for a note from her doctor, like she's still in high school and needs an excuse because she has the flu. She's about to cross that bridge to adulthood too soon, I thought.
Foxessa wonders why anyone would object to Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Day hat (I loved it, myself) and concludes that they are ignorant of the statement it made...The way I look at it, this is Aretha Franklin we're talking about here. The Queen of Soul. Someone who has brought untold happiness and joy to millions of people. She can wear whatever hat she wants whereever she wants. But as Foxessa explains, the choice of hat was not random...
It's cool we have a brother in the White House now...But guess what? The election of the first black president has happened, it's over and now he's got to fulfill the hope that I have felt that his election would bring to the Gulf Coast.
R. I. P., David "Fathead" Newman, band leader and sideman for the likes of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Doug Sahm, Lowell Fulson, and T-Bone Walker. Here, Newman leads his quartet through "Cristo Redento:"
Anyone who reads Citizen K. regularly knows that he took an eye-opening trip to New Orleans last spring, and that ever since then he become obnoxiously assertive about the importance of New Orleans, its greatness, and the extent to which the federal government failed it in the wake of the manmade catastrophe initiated by Hurricane Katrina. And remember: Disasters can happen anywhere, and it would be nice to know that we can all count on an effective government response.
Citizen K.'s New Year's Resolution is to do his small part to help by putting a link to at least one article or photo about New Orleans every day. Luckily, there are great resources like the New Orleans Ladder, the New Orleans Daily Photo, Offbeat, and WWOZ. (In addition, these sites help me keep the NOLA Happenings sidebar current.) So:
When it comes to FEMA, Congress has its work cut out for it. But there are some things it can do:
Real recovery will require action by Congress, especially when it comes to post-disaster housing. Of the many tragic failures of FEMA in the last seven years, those related to housing were among the most conspicuous. And they were caused in part by Congressional blunders.
Amidst the challenges is a remarkable vitality, a life force as artful as the oak trees lining St. Charles Avenue. Live music and Second Lines reflect a city that honors its heritage, while new additions, like the Prospect.1 biennial, embrace the future. It makes sense that this city of rebirth is a locus for sustainable design, green non-profit groups, and art projects that are both innovative and eco-aware.
Friday's Choice: Aretha Franklin -- the incomparable Queen of Soul -- says a little prayer for all of us:
Establishment of an interagency task force on detainee disposition, specifically "to identify lawful options for the disposition of individuals captured or apprehended in connection with armed conflicts and counterterrorism operations;"
Directives to ensure a more open government: "Melanie Sloan, executive director of the liberal-leaning watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Obama's decision to issue the directive 'signals that transparency is more than a campaign promise.'"
The photographer (my son who lives in Boston) tells me that the icicles are "pointing down, but the width of them at the top of the picture is how wide the drain itself is. Anything wider than that is ice freezing on ice..."
ESPN's Keith Law ranks the major league farm systems. RGG, the future is so bright for the Texas Rangers that you gotta wear shades. Not that you don't have to wear them anyway down there in Cowtown...
In this picture, the French Quarter looks like a quiet Irish town...
Blogging while listening to Aretha Franklin's Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul is the way to go. Why this got such mixed reviews upon release is a mystery to me: It's a gem...
Last night, T. and I celebrated at the Seattle Obama Ball. After a church member and his pastor decided to organize a celebration, over a hundred volunteers contacted them offering help. KPTK 1090, Seattle's progressive radio station, got wind of the event and offered to help publicize it. Ribbins Bar-B-Q catered soul food, and a big band, a funk group, a poet, and a company of Eritrean dancers provided the entertainment. A documentary filmmaker shanghaied partygoers to appear in his film. A local TV news team interviewed T.'s son. People arrived dressed to the nines or in jeans (guilty as charged). Children of all ages danced and wandered about. Everyone was happy. Can you imagine Republicans partying with such diversity and elan?...
Mouse (aka Kimy) and her friend Joan went to the inauguration. Read about it here...
This morning, it hit me: The 30-year spasm of anti-intellectualism that has afflicted this country is at an end. The leaders of what a friend calls the cult of stupidity have left Washington in disgrace. The right-wing media is isolated and discredited. We have a president who does not walk around with a chip on his shoulder and who addresses the American people as responsible adults. This is great...
Musician and author Ned Sublette (The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver To Congo Square) talks about his the past and future of New Orleans here. Sublette argues that using "Katrina" as a catch-all term risks leaving the impression that Katrina was a natural and not manmade disaster. As he points out, the floods occurred under a clear sky...
This morning, it hit me: I'm proud of our President. Our country is in the hands of someone with ability and intellect and who intends using them for the good of all Americans...
The picture above is from the White House web site at whitehouse.gov. While you're there, check out this slide show of presidential portraits from Washington to Obama. John Kennedy was the first president to smile for his portrait. Richard Nixon looks to have attempted a smile and fails...
This morning, it hit me: I don't have to walk around angry at the leader of the free world and embarrassed over what he has done to my country...
Renew America Together: "President Obama believes that we, as Americans, have a responsibility to help our communities and fellow citizens. In summoning a new spirit of service, he is calling on us to make an enduring commitment to our neighborhoods..."
This morning, it hit me: We have our country back...
Barack Obama became the nation's 44th president today, gently prompting a nervous Chief Justice John Roberts through the oath of office. Obama's inaugural address had all of the right touches. Using plain, sober language, he described the domestic and international difficulties facing the United States without assigning blame. He promised the restoration of American global prestige, calling it necessary for the prosperity of the world and the country.
Most importantly, Obama defined the political essence of the country as a successful partnership between government and people, driving the point home with constant and rhythmic repetition of the word "we," as in "We the people." Government as described by Barack Obama is something that above all must provide for and protect for common good. This is the essence of Obama's centrism, which has been widely misunderstood by the left as a cave-in to the right and by the right as a vindication of their philosophy. (If you think I'm making this up, read Chas Krauthammer's weird column of last weekend.)
Obama seeks to do nothing less than widen the political center and move it to the left -- which by that I mean mainstream liberalism. The political discourse of the past 28 years has been so degraded that the rhetorical center of the United States has been moved so far to the right that John McCain is seen as a moderate. Barack Obama aims to bring the country as a whole along, to pressure elected officials into supporting his agenda by appealing to the country at large. I've never believed that he means to seriously reach out to the Jim DeMints of the Senate, the hard right, obstructionist reactionaries who care about ideology first and country second. Rather, he wants to disarm them, to isolate them as extremists do-nothings whose only interest is blocking an agenda that the country as a whole supports. If Obama can close the breach that has developed between the government and the people, his presidency will be significant.
He has a great chance of pulling it off, too. Despite the problems he and the country face, Barack Obama begins his presidency today in as enviable as position politically as any president since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. After routing John McCain and providing the coattails for a substantial Democratic Congressional majority, Obama conducted a masterful transition that has left the country solidly behind him. Moreover, polling indicates that the electorate grasps that the nature of the economic problems is such that Obama and the Democrats will need time to turn things around.
Even more to the good, the loyal opposition is in a disarray comparable to the Democrats of 1952 and the Republicans of 1932, or, arguably, the 1856 Whigs. In addition to the 59 Senate Democrats, eight Republican senators [Burr (NC), Collins (ME), Ensign (NV), Grassley (IA), Lugar (IN), Snowe (ME), Spector (PA), Voinovich (OH)] come from states carried by Obama. If there's one thing a United States senator values above all, it's reelection: With the exception of Voinovich -- who is retiring -- each of these senators is susceptible to public pressure.
Barack Obama's new politics rolled over John McCain's old world view. Obama has shown through his transition that his commitment to a new form of politics is sincere. He brings to the job a powerful intellect and an impressive demeanor. Most important of all, the people of the United States and the world support him and want him to succeed. He has an excellent chance of doing just that...
Wasn't it great to see so much happiness at the prospect of a new presidency? Take a look The New York Times album of photos taken by people who attended the inauguration...
President Obama on Hurricane Katrina: "President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast." More here...
How about Dick Cheney in the wheel chair? It was appropriate that he went out looking like his spiritual and ethical doppelganger:
Leslie Stahl and other talking heads wondered all morning long what former President Bush was thinking about today. This about guy who spent seven minutes reading from a children's book while the 9/11 attacks were underway. What could he have possibly been thinking that would be worth knowing about? If anyone wants to guess, comment away...
Tomorrow, Barack Obama will take the oath of office as part of the 56th presidential inauguration. After he concludes the oath, Obama will deliver the most widely anticipated inaugural address at least since Franklin Roosevelt's in 1932. George Washington, although not constitutionally required to do so, began the tradition of inaugural addresses by speaking after taking the first oath of office. Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address -- delivered near the end of the Civil War -- is generally considered the best:
Fellow Countrymen:
At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether'.
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address is inscribed in its entirety on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C....
This interactive map to tomorrow's activities, includes the parade route and the locations of events, celebrations, and points of interest. The diversity represented by the events reflects the coalition that catapulted Obama to victory and that represents the best hope for change...
Historian Eric Foner explains how Lincoln's greatness as a politician led to his greatness as president, as well as how the dynamics the anti-slavery movement are relevant today:
The destruction of slavery during the [Civil War] offers an example, as relevant today as in Lincoln's time, of how the combination of an engaged social movement and an enlightened leader can produce progressive social change...
Click a trip over to Mouse Medicine for a great video of musicians from around the world singing a traveling version of "Stand By Me." Unsurprisingly, two of the singers are New Orleansians...
Today's must read is "The Audacity of Hoops," Alexander Wolff's fine Sports Illustrated article about the importance and meaning of basketball to Barack Obama:
Basketball's appeal, Obama told HBO's Bryant Gumbel last year, lies in an "improvisation within a discipline that I find very powerful." With its serial returns to equilibrium -- cut backdoor against an overplay; shoot when the defense sags -- the game represents Obama's intellectual nature come alive...
Speaking of hoops, NBA analyst Charley Rosen gives out his midseason grades. Western Conference snobs (including me) take notice: The teams in your conference are at or below expectations while the East is coming on strong...
Today would have been Martin Luther King's 80th birthday. Here is the peroration of his final speech, given the day before his assassination at age 39:
To see and hear the complete "I have a dream" speech, click here.
As always, click to enlarge. For more Doonesbury, Ben Sargent, and Tom Toles, go here, here, and here. Today's Doonesbury took too long to upload, but it is not to be missed...
Inauguration Sunday special: Two panels from the Spiderman comic book featuring Barack Obama.
Citizen K. has felt better in his life. He fears that he has reached that age where jalapeno intake must be restricted and monitored. A sleepless night accompanied only by severe acid reflux that brought on fits of coughing has reduced him to a vegetative status. He's in nearly the same condition as The New Orleans Levee("We don't hold anything back") which made the mistake of putting all of its yuks in one basket, never dreaming in a zillion billion trillion years that voters would actually throw the rascal out...
Like millions of other Americans, I skipped the president's farewell address last night, on the assumption that seven years, eleven months, and fifteen days of indigestible babble and psychotic delusion were quite enough, thank you. Much of it seems to have come back up anyway...
Bush vows retaliation against Canadian geese: "If you think this former fighter pilot won't take flight in my last days in office ... go ahead, make my day..."
Friday's Choice: The Village People say "Keep that New Year's resolution and get your butt up to the gym! Be a 'Macho Man]" (and dig the Indian on the treadmill):
When you're through working out, there's a place you can go even if you're short on your dough. You know where it is: It's fun to stay at the YMCA.
elsestsp: Else's Teaspoon. Reference unclear. Thought to be the quantity of "or else" administered to anyone crossing their mother.
fartines: Bean-based soda crackers.
flument: A virus intended for another person but that infected you instead.
frool: 1. What you are if you drool in public. 2. The involuntary expectoration of a male of the species completely bewitched by a female of the species.
gratorsa: Latin: Being thankful for the body you have.
iache: Def: 1. A sore ego. 2. iPod induced tinnitus. 3. Archaic: Any wound inflicted by Iago or an Iago-like person.
mootion: Cow-etry in motion.
olest: Not as bad as "molest," but the next worst thing.
puzzlia: 1. Brain cramp caused by the Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle. 2. Proper noun: A city in the land of Baffledom.
retyll: Archaic English form of "retail." See Chaucer, "The Merchant's Tale."
soymethi: Organic form of Greek crystal meth.
visorath: Rage of the Visigoths.
An incredulous Campbell Brown shreds Bush's claim that the government responded quickly to Hurricane Katrina:
The Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts reopens this weekend. At one time, the Katrina damage to the theatre was thought to so extensive as to render the theatre a total loss. Here, Mahalia Jackson sings her overwhelming version of "We Shall Overcome:"
"Waterboarding is torture." So testified Attorney General nominee Eric Holder in as clear and unambiguous a statement as anyone could want. It's sad that something so obvious took so long for someone in an official position to recognize. There may be no greater indictment of the Bush Administration's cynicism than its continual claims that it was not pursuing torture as a policy...
Danny Barker (1909-1994) was a tireless torch bearer of the unique culture of his home town. Barker's long career spans much of the history of Jazz; he had tap danced in infamous Storyville and later migrated to New York where he performed on more than 1000 recordings with such diverse artists as Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, Charlie Parker, Lena Horne and his talented wife Blue Lu Barker. Danny's work with young talent in the creation of the Fairview Baptist Church Band was pivotal in the brass band revival of New Orleans in the 1980s that still flourishes today...
Check out Danny's version of "Saint James Infirmary:"
Valkyrie.D: Brian Singer. Tom Cruise, the typical host of British actors playing German officers. Tom Cruise as the flower of German aristocracy? Eddie Izzard as a jittery plotter? No one can deny that it's a curiosity.
In 1944, a group of disaffected German officers attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler (portrayed here as cranky middle-aged duffer badly in need of a nap). They failed, due to a combination of poor planning and execution, bad luck, and loss of nerve. Valkyrie follows the unraveling of the plot in a perfunctory manner devoid of suspense, raising the question of why bother? Tom Wilkinson, who wears a weirdly askew toupee throughout, looks embarrassed to be a part of the whole endeavor (the movie, not the plot); an unrecognizable Bill Nighy must have been glad to be unrecognizable. Luckily for Kenneth Branagh, the High Command whisks him off to the Russian front shortly after the film begins. But Terence Stamp is the luckiest of all: He gets to shoot himself.
There is a story here. The plotters comprised the remnants of the German aristocracy, a dying breed whose doom was foretold by the French Revolution and sealed by World War II. For the most part, their actions -- whether motivated by a sense of honor, patriotism, or self-interest --were the death throes of a band of ultraconservatives hoping to restore their idea of a glorious era, a time that had passed no matter what the outcome of the war. The movie could have explored this dynamic, but didn't. But then, what do you expect out of a mainstream Hollywood movie, the most imaginative idea of which is to cast British actors as German officers? Why can't I ever come up with great ideas like that?...
From 1939 to 1986, exactly three men played left field for the Boston Red Sox. Monday, a deserving Jim Rice joined Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski in the baseball Hall of Fame. Here, Captain Carl recalls turning over left field duties to Rice...
Citizen K. is guest blogger today at Time Goes By...
I would go ballistic if I found out that there was even the possibility that my kids would be taught about Creationism or Intelligent Design in a science class, especially in the guise of promoting critical thinking. I realize that I'm preaching to the choir here, but for the record, these Trojan horse quackeries have no -- as in zero, zip, zed, zilch, nada -- scientific validity whatsoever...
A group of travel writers learn about the ways Mardi Gras is celebrated outside of New Orleans: "'They were amazed,' said St. Landry Tourism Director Celeste Gomez. 'They knew about New Orleans' krewes but had never heard about this. They couldn't get over the depth of our traditions...'"
I am reading the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. They are a classic of the genre, and remain today the standard for presidential memoirs. Grant writes trenchantly, with keen and honest powers of observation. A dry, self-effacing wit pervades, as well as a generosity of spirit: He seems to have recalled every kindness done for him.
Several chapters early on cover his time spent in South Texas in preparation for the invasion of Mexico in 1846. I grew up in South Texas, a place on the cultural and geographic extremity of the United States. While a long-time paradise for birders, who arrive in droves over the winter to witness the great avian migration south into Latin America, it is little written of by outsiders. Grant himself wrote of the emptiness -- save for the vast herds of deer and antelope -- and absence of population centers. But he also wrote this:
A few days out from Corpus Christi, the immense herd of wild horses that ranged at that time between the Nueces and the Rio Grande was seen directly in advance of the head of the column and but a few miles off...The column was halted for a rest, and a number of officers, myself among them, rode out two or three miles to the right to see the extent of the herd. The country was a rolling prairie, and, from the higher ground, the vision was obstructed only by the earth's curvature. As far as the eye could reach out to the right, the herd extended. To the left, it extended equally. There was no estimating the number of animals in it; I have no idea they could have all been corralled in the state of Rhode Island, or Delaware, at one time. If they had been, they would have been so thick that the pasturage would have given out the first day. People who saw the Southern herd of buffalo...can appreciate the size of the Texas band of wild horses in 1846.
The wild horses are long gone from the coastal plains of South Texas. There's little doubt, though, that Grant did not exaggerate the extent of the herd. The four sections of the King Ranch occupy much, but by no means all, of the eastern portion of the coastal bend south of Corpus Christi. The King Ranch is slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island...
Citizen K. is the guest blogger tomorrow on Time Goes By...
The Derek Trucks Band releases its new CD (Already Free) today. Woo hoo!...
New Orlean's historic Saenger Theatre to reopen in 2011. I saw Miles Davis at the Saenger in 1986. He led a 10-piece band of mostly young musicians who hung on his every move. It was also one of Miles' few performances with guitarist Robben Ford. As I recall, Miles even rasped a few words. Stanley Clarke opened with a one-man primer on how to play jazz electric bass...
Maureen Dowd eviscerates George, Dick, Rummie, and the rest of the gang here: "[Cheney is] going back to Casper, Wyo., and said he’s giving 'serious thought' to writing a book, so he can continue his extremist makeover. The only thing he can do now is shoot a big lie across the bow and see if it lands..."
As always, click to enlarge. For more Ben Sargent, Calvin & Hobbes, The Boondocks, Zippy the Pinhead, and Tom the Dancing Bug, go here, here, here, here, and here...
She's been raped, held at gunpoint, and incarcerated for prostitution. She told me so many bad things happened to her while she was on the street and it's taken her three months to start sorting through some of it. I told her how proud she should be of herself, how it's never too late to start over...
Congratulations, Arizona Cardinals, on pulling off the biggest upset of the NFL playoffs yesterday: "It was like eliminating the Spurs, sweeping the Dodgers and learning the Cowboys were bankrupt."
Frank Rich hopes the Bush Administration will be held accountable for its record of malfeasance and corruption:
While our new president indeed must move on and address the urgent crises that cannot wait, Bush administration malfeasance can’t be merely forgotten or finessed. A new Justice Department must enforce the law; Congress must press outstanding subpoenas to smoke out potential criminal activity; every legal effort must be made to stop what seems like a wholesale effort by the outgoing White House to withhold, hide and possibly destroy huge chunks of its electronic and paper trail...
The New Yorker's Jill Lepore recounts a fascinating history of inaugural addresses (abstract here; registration required for complete article). Generally speaking, with the exception of the occasional memorable flourish ("The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"), they're a dreary lot. The exceptions are those of Lincoln (both of his are head and shoulders above all others), Jefferson (first), Kennedy, and -- surprisingly -- 20th president James Garfield, whose outline became the template for all subsequent inaugural addresses...
STOP THE PRESSES!!! Forced to choose between ideology and intellectual dishonesty, a respected conservative economist chooses ideology. The whole shocking, unbelievable story is here...
FEMA 300,000 - New Orleans 1: "In a David versus Goliath turn of events, this city appears to have won a major victory in its fight against proposed FEMA flood elevation maps that officials said would severely limit continued recovery from Hurricane Katrina..."
This guy is one sorry s.o.b. As a public servant, he melds the productivity of Nero with the ethics of Caligula. He leaves a legacy of two failed wars, torture, and 14% unemployment, and the best he can come up with is "don't blame us." Wyoming can have him, but he deserves of a Siberian gulag. Too bad we can't send him to Gitmo, where he join the prisoners there in not being tortured...
This morning, Fox News ran a trumped up "story" about atheists "fighting" to remove the words "so help me God" from the end of the Presidential Oath of Office. Citizen K. doubts whether the presence or absence of four words -- be they "so help me God" or "I love you too" -- will much effect whether a president successfully preserves, protects, and defends the Constitution. Citizen K. points out that George Bush said these four words not once but twice, and still did his best to destroy, neglect, and offend the Constitution. Citizen K. also reminds Fox News that these four words do not appear in the oath of office as prescribed by the Constitution...
You want answers, we got answers: The first line above is from the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, which I have just begun reading. New First Line soon...
Amy Goodman writes that many Israelis vociferously oppose their country's invasion of Gaza: "If you look at what's been going on in the Gaza strip in the past three years and you see what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians, you would think that the Palestinian resistance is rational..."
BREAKING NEWS: "The Seattle P-I newspaper is being put up for sale. Steve Swartz, president of Hearst Newspaper Division, told the newsroom that Hearst Corp. is starting a 60-day process to find a buyer. If a buyer is not found, Swartz said, Hearst will pursue other options. The options include moving to a digital-only operation with a greatly reduced staff, or completely shutting down operations. In no case will Hearst continue to publish the P-I in printed form, Swartz said."
Late last year, the P-I consolidated a number of sections and became noticeably smaller. It's probable demise represents a genuine loss to the Puget Sound community. Like any MSM outlet, the P-I has its limitations, but it has been a reliably liberal voice in contrast to the predictably establishment and often shrill Seattle Times. That Seattle could no longer support two newspapers (it's not even clear that it can support one) has been evident for some time, now, and the P-I's situation comes as no surprise. It's still a shame, though...
Friday's Choice: Speaking the Battle of New Orleans, check out Johnny Horton's surreal reenactment:
We can all relate to Sarah [Palin] and the difficulties of raising kids. It's only the liberals - the very same people that don't even believe that there is any such thing as sexual immorality - that will make mockery of it.
So closes a lengthy comment on a Palinista blog that I monitor. The commenter wrote about her efforts to shelter her daughter from sexual immorality, including residing on a "Christian campus" for a number of years. She carefully controlled her daughter's television and movie input, and exposed her to "Christian courtship teachings...again and again and again." And yet, as teen, her daughter wound up in a "questionable" relationship and became pregnant. She concluded that
...as hard as we all try to raise our kids a certain way, we are up against a monster in society...Our culture is just full of garbage and we parents are fighting against Goliath.
I'm not writing to criticize someone else's parenting techniques. Left, center, or right, we try our best against difficult odds. No matter how many good choices a parent makes, we inevitably make bad ones, whether out of inexperience, exhaustion, or ignorance. Every child who has a happy and productive life has two things in common: Loving parents and luck.
I take exception, of course, to the allegation that liberals deny the existence of sexual immorality. I suspect that we tend to have a narrower definition of it than conservatives, one based on notions of personal respect and informed decision-making. We may also be less willing to pass judgment on the choices of others. And of course, liberals view homosexuality as a function of genetics, a state of being that had no inherent moral component -- a stance at great odds with the Christian Right.
That that this Christian conservative wrings her hands and blames our society is the height of irony, since for years conservatives ridiculed liberals for supposedly excusing poor individual choices as the result of the pressures of "society." In some ways, there's common ground here in that neither liberals or conservatives see the world as a picnic. But, I don't know of any liberals who see solutions in sheltering their children from perceived evils to the extent that they can't engage in popular culture.
Nor do I know of no parent of any persuasion who wants their children to be teenaged parents. And, I know of no parent who hasn't at one time or another expressed dismay over the early sexualization of girls or the promotion of consequence-free sexual behavior in films and on television. But if the Christian conservative response is to shield their children from all of this, the liberal response is to realize that it isn't going away any time soon, and to prepare and ultimately trust their children to deal with it. The liberal response also includes the recognition that humans are imperfect, that teenagers will make questionable decisions, and that it doesn't make sense for them to bring children that they are unprepared to raise into the world simply because of an absence or unawareness of contraception.
No matter how one views themselves politically, engaging with culture and society is a quintessential liberal value, whatever its risks. Conversely, disengaging, whatever its appeal comes at too high a price in personal growth and development. At the end of the day, the liberal embraces social and cultural diversity, trusting in his or her intelligence, education, discernment, and skepticism to make mostly correct decisions. But we don't expect anyone to bat 1.000; because one can't be perfect, it's hard for us to hold it against people -- all of us, in other words -- who are not.
This conservative Christian view of society and culture as a "monster...full of garbage" drives them to both seal themselves off from society and to oppose as immoral anything that does not conform to their world view. It gave rise to a conservative religious movement to change the very nature of culture and society. The movement helped elect two presidents and control Congress for much of a 28-year period. During that time, it accomplished very little of what it set out to do.
Despite the defeat of Proposition 8 in California, there is no better indicator of this than the outcome that the increasing rejection of the Christian right's war on the so-called "homosexual agenda." Not only have champions of the right like Larry Craig and Rev. Ted Haggard been exposed as self-loathing homosexuals, it has become plain that fewer and fewer people care whether someone is gay or not. This refreshing attitude is especially prevalent among young people, the very population that the Focus on the Family types most seek to "protect."
Other examples of the defeat of the Christian right abound: We do not have prayer in public schools; nor do they teach Creationism or Intelligent Design. Roe v. Wade has not been repealed. Despite strenuous efforts, Christian pharmacists have not succeeded in gaining the "right" to refuse to dispense contraceptives and morning-after pills. Not only that, more businesses and governments offer domestic partner benefits.
This is not to say that the culture war is won, and liberals can't relax because time is on our side. For example, it remains difficult for women in rural states to obtain abortions, and the gag rule tying foreign aid in the Third World to abstinence-only pregnancy counseling will stay in effect for at least another 11 days. But there is, I think, a gathering recognition of the value, the necessity, of that rich melange of creativity, expression, temptation, and struggle called culture. We can embrace it, debate it, cope with it, contribute to it, change it. But we can't destroy something so essential to the revelation of our humanity in all its greatness, despair, success, failure, and mediocrity. I'll stand behind the liberal view of culture, especially compared to the alternative:
I try to forget this is happening. I ignore every news story about Obama. I pulled my head out of the covers the other day just long enough for it to occur to me that this is really going to happen - he's going to be sworn in. Then I put my head back under the covers.
Like most liberals, I see morality as a confluence of personal (including religious) and societal values, a matter at times private and at other times public. It is a mystery to me how a conservative can rail against a "culture of death" that accommodates Roe v. Wade while at the same time supporting capital punishment and the preemptive invasion of another country.
But, then, those are my liberal values talking: Whatever my personal feelings about abortion, I oppose the state making a decision better left to a woman, her conscience, and -- if it comes to it -- her doctor. Whatever my personal feelings about the justice of capital punishment, I oppose the state sanctioning and carrying out the premeditated murder of another human being, regardless of what heinous crime may be involved. And I don't see how a nation can retain its moral standing by crying for freedom and liberty to justify acts that displace millions and kill and maim thousands.
Not that I think liberals have a corner on moral thought and action. We don't. When it comes to liberals and the Christian right, the awareness of that is the biggest distinction of all...
The Battle of Rebuilding New Orleans: June Cross writes that the Gettridge family rebuilt their 9th Ward home at great personal cost and with little help. Former Tulane professor Kera Mosely wasn't so fortunate...
Stone Soup Musings points out that while congressional conservatives are quite willing to drive down the wages of American workers, they don't mind giving themselves a raise...
Larry Flynt sez the porn "industry" needs a bailout, too. Nihil Obstat shares his thoughts here...
Crabby Old Lady thinks that all of the carping about Caroline Kennedy's qualifications for the Senate is nonsense:
Ms. Kennedy is an attorney, writer and advocate for public education. She has co-authored two books on civil liberties including The Right to Privacy which Crabby found useful during her internet career. Kennedy is also a member of the boards of directors of the Commission on Presidential Debates and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund – all of which entails a great deal more day-to-day involvement in public issues than a lot of congressional legislators have.
Citizen K. tends to agree, and believes that this is the business of the people of New York anyway...
Gallier Hall (St. Charles St., New Orleans), dedicated in 1853...
Report from Gaza: "The Israeli army issued a video of the bombing of the Hamas-run government compound, which it posted on YouTube. In it, I also can see my home being destroyed, and I watch it obsessively..." Note: I searched for the video and found this:
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