This seems quite significant:
Gallup announced yesterday that it had taken a snap poll after the speech given by George Bush on the war in Iraq from Fort Bragg. The poll showed some movement bolstering support for the war. In fact, it showed Bush picking up ten points on whether we are winning in Iraq (up to 54%), twelve points on keeping troops in Iraq until the situation improves as opposed to setting an exit date for their evacuation (now at 70%/25%), and seven points on whether Bush has a clear plan for handling the war in Iraq (up to 63%/35%).
Friday, July 01, 2005
What Would Wesley Say? Probably "Get The Hell Out Of My Church"
Somehow I missed it when Jim Winkler first said it back in March. Then I let an e-mail from a reader collect dust in my in-box for over two weeks before I finally let this speech by the chief executive of the UMC's General Board of Church and Society sink in. I know he was speaking in Portland, but did he really think about how this sort of rhetoric would sound to mainstream Methodists who heard it later? Read it for yourself:
Now, it occurs to me that extremist, shall we say “Christianist,” forces have been encouraged in this country as well. Certainly, politicians work hard to curry favor with them and their increasing cries of persecution—they can’t get the 10 Commandments posted in public places or have crèche sets placed in the town square or have their floats entered in public parades and they have to put up with gay and lesbian people and so forth has created quite a stir. Meanwhile, they are building a virtual alternative society closing themselves off insofar as possible from the rest of us. In Pakistan, the United States is deeply concerned with the madrassahs, that is, the private fundamentalist Islamist schools. Here we have so-called Christian academies and home schooling, our own form of madrassahs.
Now, it occurs to me that extremist, shall we say “Christianist,” forces have been encouraged in this country as well. Certainly, politicians work hard to curry favor with them and their increasing cries of persecution—they can’t get the 10 Commandments posted in public places or have crèche sets placed in the town square or have their floats entered in public parades and they have to put up with gay and lesbian people and so forth has created quite a stir. Meanwhile, they are building a virtual alternative society closing themselves off insofar as possible from the rest of us. In Pakistan, the United States is deeply concerned with the madrassahs, that is, the private fundamentalist Islamist schools. Here we have so-called Christian academies and home schooling, our own form of madrassahs.
My Choice to Replace O'Connor
How great would it be for W to nominate Bob Bork. That would make for an entertaining summer.
Nice, Objective Journalism
Reuters just looooooves America. Can't you tell?
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch woman who swears by a daily helping of herring for a healthy life celebrated her 115th birthday on Wednesday as the oldest living person on record.
Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, a former needlework teacher, was born in 1890, the year Sioux Indians were massacred by the U.S. military at the Battle of Wounded Knee.
The passionate soccer fan celebrated her birthday in a nursing home in the northern Dutch town of Hoogeveen.
"She eats a piece of herring every day because it's good for the health," said Johan Beijering, director of the Westerkim nursing home. "She is still mentally full of vitality."
The daughter of a headmaster, Van Andel-Schipper was born in the town of Smilde in the northern Netherlands on June 29, 1890....
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch woman who swears by a daily helping of herring for a healthy life celebrated her 115th birthday on Wednesday as the oldest living person on record.
Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, a former needlework teacher, was born in 1890, the year Sioux Indians were massacred by the U.S. military at the Battle of Wounded Knee.
The passionate soccer fan celebrated her birthday in a nursing home in the northern Dutch town of Hoogeveen.
"She eats a piece of herring every day because it's good for the health," said Johan Beijering, director of the Westerkim nursing home. "She is still mentally full of vitality."
The daughter of a headmaster, Van Andel-Schipper was born in the town of Smilde in the northern Netherlands on June 29, 1890....
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Shelby Foote, RIP
Civil War Historian Shelby Foote Dies
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Novelist and historian Shelby Foote (search), whose Southern storyteller's touch inspired millions to reads his multivolume work on the Civil War, has died. He was 88.
Foote died Monday night, his widow, Gwyn, said Tuesday.
Foote, a Mississippi native and longtime Memphis resident, wrote six novels but is best remembered for his three-volume, 3,000-page history of the Civil War (search) and his appearance on the PBS (search) series "The Civil War."
He worked on the book for 20 years, using a flowing, narrative style that enabled readers to enjoy it like a historical novel.
"I can't conceive of writing it any other way," Foote once said. "Narrative history is the kind that comes closest to telling the truth. You can never get to the truth, but that's your goal."
That work landed Foote a leading role on Ken Burns' (search) 11-hour Civil War documentary, first shown on the Public Broadcasting Service in 1990.
Foote's soft drawl and gentlemanly manner on the Burns film made him an instant celebrity, a role with which he was unaccustomed and, apparently, somewhat uncomfortable.
Foote attended the University of North Carolina for two years and served in World War II, though he never saw combat.
Foote's first novel, "Tournament," was started before the war and published in 1949. Then came "Follow Me Down" in 1950, "Love in a Dry Season" in 1951, "Shiloh" in 1952 and "Jordan County" in 1954.
That same year, Random House asked him to write a one-volume history of the Civil War. He took the job, but it grew into a three-volume project finally finished in 1974.
In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Foote's "The Civil War: A Narrative" as No. 15 on its list of the century's 100 best English-language works of nonfiction.
Reading, he said, was as much a part of his work as writing.
After finishing his sixth novel, "September, September," in 1978, he took off three years to read.
Though hardly a recluse, Foote had long been known around Memphis as having little interest in parties and public gatherings. And he was often outspoken about his likes and dislikes.
"Most people, if the truth be told, are gigantic bores," he once said. "There's no need to subject yourself to that kind of thing."
Invited to speak in 1995 at a conference on tourism in Greenville, Miss., Foote advised his audience to take care in holding on to their hometown ways.
"I never enjoyed the company of tourists," he said. "I do not go where they go, and I do not want them coming where I am."
Foote was born Nov. 7, 1916, in Greenville, a small Delta town with a literary bent. Walker Percy was a boyhood and lifelong friend, and Foote, as a young man, served as a "jackleg reporter" for Hodding Carter on The Delta Star. As a young man, he would also get to know William Faulkner.
During World War II, he was an Army captain of artillery until he lost his commission for using a military vehicle without authorization to visit a female friend and was discharged from the Army. He joined the Marines and was still stateside when the war ended.
"The Marines had a great time with me," he said. "They said if you used to be a captain, you might make a pretty good Marine."
He tried journalism again after World War II, signing on briefly with The Associated Press in its New York bureau.
"I think journalism is a good experience, having to turn in copy against deadline and everything else, but I don't think one should stay in it too long if what he wants to be is a serious writer," Foote said in a 1990 interview.
Early in his career, Foote took up the habit of writing by hand with an old-fashioned dipped pen, and he continued that practice throughout his life.
He kept bound volumes of his manuscripts, all written in a flowing hand, on a bookshelf in a homey bedroom-study overlooking a small garden at his Memphis residence.
Though facing a busy city street, the two-story house was almost hidden from view by trees and shrubs.
"If I were a wealthy man, I'd have someone on that gate," he said.
Foote said writing by hand helped him slow down to a manageable pace and was more personal that using a typewriter, though he often prepared a typed copy of his day's writing after it was finished.
Married three times, Foote has a daughter, Margaret Shelby, and a son, Huger Lee. He and Gwyn married in 1956, three years after he moved to Memphis.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Novelist and historian Shelby Foote (search), whose Southern storyteller's touch inspired millions to reads his multivolume work on the Civil War, has died. He was 88.
Foote died Monday night, his widow, Gwyn, said Tuesday.
Foote, a Mississippi native and longtime Memphis resident, wrote six novels but is best remembered for his three-volume, 3,000-page history of the Civil War (search) and his appearance on the PBS (search) series "The Civil War."
He worked on the book for 20 years, using a flowing, narrative style that enabled readers to enjoy it like a historical novel.
"I can't conceive of writing it any other way," Foote once said. "Narrative history is the kind that comes closest to telling the truth. You can never get to the truth, but that's your goal."
That work landed Foote a leading role on Ken Burns' (search) 11-hour Civil War documentary, first shown on the Public Broadcasting Service in 1990.
Foote's soft drawl and gentlemanly manner on the Burns film made him an instant celebrity, a role with which he was unaccustomed and, apparently, somewhat uncomfortable.
Foote attended the University of North Carolina for two years and served in World War II, though he never saw combat.
Foote's first novel, "Tournament," was started before the war and published in 1949. Then came "Follow Me Down" in 1950, "Love in a Dry Season" in 1951, "Shiloh" in 1952 and "Jordan County" in 1954.
That same year, Random House asked him to write a one-volume history of the Civil War. He took the job, but it grew into a three-volume project finally finished in 1974.
In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Foote's "The Civil War: A Narrative" as No. 15 on its list of the century's 100 best English-language works of nonfiction.
Reading, he said, was as much a part of his work as writing.
After finishing his sixth novel, "September, September," in 1978, he took off three years to read.
Though hardly a recluse, Foote had long been known around Memphis as having little interest in parties and public gatherings. And he was often outspoken about his likes and dislikes.
"Most people, if the truth be told, are gigantic bores," he once said. "There's no need to subject yourself to that kind of thing."
Invited to speak in 1995 at a conference on tourism in Greenville, Miss., Foote advised his audience to take care in holding on to their hometown ways.
"I never enjoyed the company of tourists," he said. "I do not go where they go, and I do not want them coming where I am."
Foote was born Nov. 7, 1916, in Greenville, a small Delta town with a literary bent. Walker Percy was a boyhood and lifelong friend, and Foote, as a young man, served as a "jackleg reporter" for Hodding Carter on The Delta Star. As a young man, he would also get to know William Faulkner.
During World War II, he was an Army captain of artillery until he lost his commission for using a military vehicle without authorization to visit a female friend and was discharged from the Army. He joined the Marines and was still stateside when the war ended.
"The Marines had a great time with me," he said. "They said if you used to be a captain, you might make a pretty good Marine."
He tried journalism again after World War II, signing on briefly with The Associated Press in its New York bureau.
"I think journalism is a good experience, having to turn in copy against deadline and everything else, but I don't think one should stay in it too long if what he wants to be is a serious writer," Foote said in a 1990 interview.
Early in his career, Foote took up the habit of writing by hand with an old-fashioned dipped pen, and he continued that practice throughout his life.
He kept bound volumes of his manuscripts, all written in a flowing hand, on a bookshelf in a homey bedroom-study overlooking a small garden at his Memphis residence.
Though facing a busy city street, the two-story house was almost hidden from view by trees and shrubs.
"If I were a wealthy man, I'd have someone on that gate," he said.
Foote said writing by hand helped him slow down to a manageable pace and was more personal that using a typewriter, though he often prepared a typed copy of his day's writing after it was finished.
Married three times, Foote has a daughter, Margaret Shelby, and a son, Huger Lee. He and Gwyn married in 1956, three years after he moved to Memphis.
Health Care Nonsense
Micky Kause rips Ron Brownstein a new one for this bit of foolishness:
LAT's Ron Brownstein on why General Motors' troubles show we need "national action" to control health care costs:
There's no silver bullet for controlling medical costs. The inability of even a massive consumer like GM, with its vast bargaining power, to hold down its bills belies the simplistic suggestions from Bush and conservative thinkers that transferring more of the cost to individuals will significantly reduce costs by making patients smarter consumers. [Emph. added]
Note to Ron: GM is maybe not your best example of the ineffectiveness of "transferring more of the cost to individuals," since GM has not even instituted the obvious deductible and co-pay measures with its hourly workers. The deductible for UAW workers at GM is ... zero.
UAW workers at GM and retirees don't pay monthly premiums or deductibles for health care, but white-collar workers and retirees pay both. GM says union employees pay 7 percent of their health-care costs and white-collar employees 27 percent. (Chicago Tribune)
Is your health care deductible zero? Mine's $2,000. ... P.S.: The key question, for Brownstein's cost-control argument, is whether the overall health care costs of GM's white collar workers are any lower than the costs for the zero-deductible hourly workers (forgetting, for a moment, the share of those overall costs paid by the workers). In other words, do the white collar deductibles and copayments actually discourage unnecessary doctors' visits, etc.? Presumably the answer is yes. If so, "Bush and the conservative thinkers" have a point--about GM, at least.
LAT's Ron Brownstein on why General Motors' troubles show we need "national action" to control health care costs:
There's no silver bullet for controlling medical costs. The inability of even a massive consumer like GM, with its vast bargaining power, to hold down its bills belies the simplistic suggestions from Bush and conservative thinkers that transferring more of the cost to individuals will significantly reduce costs by making patients smarter consumers. [Emph. added]
Note to Ron: GM is maybe not your best example of the ineffectiveness of "transferring more of the cost to individuals," since GM has not even instituted the obvious deductible and co-pay measures with its hourly workers. The deductible for UAW workers at GM is ... zero.
UAW workers at GM and retirees don't pay monthly premiums or deductibles for health care, but white-collar workers and retirees pay both. GM says union employees pay 7 percent of their health-care costs and white-collar employees 27 percent. (Chicago Tribune)
Is your health care deductible zero? Mine's $2,000. ... P.S.: The key question, for Brownstein's cost-control argument, is whether the overall health care costs of GM's white collar workers are any lower than the costs for the zero-deductible hourly workers (forgetting, for a moment, the share of those overall costs paid by the workers). In other words, do the white collar deductibles and copayments actually discourage unnecessary doctors' visits, etc.? Presumably the answer is yes. If so, "Bush and the conservative thinkers" have a point--about GM, at least.
Iraq Military Casualties By Race
Interesting breakdown. If whites are now roughly half of the U.S. population, I'd say the crackers are doing more than their fair share.
This Is New To Me
For the past few nights the moon has appeared larger than many people have seen it for almost 20 years. It is the world's largest optical illusion, and one of its most enduring mysteries.
It can put a man in space, land a probe on Mars, but Nasa can't explain why the moon appears bigger when it's on the horizon than when it's high in the night sky.
The mystery of the Moon Illusion, witnessed by millions of people this week, has puzzled great thinkers for centuries. There have even been books devoted to the matter.
Not since June 1987 has the moon been this low in the sky, accentuating the illusion even further.
But opinion differs on why there is such an apparent discrepancy in size between a moon on the horizon and one in the distant sky.
It can put a man in space, land a probe on Mars, but Nasa can't explain why the moon appears bigger when it's on the horizon than when it's high in the night sky.
The mystery of the Moon Illusion, witnessed by millions of people this week, has puzzled great thinkers for centuries. There have even been books devoted to the matter.
Not since June 1987 has the moon been this low in the sky, accentuating the illusion even further.
But opinion differs on why there is such an apparent discrepancy in size between a moon on the horizon and one in the distant sky.
"A Moderately Successful Chelsea Pimp"
British obits are, well, priceless.
Cracking obituary in the Daily Telegraph today for the author of the Henry Root letters. It begins like this:
"William Donaldson, who died on June 22 aged 70, was described by Kenneth Tynan as "an old Wykehamist who ended up as a moderately successful Chelsea pimp", which was true, though he was also a failed theatrical impresario, a crack-smoking serial adulterer and a writer of autobiographical novels; but it was under the nom de plume Henry Root that he became best known."
Cracking obituary in the Daily Telegraph today for the author of the Henry Root letters. It begins like this:
"William Donaldson, who died on June 22 aged 70, was described by Kenneth Tynan as "an old Wykehamist who ended up as a moderately successful Chelsea pimp", which was true, though he was also a failed theatrical impresario, a crack-smoking serial adulterer and a writer of autobiographical novels; but it was under the nom de plume Henry Root that he became best known."
Classic Television
Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas wondered, on Inside Washington over the weekend, whether the effort in the U.S. House to reduce funding for PBS and NPR through the CPB would "make NPR a little less liberal?" An indignant Nina Totenberg of NPR retorted: "I don't think we're liberal to begin with and I think if you would listen, Evan, you would know that." Thomas countered that "I do listen to you and you're not that liberal, but you're a little bit liberal." Totenberg insisted, "I don't think that's a fair criticism...any more than you would say that Newsweek is liberal." To which Thomas conceded: "I think Newsweek is a little liberal."
Who Said This?
Democrats "fumbled the seminal moment of our lives - the terrorist attacks of 9/11." President Bush "exemplified leadership at a time when America was desperate for a leader. He deserves credit, as do congressional Republicans, for recognizing the challenge of 9/11 and rising to it. Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, there was chaos... [Democrats] handled 9/11 like it was a debate over a highway bill instead of a matter of people's lives."
Rove? Nope, Andrew Cuomo.
Rove? Nope, Andrew Cuomo.
Nino the Great
Scalia's dissent in the Kentucky 10 Commandments case:
What distinguishes the rule of law from the dictatorship of a shifting Supreme Court majority is the absolutely indispensable requirement that judicial opinions be grounded in consistently applied principle. That is what prevents judges from ruling now this way, now that thumbs up or thumbs down as their personal preferences dictate. Today's opinion forthrightly (or actually, somewhat less than forthrightly) admits that it does not rest upon consistently applied principle. In a revealing footnote, ante, at 11, n. 10, the Court acknowledges that the Establishment Clause doctrine it purports to be applying lacks the comfort of categorical absolutes. What the Court means by this lovely euphemism is that sometimes the Court chooses to decide cases on the principle that government cannot favor religion, and sometimes it does not. The footnote goes on to say that [i]n special instances we have found good reason to dispense with the principle, but [n]o such reasons present themselves here. Ibid. It does not identify all of those special instances, much less identify the good reason for their existence.
What distinguishes the rule of law from the dictatorship of a shifting Supreme Court majority is the absolutely indispensable requirement that judicial opinions be grounded in consistently applied principle. That is what prevents judges from ruling now this way, now that thumbs up or thumbs down as their personal preferences dictate. Today's opinion forthrightly (or actually, somewhat less than forthrightly) admits that it does not rest upon consistently applied principle. In a revealing footnote, ante, at 11, n. 10, the Court acknowledges that the Establishment Clause doctrine it purports to be applying lacks the comfort of categorical absolutes. What the Court means by this lovely euphemism is that sometimes the Court chooses to decide cases on the principle that government cannot favor religion, and sometimes it does not. The footnote goes on to say that [i]n special instances we have found good reason to dispense with the principle, but [n]o such reasons present themselves here. Ibid. It does not identify all of those special instances, much less identify the good reason for their existence.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Rex Joins Casey
Rex Chapman is joining the Minnesota Timberwolves as their new general manager and top aide to team vice president Kevin McHale, ESPN.com's Marc Stein has learned.
Chapman, according to NBA front-office sources, will start working with McHale immediately to help Minnesota with its selections in Tuesday's draft.
The former University of Kentucky star and 12-year NBA veteran resigned his position as Phoenix Suns director of basketball operations on June 15. Chapman later called the move a "mutual decision," amid reports of tension with Suns president Bryan Colangelo.
Sources said Chapman landed his new job with the strong backing of longtime McHale ally Danny Ainge, vice president of the Boston Celtics.
Chapman, who was instrumental in helping Phoenix lure Steve Nash away from Dallas last July, also played for new Wolves coach Dwane Casey when Casey was an assistant at Kentucky.
Chapman, according to NBA front-office sources, will start working with McHale immediately to help Minnesota with its selections in Tuesday's draft.
The former University of Kentucky star and 12-year NBA veteran resigned his position as Phoenix Suns director of basketball operations on June 15. Chapman later called the move a "mutual decision," amid reports of tension with Suns president Bryan Colangelo.
Sources said Chapman landed his new job with the strong backing of longtime McHale ally Danny Ainge, vice president of the Boston Celtics.
Chapman, who was instrumental in helping Phoenix lure Steve Nash away from Dallas last July, also played for new Wolves coach Dwane Casey when Casey was an assistant at Kentucky.
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