Questions

Mitt Romney's Wealth

2012-01-21T06:16:00.000-05:00

The Republican nomination contest has been in high gear the past couple of weeks, and South Carolina's primary is today.

Regardless of what happens today, Romney is going to win the nomination. I agree with Jacob Weisberg and others who say that the media is drumming up Gingrich and Santorum momentum in a self-interested effort to prolong the race.

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Romney announced this week that his effective income tax rate is 15% because so much of his income is from capital gains and/or benefits from the carried interest loophole. Romney's 15% illustrates to me the absurdity of the tax code; I hope that if he becomes President, his personal situation -- and the attention it draws -- might encourage comprehensive reform.

On the issue of Romney's wealth, David Brooks had an interesting column yesterday tracing Romney's family history and arguing that his defining character trait is his (and his ancestors') ambition and determination:

Is Romney a spoiled, cosseted character? Has he been corrupted by ease and luxury? The notion is preposterous. All his life, Romney has been a worker and a grinder. He earned two degrees at Harvard simultaneously (in law and business). He built a business. He’s persevered year after year, amid defeat after defeat, to build a political career. Romney’s salient quality is not wealth. It is, for better and worse, his tenacious drive — the sort of relentlessness that we associate with striving immigrants, not rich scions.

Brooks may be getting at why Romney is less off-putting to me than I would expect. Although I have a hard time understanding why someone would be politically ambitious given our screwed up system, I think ambition is a valuable trait in a leader, and a lack of ambition (à la George W. Bush) can actually be more problematic.

513. Has there ever been a less pleasant Presidential contender than Newt Gingrich? He is mean and uninspiring. I don't think he was quite so mean in the 1990's -- back then, he was more of a caricature of a grouchy but ultimately well-meaning conservative.

514. Who drops out first, Santorum or Gingrich? I think probably Santorum, since he has more of a future to consider.

515. The online piracy legislation has been in the news this week; Wikipedia "went dark" on Wednesday to protest the possible effects of the legislation, and an (alleged) pirate site called MegaUpload was shut down by the Department of Justice yesterday. Do Obama and Romney support or oppose the legislation? Do I support or oppose it? So far, the fight strikes me as rich Hollywood corporations versus rich internet corporations, so I have a hard time viewing one side as more "right" than the other.

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This morning I looked back to see what I was writing about two Januarys ago. The big news at the time was Scott Brown's surprise victory in the Massachusetts election and its effect on Obama's health care reform effort.

Here's an excerpt:

I think E.J. Dionne hit the nail on the head in a column this morning (here) when he argued that the Democrats in Congress dithered for too long on the health care bill -- timing and momentum do matter. Here's Dionne:

Brown's victory is also a rebuke to the Senate, which acted as though it had unlimited time to pass health-care legislation and ignored how foolish its listless ways appear to normal human beings. Like a bottle of milk kept out of the refrigerator too long, the health bill went sour for voters who felt they never heard an adequate explanation of what was in it.

As far as Scott Brown, I read on wikipedia that his day-job is real estate lawyer (!) and that he's a graduate of BC Law School. The oddest thing I've read about him yet is in Gail Collins's column this morning (here):

During Tuesday night’s victory speech, Brown veered off-script and offered up his college-student daughters to the crowd. (“Yes, they’re both available!”) As his girls laughed with embarrassment and his wife yelled at him to stop, Brown just dug deeper. (“Arianna’s definitely not available, but Ayla is.”)

OK, that's a bit of a bizarre opening statement on the national stage.

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The late-breaking news this afternoon is that Pelosi has announced the House will not attempt to pass the Senate version of the bill.

There's not been much talk, since Tuesday, about the possibility of swinging Susan Collins (to replace Paul Kirk's 60th vote), so I assume that the remaining options are reconciliation in the Senate or a significantly slimmed-down bill.

Adam Goodheart's 1861

2012-01-15T15:45:00.004-05:00

This week I started reading Adam Goodheart's 1861, which examines American society and politics on the eve of the Civil War.

I am thoroughly enjoying Goodheart's approach, which mixes politics, social history, and vignettes about lesser-known figures who illustrate his themes.

For instance, he has an excellent summary of the differences between the four contenders in the 1860 Presidential campaign, but he also has a lengthy discussion about the lives of slaves and free blacks in pre-war Washington (I was surprised to learn that slave auctions were actually still entirely legal in D.C., under certain conditions, in 1861).

No surprise here, but I'm especially interested in Goodheart's examination of Abraham Lincoln. Here's a terrific passage about the symbolism of split-rail fences in Lincoln's Presidential campaign:

Split-rail fences represented individual independence and private ownership, yet also a sense of community, since they were often constructed by groups of neighbors coming together to pitch in. They epitomized America's working class and its rural way of life. They were homely, yet strong - perhaps like Lincoln himself. Perhaps most important, the split-rail fence was a symbol of the West (mainly what today we would call the Midwest), since it was often the first permanent structure that a pioneer would build after clearing the land.

I like picturing, in my head, the Western frontier, with a group of people working together on a fence. I like the mix of individualism and collective effort.

510. How exactly do you make the split-rails? Goodheart says that you use a mallet rather than an axe, and it seems to me that you'd have to be incredibly strong and coordinated to strike the mallet correctly.

511. I love the photograph on the cover of the book. Where was it taken?

512. What's the most famous fence in history? I'd say the Great Wall of China is the most famous property line barrier, but it's not a fence per se.

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Yesterday the 49ers beat the Saints 36-32 in an epic back and forth game in which Drew Brees threw a fantastic touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham with a minute left and then Alex Smith topped him by driving the 49ers back downfield and throwing a TD to Vernon Davis (who burst into tears) with 9 seconds left.

Tuck was at the game (!) and he texted me just after it ended:

"Seriously might be the best live sports event I have ever been to. This place is going off the hook."

I like this painting of a split-rail fence.

This is a picture of Vernon Davis's catch yesterday.

Tebow-Mania and Cavalier Basketball on the Rise!!

2012-01-12T11:23:00.001-05:00

Most people in America are all-Tebow-all-the-time this week (were those 316 passing yards truly miraculous?!) as they gear up for the Saturday night clash of Tim vs. Tom, but in Charlottesville we are relishing the Cavaliers' awesome 15-1 start to the season.

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I loved the last play of the Broncos/Steelers game - DeMaryius Thomas cutting across the middle and Tebow hitting him in perfect stride reminded me of all the times Dad taught Tuck and me about leading and crossing-the-middle when we'd throw with him as kids.

It's hard to not get caught up in and enjoy the Tebow hype -- it's one of those moments when sports really does serve to bring people together.

Tonight UVa plays at Duke and there's a definite buzz about the possibility that we could pull off a big W and really propel the program forward. Having followed the Duke defeats over the years, I'd be extremely surprised if we win tonight, but there's no doubt that Tony Bennett, Mike Scott and Sammy Zeglinski have the team moving in the right direction!!

Here's Dan's e-mail to me from this morning: "How crazy are you going to blog if we upset the Dookies tonite, Baby!!"

You just have to love that form!!!

International News Recap for 2011

2012-01-07T07:05:00.000-05:00

Internationally, the biggest event of 2011 was the Arab Spring.

For 2-3 weeks in January and February, we watched the coverage each night from Tahrir Square. It was amazing how the spark spread, so quickly, from Tunisia to Egypt to Libya, Bahrain and Syria. It was reminiscent of the protests in Eastern Europe in 1989 -- and similarly inspiring.

502. What is the current status of Hosni Mubarak's trial? Is he being tried in Egypt or elsewhere?

503. Will 2011 achieve the historical/symbolic significance of 1989? 1989 is the year of my life that's most perceived as a historical watershed; could 2011 become a similar turning point?

504. Is democracy the "natural" political state for humans? Among a group of hunter-gatherers, is the preference for group decision making or for a single leader (or small group of leaders)? Or are hunter-gatherers the wrong frame of reference, since most societies are no longer organized that way?

505. Will the Muslim Brotherhood continue to do well in the coming rounds of elections in Egypt? If so, what will the United States reaction be?

506. Was Tahrir Square an important place in Cairo prior to 2011?

507. If Obama is re-elected, will Hilary remain the Secretary of State for the entire second term? I feel like the number of 8 year Secretary of States is small (have there been any - perhaps Dulles for Eisenhower?).

508. Hilary has done a great job as Secretary of State. How often do she and Obama talk? Do they like each other? Have they developed a relationship as friends or is it purely professional?

509. What will happen in Syria in 2012? I can't believe how much violence is happening there without all that much global/U.N. outrage. Will there be a tipping point this year?

Songs of 2011

2012-01-05T07:25:00.000-05:00

My favorite songs of 2011:

The Honest Truth - Typhoon

Give Me Everything - Pitbull (also my choice for Song of the Summer 2011)

Helplessness Blues and Grown Ocean - Fleet Foxes

God is God - Steve Earle

Ciao Monday - Emm Gryner

Honey Bee - Blake Shelton (a contender for video of the year)

Barefoot Blue Jean Night - Jake Owen

Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO (FUN listening to it immediately after the ball dropped on New Year's Eve, to ring in 2012!)

Best Thing I Never Had - Beyonce

Hosanna - Andrew Lipke

Wash. - Bon Iver

Mean - Taylor Swift

I Need a Doctor - Dr. Dre and Eminem (duets remain a favorite genre for me, and I love the back and forth on this one)

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Although there's no single favorite for 2011 (a la Domani (2009) and Freyda's trio of lullabies (2010)), if I were forced to choose I'd put The Honest Truth and Give Me Everything at the top of the list.

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My preferences aside, Adele was clearly the musician of the year: her album transcended taste/genre in a way that I cannot recall happening for a number of years. Rolling in the Deep, in particular, will be a classic for years to come, and I do love those shaking water glasses in the video.

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I continued to listen to lots of All Songs Considered this past year, and I maintained my love-hate relationship with Bob Boilen et als. I love the way they talk so passionately and enthusiastically about music. They also introduce me to new artists and have definitely expanded my music horizons.

That said, they frustrate me with their single-minded focus on "indie" music and their (implicit, sometimes explicit) refusal to acknowledge good music in country, hip-hop, pop, etc. That's why I was particuarly amused at the writer this fall who said that indie is the new adult contemporary -- and I found it hilarious that just as I've actually gotten into certain Boilen-esque music (Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver), it's being described as bland and middlebrow.

I also got a kick out of the predictability of the most-popular "indie" releases of 2011, when it came time for All Songs' year-end review: the top 5 included Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, The Decembrists, and Radiohead (with Adele as the only outside-the-box selection).

For me, Pitbull is the entertainer of the year: I love his charisma and the way that he appears to be a genuinely nice guy -- the Jerricho Cotchery of pop music. And I will always get up and wave my hands when I hear Give Me Everything!

Reflections on Charlottesville News in 2011

2012-01-03T06:07:00.003-05:00

In 2011, there was a clear "story of the year" for Charlottesville/Albemarle: the Board of Supervisors' decision last spring to move forward with the Western Bypass.

The triggering event was Lindsay Dorrier's change-of-mind based on promises made by Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton to provide state money for other local projects (if the County builds the Bypass).

Nobody saw this coming (except, I gather, Rodney Thomas and Duane Snowe, who were having the behind the scenes decisions with state officials).

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If you had asked me a year ago what the eventual solution to the congestion on 29 North would be, I'd have said (1st) the addition of overhead ramps along the road itself (à la Places 29) or (2nd) an Eastern bypass. I recall people talking about a Western bypass around the time I was in high school or college, but there was tons of opposition among the people who lived in its path, and I just wouldn't have guessed that local (or state) officials would be willing to take on that opposition.

I cannot decide how I feel about a 29 bypass, but I feel strongly that the current version (6.2 miles and terminating at Forest Lakes) is a mistake.

If a bypass is going to be built, then it clearly needs to go much further north. If it's not going to go further north, then it should be put on-hold until a complete version is developed. The 6.2 mile version is too much like my approach to certain household projects: starting the work without a commitment to completing it.

Based on his role in moving the Bypass forward, Ken Boyd was chosen by The Hook as 2011 person's of the year.

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Another big local story was the brief opening, last spring, of the County's portion of the Meadowcreek Parkway. Construction of the City portion remains subject to the environmental-assessment lawsuit, but the County has announced that its portion will re-open (permanently) in the near future.

Driving the Parkway last spring, I was surprised by how small it seems. I guess this is both good and bad: good because it leaves a relatively small footprint but bad if it ends up not being able to handle the traffic. The people living along Park Street sure must be happy.

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David Brooks has a refrain that the "good stuff" of American politics occurs at the local and state levels (whereas the federal government is dysfunctional), and I tend to think he is right.

However, as the local road and water debates illustrate, the "good stuff" can entail passionate debate that leads to "winners", "losers", and hard feelings. That being the case, I give credit to the people who are willing to be involved in the public forum; a highlight of 2011 civic discourse for me was the well-contested City Council race.

501. The big and obvious question remains: Does the Western Bypass in-fact actually get built in the near future? Or does it go the route of the Meadowcreek Parkway, in which case there's at least 10-15 years of delay prior to construction? I assume that lawsuits will be filed in 2012. I put the current odds at 65-70% that construction begins in the next couple of years -- I certainly don't think it's a done deal yet.

A New Year is Beginning

2012-01-01T16:28:00.000-05:00

Reflections on news about the United States during 2011...

From beginning to end, the biggest story remained the struggling economy (in general) and persistent unemployment (specifically). Until August/September, people seemed optimistic that things were slowly improving (I assume that the rising stock market contributed to the feeling), but this fall and winter there’s been a noticeable downturn in expectations (even though the unemployment rate has finally decreased a bit). The analysts and columnists tend to blame the problem on “Europe”, but I think the Greeks and Italians are serving as a convenient scapegoat for Americans. I think we are in for continued economic problems, because I fail to see where new jobs will come from. The key will be transitioning away from a consumption-based economy, in which so much depends on all of us constantly purchasing new things (cell phone advertising is everywhere – do people replace their phones every few months?). We need to find a new way to measure (and feel) our individual and collective “growth.”

President Obama has continued to disappoint me. He generally does well as a compromiser, but I desperately want some bully-pulpit leadership. I want him to get out in-front of the day-to-day discussion and help us to reframe debates. He shies away from doing this. There were several articles this year about Obama’s psychological tendency towards conflict-avoidance, and I think this is correct. There has been so much kicking-the-can-down the road on (1) reforming tax policy and (2) addressing the debt. Although I blame the Republicans for their intransigence, Obama has the top-job, and he is the person best positioned to change the public’s perspective. Also, he focuses way too much on getting re-elected. This reinforces my desire to move to a single 6-year term for the president, so we won’t have to spend half of each presidency focusing on the next election.

494. At the Constitutional Convention, was there any discussion of a Presidential term-length other than 4 years ? Did anyone propose a 6 or 8 year term, with an explicit limitation to a single term?

495. What's the most likey Constitutional amendment to be adopted in the next twenty years?

496. If Obama does not win re-election, will he move back to Chicago? Will he run in 2016?

The big foreign policy development of 2011 was the killing of Osama Bin Laden at the beginning of May, and I credit Obama for keeping his eye on the ball on this task (unlike Bush). I’m comfortable with the targeted assassination of Osama, but less so with the tremendous increase in drone-killings by the Obama administration (the Washington Post has done a good job focusing on the drone issue in the past couple of months). I understand the need/desire to fight the terrorists, but I have to wonder if we are generating more hatred for America by killing people by machine and from a distance. In addition to the practical question (not wanting to make America less safe because it’s more hated), I am unclear in my mind about the morality of drones.

The quest for the Republication nomination has been a major political story throughout the year, and I have been consistently astounded at the low quality of the candidates (excepting Mitt Romney, per below). I would have thought that with Obama seeming a vulnerable incumbent, there would be at least a couple of legitimate contenders (Mitch Daniels and/or Chris Christie – I am waiting for a piece on longform.org on the real reasons they chose not to run). One good development has been the increased number of debates, although the 60-second format is absurd and keeps us mired in a soundbite culture.

497. If Romney is elected, what Cabinet post does Christie get? I can't see him as the Vice Presidential nominee (because of the problem of two Northeasterners). Perhaps Treasury Secretary?

498. Does Daniels or Christie have any regrets right now?

499. Has Tim Pawlenty endorsed anyone yet? I don't think so - I think the news this fall about Pawlenty was that he may challenge Al Franken for the Minnesota Senate seat, but I don't think he's endorsed anyone.

Regarding Romney, I think he may have the background and temperament to make him an effective leader. I also like that he’s a moderate (notwithstanding his best efforts to convince Republican primary voters otherwise). If the election were today I’d have to do a lot of thinking in choosing between him and Obama, both because of my disappointment in Obama and because I think Romney might genuinely be able to shift our economic policy in a positive way. I am definitely torn – I want to believe that Obama can become a great leader, but the dashed expectations sting.

500. I should be happy that Obama is so pragmatic and seeking-of-compromise. Why am I not more enthusiastic about him? Is the problem with my expectations rather than his leadership? This is going to be a big question to think about in the coming months.

The Solyndra story was probably the year’s most interesting in terms of the convergence of (1) the proper role of government, (2) nurturing a new American economy, and (3) the potential for corruption when government money is at stake. I remain confused about the extent to which solar and wind energy (and nuclear) could become viable, large-scale alternatives, and Solyndra’s failure makes me worried that solar energy may not be as close to a “breakthrough” as previously reported.

In terms of my news consumption, I re-subscribed to the paper edition of the Post around mid-November, and I am really getting into the routine of reading it. I am not impressed with their columnists (Dionne and Robinson are so repetitive), but their investigative, medium-length stories are quite good.

A New Year is Beginning

2010-12-31T07:02:00.006-05:00

I am going to return to a handwritten journal for 2011. I really like using the blog as my journal, particularly combining pictures with my thoughts and questions, and I think I may return to using the blog in the future, but I miss the physical aspect of a book journal. I also want to work on my handwriting as a project for 2011; I used to really like my handwriting, however it has become increasingly difficult to handwrite neatly in the past few years so I want to focus on practicing it. Finally, I think some of my reflections -- or the way that I reflect -- is different when I know that there is a chance that other people will read what I write; I want to make sure that I do not lose touch with the personal, private side of keeping the journals.

Before I go, a few reflections on 2010:

I have really liked my "rediscovery" of finding and listening to new music the past couple of years. I had spent several years listening to my CD collection over and over, and I do like my old favorites, but it has been fun to hear new voices and styles, and I am definitely excited to continue new musical discoveries.
My favorite movie of 2010 was "The Social Network." I thought Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg was brilliant and I loved the exploration of how we approach human relationships and interaction. I also loved the overlay of the two legal disputes (just this morning I read in the Times about the Winklevoss brothers continuing their lawsuit against Facebook (these guys are relentless!)). It seems to me that Facebook will only continue to grow more prominent in our lives, but I am still not interested in opening an account.
The economy dominated the news this year. When I go back and read my journals from 2005/06/07, the primary focus was on the Iraq war and the domestic efforts against terrorism. This year, there has been considerably less focus on foreign affairs. Even the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are largely ignored; certainly the Israeli/Palestinian conflict does not get the coverage that it did during the Clinton and Bush Presidencies. I assume that Afghanistan will become prominent this coming spring and summer when the drawdown deadline approaches, but I think we are in for at least two more years of being primarily "inward-focused" as a country.
The stories about Mexico continue to focus -- almost exclusively -- on the drug-trafficking, and the stories about Africa usually emphasize political upheaval. I need to work on seeking out reporting about foreign issues that does not always track the standard tropes.
At this point, I have no clue who the Republicans will nominate for 2012; Mitt Romney seems the smart choice to me (he would attract moderate support), but I still think his Mormonism may be a problem in the primaries. I do not think Sarah Palin will run, and I really wish that she would be less of a focus for the national media. Just last night I saw an interview on PBS with James Oberstar (a long-serving Democrat who lost his House re-election bid this fall) and it reminded me that there are lots of really good, smart people in politics, and I wish we would give them a chance to work together.
I have very mixed feelings about President Obama's performance two years in. I want more leadership from him; I want him to explain to us, for example, how we can change our national value system to focus less on consumption and individualism and more on working for the collective and long-term good.

I am very, very excited about 2011. I love December 31 and January 1; these are days of renewal and excitement about the infinite wonders of being alive.

The sun is rising

Songs of 2010

2010-12-28T08:03:00.000-05:00

My favorite songs that came out this year:

The Cave - Mumford & Sons

Open Road - Matthew Mayfield

River City Lights - Griffin House

Only Girl in the World - Rihanna (listening at the start of the Marine Corps Marathon
was a musical and athletic highlight of the year)

Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz and Ludacris

Gimme That Girl - Joe Nichols

A World Cup 2010 Threesome: Game On / Ke Nako / Waka Waka - Pitbull / J Pre / Shakira

Bloodbuzz Ohio - The National

California Girls - Katy Perry

Christmas Lights - Coldplay

Rambling Man - Laura Marling

AND, my favorite songs of 2010 (although they didn't actually come out this year) ...

Hajej / Shaker Medley / A La Puerta Del Cielo - Freyda Epstein

2010 in Review: The Best Video and Best Lyrics of the Year

2010-12-27T17:56:00.004-05:00

My favorite video of 2010 is the one for K'Naan's "Waving Flag," which was the official song of the 2010 World Cup.

I have always loved sports montages, and Waving Flag is the best I have seen since "One Shining Moment" in its early/mid 90's heyday.

I love the combination of the fan and athlete shots, and I love the way they actually stayed with plays for several seconds (most sports montages these days are so fast-paced that you get no sense of the plays). I also loved the global aspect of the video: there were images of teams and fans from all over the world.

My favorite lyrics of the year:

The National:

"I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees." (Bloodbuzz Ohio)

Taio Cruz and Ludacris:

"See I'm not trying to lead you on

No I'm only trying to keep it real

You might say this is Ludacris

But Taio Cruz tell her how you feel." (Break Your Heart)

Mumford & Sons:

"It's empty in the valley of your heart

The sun it rises slowly as you walk

Away from all the fears

And all the faults you've left behind." (The Cave)

Coldplay:

"I took my feet to Oxford Street." (Christmas Lights)

AND THE BEST LYRIC OF THE YEAR...

Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg:

Bikinis, tankinis, martinis

No weenies

Just to get

In betweeny

Katy my lady

You looking here baby

I'm all up on you

Cause you representing California." (California Girls)

Obama Signs the Tax Cut Bill

2010-12-18T06:39:00.002-05:00

President Obama signed the tax-cut extension bill yesterday, after the Democrats in the House chose not to fight him on the estate tax provisions.

The cost of the bill is $858 billion, a tremendous irony after the endless talk about reducing the size of government in the lead-up to the 2010 elections.

For me this bill epitomizes the dysfunction of our political system. We simply are unable to reduce benefits (Democrats) or raise taxes (Republicans), so instead we give something to everyone: increased benefits and lower taxes. It keeps the economy running on the fumes of consumption but it sure does not strike me as a responsible long-term approach.

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The House passed the bill 277 to 148 Thursday night, with 112 Democrats and 36 Republicans voting no. Here is Peter Baker's celebratory description from today's Times:

With the stroke of a pen, President Obama on Friday enacted the largest tax cut in nearly a decade and, in the process, took a big step toward reinventing himself as a champion of compromise in a politically fractured capital. When he first struck the deal two weeks ago, a sour Mr. Obama announced it by himself, lamented his own agreement and testily denounced his Republican partners as “hostage takers” and his liberal critics as “sanctimonious.” By the time he signed it into law on Friday, little more than six weeks after an electoral debacle for him and his party, he stood with the Senate Republican leader and celebrated the package as a hallmark of cooperation.

I feel a little bit like the Grinch, complaining about tax cuts and extended unemployment benefits during the week before Christmas, but I just do not approve of continuing to run up the national credit card. Also, contrary to the current conventional wisdom, I don't think this bill helps Obama's chances for re-election in 2012: any goodwill garnered with the Republicans will dissipate rapidly, and the left-wing of the Democratic party is not going to be as motivated to support him in 2012.

492. The repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is expected to pass prior to year-end, thank goodness. So far, Republicans Snowe, Collins, Brown, and Murkowski have come out in favor of repeal. Which additional Republicans will change their positions when they realize that repeal is inevitable? I would think that Lugar and Voinovich would be inclined towards repeal.

493. Mike Shanahan announced yesterday that Donovan McNabb is officially benched (in favor of Rex Grossman!!!) for the last three games of the season. Where does this decision rank in the annals of Redskins absurdity during the Snyder era?

Happier times (not so long ago...)

Christmas Music for 2010: Coldplay, Annie Lennox, and the Puppini Sisters

2010-12-16T07:01:00.001-05:00

It's another good year for new Christmas music!! Is it just me or are more and more artists putting out holiday songs and albums?

Coldplay's "Christmas Lights" is an instant classic. The line "I took my feet // to Oxford Street" may be my single favorite line of the year, between the simplicity, the way that Chris Martin sings it, and the memories it brings back of my time in London. I love the piano in "Lights," and the rhythm-switch in the middle of the song is great.

Annie Lennox's album Christmas Cornucopia is solid throughout; she has a voice that is a mesmerizing combination of happy and melancholy. My favorite song on Cornucopia is "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem."

I think "Oh Little Town" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" are the two Christmas carols that most lend themselves to great re-interpretations by various artists.

489. How old a song is "Oh Little Town"? Was it written by a Brit?

490. Are more musicians actually producing Christmas records these days, or am I just more aware of them because of the accessibility through iTunes?

491. Mark Zuckerberg was announced as Time's Person of the Year yesterday. How many votes did Julian Assange get? I think Assange was actually the correct choice (in terms of global influence for 2010 in particular), but Zuckerberg is a defensible pick.

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Another fun new song is the Puppini Sisters' "Last Christmas." Their jazzy voices are quite fun, and the strange instrument at the beginning (is that a ukelele?) is a nice change-up from the standard strings and piano.

Changes in the Federal Education Agenda for 2011?

2010-12-13T07:16:00.001-05:00

An article in yesterday's Times (by Sam Dillon, here) says that Arne Duncan and Obama's education team are having to "recalibrate" their education agenda in light of the Republicans' pending takeover of the House.

In particular, the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind may not occur because of different priorities/emphases of the two parties. The Republicans (led by John Kline, a Minnesotan who will chair the Houe education committee) want to focus on scaling back the federal government's role, while the Democratic focus is on whether/how a school system is deemed adequate.

The last attempt to revise NCLB, in 2007, failed. This past year, the Obama Administration focused its education agenda on the Race to the Top grants rather than NCLB.

I had been wondering why NCLB was not in the news more often in 2010, but I gather from Dillon's piece that the law continues in effect from year to year, unless Congress amends its provisions (I was under the impression that NCLB requires affirmative reauthorization).

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For 2011, Obama has requested an additional $1.35 billion for Race to the Top grants, but the House and Senate have only approved $550 million. The decrease in funding could limit the program's reach/effects ("Experts said the decreased financing would not inspire as much enthusiasm among states as $4 billion did").

Meanwhile, there is a major pending NCLB deadline: by 2014, every student in the USA must be "proficient" in math and reading. To that end, there's a same-page article in the Times about a major testing scandal in the Atlanta school system ("The allegations center on dozens of employees who are suspected of changing test answers to improve scores on state standardized tests").

Drew Brees is the Sportsman of the Year

2010-12-04T19:24:00.001-05:00

Drew Brees is the 2010 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. I read the SI article this morning (after reading some more of the Vanderbilt biography, which has been an enjoyable tale; I've liked the recent part about his contribution to the Union effort during the Civil War).

I think Brees is the right choice for 2010. He sounds like an extremely admirable individual, invested in community work in each of the places he's lived as an adult (Purdue, San Diego and New Orleans). He's also a big-time family guy, which I love. The image of him holding his son after the Super Bowl victory is definitely one of the indelible sports images of 2010.

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I am watching Auburn defeat South Carolina in the SEC Championship right now; Auburn is ahead 49-14. The big story for the past month, in college football, has been the allegations that Cam Newton was offered (and considered taking?) money to attend Mississippi State. Newton is the consensus favorite to win the Heisman, and there was some talk that people might not vote for him in light of the revocation of Reggie Bush's Heisman earlier this year because of (similar) issues with Bush receiving benefits while at USC. I am not a big Cam Newton fan because he showboats excessively.

The other big game today was Oregon defeating Oregon State, to claim the other spot in the BCS title game. This means that TCU (the third undefeated team) will not play for the title. I had been rooting for either Auburn or Oregon to lose so that TCU would get a shot at the championship.

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The Skins are 5-6 after losing last week to the Vikings (who have been awful this year), and are headed to yet another 7-9/8-8 season. Notwithstanding that it will be another December with the Skins out-of-it, I have still enjoyed watching them more this year with McNabb at the helm.

David Segal Pens a Great Story in the Times

2010-11-28T08:12:00.000-05:00

This morning while still in bed I discovered one of the best articles of 2010, "A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web (here)." The article is in the Times and is by David Segal. Segal tells a super-interesting story (with an amazing character at the center) and his piece is well-written and sprinkled with humor. This is American entrepreneurialism from a very new perspective.

Germany's Economy is Thriving, and Ireland's is Not

2010-11-25T07:28:00.005-05:00

It's Thanksgiving!! Happy Thanksgiving!

Lots of news the past week about Ireland's government losing the confidence of the world credit markets (thus the imposition of austerity measures in order to get a large bailout from the IMF). Ross Douthat had a great piece about the huge number of McMansions in the Irish countryside, emblematic of the country's housing boom.

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Meanwhile, Harold Meyerson had a piece in yesterday's Post (here) arguing that Germany's economy is bucking the global downturn because the Germans are focusing on local manufacturing and local lending.

I learned from Meyerson's article that the Germans are still making things, and then they areexporting those things to other countries (their trade balance is second in the world, after China's). He states that manufacturing still accounts for 25% of Germany's economy, versus only 11% of the USA's economy.

Meyerson focuses on "mittelstands" which are family-owned (and not publicly-traded) manufacturing businesses. Because they are not driven by the desire to maximize share prices in the short term, mittelstands can works towards long-terms economic goals.

The article is well-structured because Meyerson provides the example of a mittlestand in Saxony-Anhalt that produces "axle-box housings for Chinese and German high-speed trains, machine tools requiring climate-controlled precision measurement." Since trains are the finished product, this is also an example of a manufactured product that is contributing to a (relatively, in any event) clean technology: mass-transportation.

Here's an excerpt summarizing the argument:

The mittelstand remains blissfully immune to many pressures that share-price-oriented financial markets inflict on their American counterparts. "We don't have short-term strategies, only long-term strategies," says Hubner. Mittelstand companies are not publicly traded, and they benefit from an extensive system of vocational education and a sector of municipally owned savings banks that work solely with local businesses. Roughly two-thirds of German small and mid-size businesses get their loans from these banks. "Over the past decade, banking largely became a self-fulfilling activity," says Patrick Steinpass, chief economist for the national organization of savings banks. "But our banks are restricted to doing business in their regions; they have to concentrate on the real economy." Through such radical notions has Germany thrived.

Redskins 19, Titans 16: Graham Gano is the Hero in Another Overtime Victory

2010-11-23T06:23:00.004-05:00

The Redskins pulled out a season-saving (for now!) victory against the Titans on Sunday, 19-16.

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The game was close throughout, and the key for the Skins was Donovan McNabb repeatedly converting third downs during the second half (several on throws to Chris Cooley). Prior to this game, the Skins' third down conversion rate of 22% was lowest in the NFL, but McNabb and company turned it around on Sunday.

Clinton Portis started the game for the first time in several weeks, and he had some nice runs in the first quarter but was then injured (again) and replaced by Keiland Williams (23 rushes for 68 yards), a rookie from L.S.U. Williams played very well, helped by a more-effective-than-usual performance by the offensive line. I've just checked and Williams was actually un-drafted!

Graham Gano missed a 47 yard field goal in the waning moments of regulation, and when he came back out to try a 48 yarder in overtime I was not overly confident (and frustrated that the offense couldn't get any closer in its last three plays). But he kicked the ball beautifully and it sailed high over the posts.

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Because McNabb is playing quarterback and leading the team, I continue to enjoy watching the Skins more than in previous years. I realize he has his share of bad plays but it is so much more fun to watch a guy who seems invested in playing hard and being a good teammate. On Sunday, McNabb was 30 of 50 for 376 yards, with 1 touchdown (a nice pass to the side of the endzone to Santana Moss) and 1 interception.

The NFC East standings now:

Eagles: 7-3

Giants: 6-4

Redskins: 5-5

Cowboys: 3-7

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, by T.J. Stiles (2009)

2010-11-20T11:01:00.001-05:00

I am reading The First Tycoon, which received the National Book Award for history for 2009.

T.J. Stiles's major theme is that Cornelius Vanderbilt embodied the entrepreneurial spirit (good and bad) of the United States in the antebellum period.

Vanderbilt was born in 1794 on Staten Island. His youth was spent learning his father's trade -- operating a sailboat ferry in the waters around Manhattan. This formed the foundation of Vanderbilt's lifelong connection to transportation: first with sailboats and carriages, then with steamboats, and finally with railroads.

My sense from Stiles is that Vanderbilt had a unique combination of (1) technical/mechanical skills and (2) business/banking/capital skills. In other words, he understood both the technological and the financial aspects of his trade.

486. Is this kinds of similar to Bill Gates in the 1980's/1990's? Is Gates the pre-eminent businessman of our time because he mastered both the technology and the business of computers and software?

487. Who will become the Cornelius Vanderbilt/Bill Gates of "green energy": the person who becomes the symbol of an entire field of business, based on mastery of the technology and the trade?

488. What will be the next great innovation in transportation? Is it more likely to be the electric car or is it more likely to be a (re-) turn to rail // mass transit?

One aspect of Stiles's book that's interesting is the brevity of the contracts that memorialized Vanderbilt's agreements and transactions with other businessmen. In contrast to today's contracts, these guys got to the point. I assume that the book will show the ways in which, over the course of Vanderbilt's career and life, the legal structure became more complex.

Vanderbilt and his wife Sophia had many children (ten?); I haven't gotten a sense yet of how focused he was on his family, although it's hard to imagine he had much time for them, given his drive to excel in business.

A very interesting scene just occurred: in 1833, Vanderbilt went on his first train, on the new Camden & Amboy from New York to Philly. The train ended up wrecking and Vanderbilt was very seriously injured. I am curious to see how he goes from this (presumably traumatic) experience to becoming a railroad magnate.

Iraq Update: Finally the Formation of a Government?

2010-11-11T21:02:00.002-05:00

Ayad Allawi, the leader of Iraqiya: What's their stance on the new Iraqi government?

There's a confusing article on the Washington Post's site tonight (here) about the negotiations to form a government in Iraq.

According to Karen DeYoung, an agreement was reached to appoint Nouri al-Maliki as Prime Minster and Jalal Talabani as President. However, the Iraqiya bloc (headed by Ayad Allawi) staged a mass walk-out of Parliament, and it's unclear from DeYoung's article whether the agreement remains in place or not:

The walkout dealt a setback to what was expected to be a turning point in the impasse that has paralyzed Iraqi politics since inconclusive elections in March. After the departure of Iraqiya, which won the most seats in Iraq's parliament by a slim margin, the remaining 232 lawmakers continued to a presidential vote without them - a move that observers feared could cause a national crisis. Thursday's session had been expected to go smoothly after all major blocs agreed late Wednesday to participate based upon mutual understandings.

Before the walkout, the agreement provided for Iraqiya to appoint (1) the speaker of Parliament (Osama Nujaifi, who I have not previously heard of) and (2) the leader of a new "strategic council."

My last post about Iraq was in July, here. I guess it's been almost the entirety of 2010 with the government there in a state of flux. Are we fortunate that there hasn't been more violence? The Post tonight describes Iraqiya as largely Sunni-backed, although Allawi is a Shiite and I thought the previous articles presented Iraqiya as the secular party.

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483. I read this week that Jim Webb may replace Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense (I think Gates plans to retire in January). Is Webb the leading contender?

484. How is Webb's work on prison reform coming along?

485. Is George Allen the most likely Republican challenger to Webb in 2012?

The really big news yesterday is that Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson released the "big picture" proposals for the debt commission. As far as initial reactions to their proposals: Sean Hannity and Rachel Maddow were both strongly opposed (from the right and the left), and I was very much in-favor.

Obama in India

2010-11-07T11:18:00.001-05:00

I have not thought about India for a while (more generally, it seems like foreign relations has been "off the front page" of American newspapers for quite some time, with the focus primarily on the recession instead). But I've been thinking about India the past couple of days as Obama has embarked on a 10-day overseas trip that begins with 3 days in India.

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The visit started in Mumbai, with a remembrance at the Taj Palace where the terrorist attacks occurred during November 2008.

A major focus of the trip is strengthening the business ties between the US and India, and the articles have focused on the issues of outsourcing and how the US should balance free trade with focusing on our own economy.

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When asked who he'd most like to have dinner with, Obama gave Gandhi as his answer. Jim Yardley of Times has a very interesting article (here) about the contradictions in both Obama's and the Indian nation's admiration for Gandhi at a time when economic (in particular, consumer) growth remains a foremost goal:

Now that Mr. Obama is visiting India for the first time, on a trip pitched as a jobs mission, his fascination with Gandhi is influencing his itinerary and his message as he tries to win over India’s skeptical political class. “He is a hero not just to India, but to the world,” the president wrote in a guest book on Saturday in Gandhi’s modest former home in Mumbai, now the Mani Bhavan museum.

Yet if paying homage to Gandhi is expected of visiting dignitaries, Mr. Obama’s more personal identification with the Gandhian legacy ... places him on complicated terrain. Gandhi remains India’s patriarch, the founding father whose face is printed on the currency, but modern India is hardly a Gandhian nation, if it ever was one.

His vision of a village-dominated economy was shunted aside during his lifetime as rural romanticism, and his call for a national ethos of personal austerity and nonviolence has proved antithetical to the goals of an aspiring economic and military power. If anything, India’s rise as a global power seems likely to distance it even further from Gandhi.

India is inching toward a tighter military relationship with the United States, once distrusted as an imperialist power, even as the Americans are fighting a war in nearby Afghanistan. India also has an urbanizing consumer-driven economy and a growing middle class that indulges itself in cars, apartments and other goods. It is this economic progress that underpins India’s rising geopolitical clout and its attractiveness to the United States as a global partner.

Gandhi is still revered here, and credited with shaping India’s political identity as a tolerant, secular democracy. But he can sometimes seem to hover over modern India like a parent whose expectations are rarely met.

What an interesting (depressing?) reflection. Whereas Gandhi led by his spiritual energy, Obama is compelled to focus on economic growth and power politics.

478. Does Yardley's piece look at Gandhi through rose-colored glasses, though? Was Gandhi indeed all-idealist and none-realist?

479. Which American corporation was the first to outsource jobs to India? When did it occur? Which American corporation currently has the most employees in India?

480. Is Obama studying the history of the various nations during this trip? If so, does he do so by reading himself, or does he have tutors who help him?

481. Had he ever been to India prior to becoming President? What does he think of it -- and what were his expectations? Has he experienced the traffic cacophony? Is he getting to have any genuine experiences or is he entirely "in the bubble"?

482. The Indian stock market has been on a tear during 2010 (at least based on the returns of the Matthews India Fund); will this continue? What is driving the stock market gains there?

The World Series: The Giants Win Game 5 to Beat the Rangers

2010-11-02T07:34:00.002-04:00

Tuck has been telling me how the city of San Francisco has been totally fired up about the Giants, so it was fun last night to watch (through the seventh inning, at any rate) their Series-clinching win in Arlington.

They won the game 3-1, and so their run through the playoffs included victories over the Braves (ending Bobby Cox's storied managerial career), the Phillies, and now the Rangers.

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Tim Lincecum has been the pitching star for the Giants, outshining the more-heralded Cliff Lee of the Rangers. It's funny to watch Lincecum because he looks less like a star professional athlete than anyone I can remember. Last night he was striking out Rangers left and right; according to Tim McCarver, the story of the Series has been the Giants' pitchers shutting down the Rangers' normally powerful line-up.

The climax of the game came in the top of the 7th when the Giants got two men on (second and third bases) against Cliff Lee. Pat Burrell came to bat and was expected to sacrifice-in at least one run, but Lee struck him out (Burrell looked incredibly dejected). Up came Edgar Renteria, however, and promptly blasted a three-run homer.

Renteria is 34 years old and has played for seven teams during a career that began with another critical World Series hit, for the Marlins against the Cleveland Indians in 1997. His home run moment reminded me of other baseball playoff "big plays" -- I like the way the energy builds and you can see the intensity in the players' faces and feel the excitement of the crowd.

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On a non-sports note, today are the much-anticipated mid-term elections, and a major storyline is whether the Republicans will re-take the House by a small margin (with a net pick-up of 30-40 seats) or a larger, more dramatic one (with a pick-up of 60+).

Jonathan Franzen's Freedom (2010)

2010-10-19T21:12:00.003-04:00

I have been reading Freedom for the past few weeks. There has been an enormous amount of attention paid to this novel (and to the film Social Network, which is Fall 2010's other major cultural phenomenon): book clubs on Diane Rehm and Slate, reviews (positive and negative, in equal numbers) everywhere, an Oprah appearance and references all over the op-ed pages.

I'm not sure I remember a work of fiction that's gotten so much press coverage in the past 10 years. And (now that I'm about 450 pages into it), I have to ask: why?

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This book is not impressive in terms of the writing (a point made dramatically in a critique in The Atlantic), the storyline (Joey's foray into the contracting business in the Iraq war is one of the least believable plotlines in years) or the themes. Its central weakness is the highly forgettable characters; the protagonist couple Patty and Walter Berglund struggle with cliche suburbia problems and provide no new insights into what makes Americans tick in the 2000's.

Thematically, the examination of freedom -- and why untrammeled freedom can be confusing and problematic -- should be interesting (I'm thinking here of Eric Foner's The Story of American Freedom), but a good theme needs a story on which to hang itself, and Franzen does not deliver.

Franzen became famous for The Corrections, which came out a couple of weeks before September 11. I had heard of The Corrections through the years but never felt compelled to read it; the conventional wisdom is that it captures the go-go 1990's better than any other book -- thus, the critical acclaim. Evidently the mainstream media has latched onto him as a readable "high art" novelist, but there are certainly better ones out there: in a comparison, for instance, to (1) Tom Wolfe's Man in Full, (2) Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife, and (3) a number of Anne Tyler's novels, Franzen comes up lacking.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the reviews:

B.R. Myers in The Atlantic: "Franzen uses facile tricks to tart up the story as a total account of American life: the main news events of the past quarter century each get a nod ... and countless pop-cultural artifacts are name-checked in the most minimal sense of the term. Many people who eschew great books for the latest novels do so because they want precisely this kind of thing. (Every new book we read in our brief and busy lives means that a classic is left unread.)"
Sam Tanenhaus in the Times: "Freedom is a word that has been elevated throughout American history to near-theological status, and has been twinned, for most of that same history, with the secularizing impulses of “power.” That twinning is where the trouble begins. As each of us seeks to assert his “personal liberties” — a phrase Franzen uses with full command of its ideological implications — we helplessly collide with others in equal pursuit of their sacred freedoms, which, more often than not, seem to threaten our own. It is no surprise, then, that “the personality susceptible to the dream of limitless freedom is a personality also prone, should the dream ever sour, to misanthropy and rage,” as Franzen remarks. And the dream will always sour; for it is seldom enough simply to follow one’s creed; others must embrace it too. They alone can validate it."

Ryan Lizza on Climate Change Legislation

2010-10-13T07:28:00.001-04:00

Ryan Lizza has a fantastic article ("As the World Burns") in the current New Yorker that explains the failure of climate change legislation during the course of 2009-2010. It's the best article I have read this year in terms of delving deep into a topic, and it's a welcome antidote to the even-worse-than-usual horserace coverage leading up to this year's Congressional elections.

The central character in Lizza's article is Lindsay Graham, who tried mightily (and unsuccessfully) to build a Senate coalition to pass an energy bill. My sense is that Graham may be one of the few "do-ers" in Congress right now, motivated less by ideology than by pragmatism (interesting that his South Carolina colleague Jim DeMint is the exact opposite: an ideologue whose primary goal seems to be show-boating rather than legislating).

Along with Joe Lieberman and John Kerry, Graham made the strategic decision to try to gain the support of special interest groups (in particular the Chamber of Commerce) rather than individual Republican senators (my old faves Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins do not come across very well in the article).

Alas, at the key point in the process (late winter // early spring of this year), Graham was essentially abandoned by (1) the Obama Adminstration (which decided they'd spent enough political capital on health care reform) and (2) Harry Reid (for purely cynical electoral reasons).

It's a really tragic tale of policy and politics, and extremely well-told by Lizza.

The Redskins Beat the Packers 16-13 in an Overtime Classic

2010-10-12T07:23:00.005-04:00

Dad and I went to the Skins/Packers game on Sunday at Fed Ex Field. We won, 16-13, and are tied atop the division with the Eagles and Giants at 3-2.

We had a great day: the weather was perfect (if anything, a little too sunny!), we found great lower level seats on the 40 yard line, and the Skins staged a comeback for the ages.

It was especially fun to watch Donovan McNabb and Aaron Rodgers in person. Having McNabb on the Skins makes all the difference in the world for me as a fan: the guy is just a total class act and the kind of player I've been wishing the Skins had for the past 15 years. And Rodgers is my favorite non-Skins quarterback - tremendous poise in the pocket, the ability to scramble, and awesome zip and accuracy on his throws (is it too late for me to become an NFL quarterback and make throws like that?).

An emerging star from Sunday's game is receiver Anthony Armstrong, who made a leaping fingertip catch of a 52-yard touchdown bomb from McNabb that brought us to within 13-10. Armstrong had a couple of other catches as well, and it seems as though he may replace Joey Galloway as the #2 receiver fairly quickly (the big pre-game news was that receiver Devin Thomas was cut on Saturday; Shanahan said that Thomas needs to develop a more professional approach to the game).

The running game never got going: Ryan Torain is indeed a power-runner, but our offensive line is clearly our weak point (on both runs and passes), and they were not able to open up any holes for large gains. Hopefully Trent Williams will continue to develop and start to anchor the line. When you go to a game in-person and watch the plays develop, you really do understand that the offensive and defensive lines are the key to giving the stars the opportunity to shine.

As with last year's game against the Chiefs, I really enjoyed sitting closer to the action. It makes the players more real, bringing everything down to a human scale. For instance, I was focusing on Donald Driver when the Pack had the ball (I've got him in both fantasy leagues), and enjoyed watching his persistence in running his routes on each play: not flashy or showy (like all those Skins receivers through the past decade), but instead just working at playing the game.

It's a really nice treat for me to go to a game each year with Pops -- just talking football (for the most part, with a little bit of work mixed in), listening to the pre-game and post-game analysis and hype, and enjoying a beautiful fall day.

Here's an excerpt from the Post's recap of the game:

The Redskins again pulled out a close win, a 16-13 victory in overtime on a 33-yard field goal by place kicker Graham Gano to complete their late rally.

The Redskins twice trailed by 10 points. Gano's third field goal of the game and second after halftime capped the comeback and provided the latest of the Redskins' heart-stopping moments in the first five games before an announced crowd of 87,760 at FedEx Field.

Although Gano missed a 51-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter that would have tied the score at 13-13, he made his next two high-pressure kicks (I was super nervous when he lined up for the game-tying kick with one minute left (and even more nervous when Mason Crosby's 50+ yarder hit the goalpost as time expired!) and Washington won another contest in which the outcome was undecided until the final play...

Fourth-year strong safety LaRon Landry, playing the best football of his career, made it happen by picking off Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers at the Packers 39-yard line in overtime. Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb, who had a big second half to lead the comeback, quickly completed two passes, including one to tight end Chris Cooley that resulted in a 30-yard gain (this was a tremendous run -- vintage Cooley!) after Cooley broke two tackles and eluded another defender.

Griffin House's "The Learner"

2010-09-23T21:01:00.003-04:00

I met her down in Tennessee

Went by the name of Amily

She was a character anyone could see

She had eyes just for me.

From "River City Lights"

I've been looking for the next Marc Cohn / Bruce Hornsby for many years. Simple melody that stays with you, awesome voice, themes that cross lots of lives.

A find along those lines: Griffin House.

I'd never heard of him before tonight. He's from Ohio and now lives in Nashville; evidently he's been around since about 2004 and has gradually gained a bigger following.

I guess I could stick around, I could waste another day

I could grow old in this town, just dreaming my life away

But there's a road out there I know, and there's something at the end

I can feel it in my soul, it's just around the bend

And I'm on my own coming down the road

The above is from "Coming Down the Road."

471. Is songwriting learned or already inside you? Similarly, writing fiction: is this more of a skill that can be practiced or is it something you either have or don't?

472. How much music do musicians (people who make their living from music) listen to? Who listens to the most? Do they listen with headphones or speakers? Do they talk a lot about other musicians?

473. Which musicians did Mozart admire? Beethoven? How about John Lennon?

474. Will music change now that there's so much more access to it? Why does music make you feel good in your brain? Are their psychological and/or biological explanations?

475. Robert Byrd played the banjo (this came out after his death this year). Which current political leaders are musically inclined?

476. What are the similarities and differences between learning a language and learning music?

477. Will there be any song in the remainder of 2010 that's as popular as "California Girls"?

I love the album name "The Learner" - this might be my favorite album or book name of the year.

City Council Adopts an Amended Water Plan (Back to the Drawing Board for the RWSA?)

2010-09-21T07:21:00.006-04:00

Sugar Hollow Reservoir - Soon those leaves will be golden!

Last night was the much-anticipated Charlottesville City Council public hearing on the water supply plan. There has not been this much attention paid to any issue in local government since I came back to Charlottesville in 2001 (the Meadowcreek Parkway stirs some people up, but not as many and not as dramatically).

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We watched the public comments for a couple of hours (couldn't make it to the actual Councilors' debate - I had to read just a bit of Freedom before going to sleep), and an initial surprise was that the League of Women Voters endorsed (or re-endorsed) the 2006 plan. I had thought the League studiously avoided taking positions, and their support signaled to me that the 2006 plan has even broader support than I'd thought.

Indeed, for the first hour or so the "new dam proponents" dominated the public comments.

Oliver Kuttner provided an early exception to the "Affirm the '06 Plan" speakers. Kuttner talked about "feature creep," by which I understood him to mean people's natural inclination towards new technologies -- even when they are unnecessary.

I think the the idea of "feature creep" is spot-on (I am reminded again of the new bricks on the Downtown Mall). I wonder whether Kuttner -- in the glow of his recent "Very Light Car" triumph -- may have swayed one or more Councilors who were on the fence.

Kuttner also went out of his way to thank Huja for his early support of Kuttner's development/building career, and I wondered again whether this was an attempt to sway Huja's vote. That is probably being too cynical - it was probably just a nice human gesture in the midst of a contentious debate.

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Eventually, the tide of public comments turned to those who oppose the new dam, including Bob Fenwick, Dede Smith, and a woman from the Sierra Club. A fascinating subplot of the water controversy has been the split between the Sierra Club and Nature Conservancy -- are there any large donors to both organizations who have had to "choose" between the two, given this debate?

One speaker brought a prop (a yellow bucket, theoretically half full of sand, as an illustration of why it's more logical/simple to dredge (empty the sand) than expand the bucket), and I wondered if this man had a background in teaching. Using the bucket, he clearly captured people's attention more than many others who simply stuck to their scripts.

Another speaker, a mathematician, criticized (heartily!) the mathematics/statistical models used by the Swartz firm (more here) in arriving at the conclusion that the area's water demand is virtually unchanged from 2004.

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I did not stay awake for the actual Councilor discussion, but according to this morning's Progress and Hook (here and here), the Council voted 5-0 in favor of a compromise position that adopts dredging and -- here is the crucial point -- does not support the building of the large new Ragged Montain dam (as per the '06 plan).

And so, the story continues, because the City and County will now have to reconcile their different plans and determine how to proceed.

Trent Williams and the Redskins Beat the Cowboys

2010-09-19T15:31:00.006-04:00

It's Week 2 of the NFL Season and the Skins defeated Cowboys, 13-7, in the opener!

There was not a ton of offensive production (only 250 yards and 26 minutes of possession), but Donovan McNabb looked poised and had one extremely nice scramble.

His stats were not gaudy (15 of 32, 171 yards, no touchdowns but no interceptions!), and McNabb brings us positive energy and leadership that we haven't had in years.

We scored on the last play of the first half when Tashard Choice inexplicably tried to break a run on the Dallas 30 and was stripped, with DeAngelo Hall running it back for a Redskins TD.

Romo drove the Cowboys downfield at the end of the game (including converting a 4th down to Miles Austin that we never should have allowed), but his last-play-of-the-game touchdown (a pass to a wide open Roy Williams) was called back because Alex Barron held Brian Orakpo. I definitely felt we were lucky, but I'll take the luck to get a win over Dallas and get the season off to a positive start.

Today's Post has an article (here) about a major bright spot from Week 1 -- first round draft pick (4th pick overall), tackle Trent Williams. Williams had one play blocking for Chris Cooley where he literally pushed his defender about 10 yards downfield. According to the Post piece, Chris Samuels has become a Skins coaching intern and is playing a significant role mentoring Williams:

Samuels is with the linemen on the practice field and in the meeting room. He watches hours of tape and helps Williams game-plan for pass rushers such as DeMarcus Ware and Mario Williams ... Samuels also has given Williams some off-field guidance, helping the rookie adjust to the NFL lifestyle. The advice might not be different than what coaches offer, but it's hard not to pay attention when the speaker represents everything Williams is striving for.

I like the mentorship focus -- Samuels is one of the few no-nonsense // no-showboating Redskins of the past decades, and I anticipate he will be a very good influence on Williams.

AND, if we are ever going to build a strong team, it's got to begin on the offensive line.

I'm going to predict 8-8 for the Redskins this year, and 9-7 (or even 10-6) if the luck is really with us.

Joseph Ellis's "His Excellency: George Washington" (2004)

2010-09-06T09:27:00.002-04:00

I am just finishing His Excellency. This is a very good book.

I like Ellis's writing style, which I would describe as "medium academic" - he has some fairly complex analyses but does not take them to the "high academic discourse" level that becomes difficult to read (and which can drain some of the fun from historical stories).

A major theme of the book is assessing Washington's ambition, in particular whether he was truly as reluctant to lead as he (at times) alleged. On this question, Ellis straddles the fence, concluding that Washington did enjoy his primacy (both military and political) but was also motivated by the democratic ideal and the good of the republic.

An interesting personal point is that Washington had no biological children (I had forgotten this). This led him to take on a number of "surrogate sons," most notably Alexander Hamilton, in whom he invested considerable psychological energy; more generally, he viewed his troops during the Revolution as a family, and this probably contributed to his genuine care for their well-being (and willingness to actually lead them into battle).

470. Which other famous generals in history put themselves at bodily risk, repeatedly, during battle? Did Napoleon do so? What about the various Civil War generals, including Lee and Grant?

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I particularly enjoyed Ellis's examination of Washington's "Fabian strategy" during the Revolutionary War, in which he essentially bided his time and let the British Army (which had obvious re-supply problems) wear itself down:

"Also called a Fabian strategy after the Roman general Fabius Cunctator, who defeated the Carthaginians by withdrawing whenever his army's fate was at risk, it was a shift in thinking that did not come naturally to Washington ... Washington did not believe that he was weak, and he thought of the Continental army as a projection of himself. He regarded battle as a summons to display one's strength and courage; avoiding battle was akin to dishonorable beahvior, like refusing to move forward in the face of musket and cannon fire ... Nevertheless, the battle of New York had demonstrated tht the Continental army could not compete on equal terms with British regulars on the conventional battlefield."

Washington's decision to follow the Fabian, "wait-it-out" approach -- even though it caused some to perceive him as weak -- makes me wonder whether Obama is doing the same thing on a number of his policy preferences: is he strategically "wearing down" both the hard left and the hard right (for instance, on his Afghanistan policy and on domestic energy issues) so that he can ultimately steer the "silent center" his way?

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Today's Post reports that Obama will not support a "payroll tax holiday." I am unclear why the Administration does not want to go this route, given that (1) they cannot get Congressional support for a second stimulus and (2) economists on the left and right seem to think a payroll tax break would provide an incentive for business expansion.

Patton Oswalt in Big Fan (2009)

2010-09-05T14:15:00.001-04:00

I've just watched Big Fan. This is a fantastic movie - one of the best that I've seen in the past few years.

The movie explores fandom. The central character, Paul Aufiero (played by Patton Oswalt), is a 35-year old who grudgingly lives with his mom and whose sole reward in life is following the New York Giants. He is a good-hearted person who tries to get along with his family, works hard (as a parking lot attendant), nurtures his one friendship, and -- in one of the more interesting subplots -- is really polite.

Aufiero repeatedly calls a local sports show (under the tag "Staten Island Paul") and comes out of his shell (a little bit) in his pre-written odes to the Giants. He and his bud Sal go to all the home games, even though they're relegated to watching from a television in the parking lot.

The movie was written and directed by Robert Siegel, and I am an immediate fan of both Siegel and Oswalt (I didn't previously know of either, though I remember this movie getting talked up last summer on the Culture Gabfest and elsewhere).

On a personal level, the movie made me think about my own fandom. On a social level, it made me think about the phenomenon of human tribalism and how sports teams might actually be a really good outlet for people's tribal energies, which can otherwise be funnelled towards more violent channels.

467. Did Oswalt get any nominations for acting awards for Big Fan? Not only was his character extremely well-written, but his acting job was tops.

468. The film uses real NFL player references. Did they have to get special permission to do so? It kind of surprised me that real players were referenced, given the dark tone of the movie.

469. I went to UVa's season opener last night with Chap and his friend Chris. We beat Richmond, 34-13, to inaugurate the Mike London era. The game was close until the fourth quarter, and it was a gorgeous Charlottesville evening. How many wins for the new Hoos? I predict 6-6, which I think would bode well for building the team into the future.

This picture is from just before the Cavs' second touchdown. Keith Payne had four touchdowns for us!

The American (2010)

2010-09-04T16:41:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I went to see The American. The trailer looked good (of the spy/assassin genre, and set in bella Italy), and I avoided the reviews so as not to know the story.

The film is decent but somewhat disappointing. Perhaps a 6.5 out of 10?

The overriding characteristic is that it's extremely slow -- long stretches where there's no dialogue and no music, and you just watch George Clooney brood (unfortunately it's not clear what he's brooding about). The slowness was appealing at times (as a nice antidote to the standard non-stop action blockbuster), but I wanted more character study.

There are a number of strange scenes where Clooney works on assembling a high-powered rifle, and I was honestly reminded of either MacGyver or The A-Team, except that in these scenes I think you are supposed to be moved by Clooney's focused energy (whereas those others played up the kitsch).

There's also a subplot with the local priest, and those scenes have some of the film's more interesting dialogue about relativism and sin. The prostitute Clara is an interesting character who brings a little bit of life to Clooney. And the scenery of Italy is gorgeous (it reminded me in particular of Cortona) -- those pictures were actually worth the price of admission.

Alas, though, the movie falls short on the character (or lack thereof) problem.

Chris Johnson and Sports Illustrated on the Demise of Star Running Backs

2010-08-29T07:25:00.001-04:00

Fantasy drafts are this coming week. This year's consensus top picks are Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson, although analysts differ as to which one should be #1.

Last year I had the third overall pick in Dewey and chose LaDanian Tomlinson (it's a keeper league so some of the top picks were unavailable), passing up Johnson and DeAngelo Williams, among others (my post is here). That choice pretty much derailed my entire season, and I am hoping that I do not similarly screw up this year with the #6 pick. I'm looking at Calvin Johnson and Shonn Greene (is Greene a keeper?) as possibilities, though if Frank Gore and/or Steven Jackson is available, I'll have to consider them.

There's a good article in last week's Sports Illustrated about the phenomenon of running backs with increasingly short careers. The star running backs really do have a short window -- it seems like 4 or 5 years is now the most you can expect for an RB to be at the top of the game. The article makes the point that teams view running backs as expendable/replaceable, as reflected by the position having one of the lowest average salaries of all positions.

This is a pretty amazing change. In the 1980's, Walter Payton was the second biggest star (behind Montana), and in the 1990's Emmitt Smith was tops (above every quarterback, in my opinion), but now the super running backs cannot have anywhere near Payton's or Smith's longevity to become the league's most acclaimed players.

One of the reasons for this phenomenon, I'd guess, is that defensive players are bigger and stronger -- and hit the running backs harder -- than they used to. The SI article does not really examine this, though it does say that RB's are more prone to injury.

In terms of the Redskins RB situation, it's uncertain that we'll have a true primary back this year; it sounds like Portis will continue to get the most carries (if he stays healthy), but Larry Johnson is getting a bunch of reps in the preseason games. My prediction is that no Skins RB will get more than 750 yards for the year.

Sweetness

Hurricane Katrina

2010-08-27T16:19:00.002-04:00

Last night, we watched Rachel Maddow examining the lack of affordable housing in New Orleans (this has actually become a bigger problem in the five years since Katrina). There's been lots of talk about the anniversary of Katrina. The images on television over those several days are very much seared into my mind; I remember watching with Liz and both of us being absolutely thrown for a loss at what we saw.

Here's a picture from Jocelyn Augustino at FEMA, which was taken on August 30, 2005.

This one is by Getty Images and was taken on September 2, 2005.

Ben-Zion Netanyahu and a Potential Israeli Attack on Iran

2010-08-25T07:23:00.002-04:00

Ben-Zion and Benjamin Netanyahu

In the current issue of The Atlantic (here), Jeffrey Goldberg predicts a possible Israeli attack against Iranian nuclear facilities in the next 9 months to 3 years, if (a) the United States does not act first and/or (b) Iran does not back down from their effort to obtain the bomb.

Goldberg's article reminds me of two prior Atlantic articles, from five years ago or so. In one, the writer predicted the next wave of terrorist attacks against the US (beginning, I believe, in Las Vegas casinos), and in the other the writer predicted a global economic collapse triggered by Fidel Castro's death. The economic collapse article did not get the details right, but it was a (more or less) prescient preview of what actually occurred to the global economy in 2008.

I think this kind of article is helpful in terms of provocatively forcing people to think about (and address) potential future crises.

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One of the fascinating parts of Goldberg's article is his profile of Benjamin Netanyahu's 100-year old father, Ben-Zion.

According to Goldberg, Ben-Zion is completely devoted to the defense of Israel (and the Zionist ideal) and a strong proponent of pre-emptive military action if necessary. Goldberg thinks that Ben-Zion's psychological influence on his son is very strong (think George H.W. on W., but with the nation's existence at stake) and could, therefore, contribute to a decision to order a strike on the Iranian facilities.

The Charlottesville Water Debate: The Demand Study Arrives

2010-08-24T07:30:00.009-04:00

Sugar Hollow Reservoir

Water continues to be 2010's most important story in central Virginia. The Daily Progress/Charlottesville Tomorrow has an article today (here) reporting that the much-anticipated revised demand study is complete, and it is already generating controversy.

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The study was prepared by a firm called Swartz Engineering Economics. I've just looked up Swartz; they are located in Stuart, Virginia and were founded in 1996 by Stephen Swartz, who has 43 years experience in engineering. Their website says they've consulted for local governments in 26 states regarding water-utility issues.

So, the big news is that Swartz's study came up with a water demand projection, as of 2060, of 18.45 million gallons a day for the jurisdictions served by RWSA. This is very close to the much-critiqued Gannett Fleming study from several years ago which projected 18.7 million gallons a day. In other words, Swartz concludes that conservation measures have not significantly changed what the area can expect in terms of water demand over the next 50 years.

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The new study gives major ammunition to those in favor of the 2006 RSWA proposal (which I do not support: I want small-scale change, and I consider the massive new dam to be this year's analog to the 2009 re-bricking of the Downtown Mall - an unnecessary use of funds with potential adverse environmental impacts), which itself was based on Gannett Fleming's analysis.

According to the DP/CT, opponents of the 2006 proposal are pre-emptively arguing that Swartz's work is flawed because it does not sufficiently account for changes in conservation. Most tellingly in terms of where the debate will head in the next couple of months, Dave Norris does not seem prepared to accept Swartz's conclusions:

“I personally am reserving judgment until I have heard from Mr. Swartz,” Norris said in an interview. “If he is not able to demonstrate how his report adequately incorporated … conservation and efficiency, that would give me pause with regard to proceeding with a massive new dam that we may not need.”

Meanwhile, Ann Mallek is quoted as saying she believes the Swartz study is reliable. This is going to be extremely interesting: it looks like opponents of the dam will be put in the (uncomfortable) position of arguing that a major engineering study -- previously viewed as critical in evaluating the alternatives -- is fundamentally flawed and should therefore be disregarded.

The Bushehr Facility Opens in Iran

2010-08-21T12:08:00.001-04:00

This picture is by Atta Kenare of Agence France-Presse and is from today's New York Times.

According to an article in today's Times (here), the Iranian nuclear reactor at Bushehr is now open (though not yet operational, if I understand the article correctly). The Russians and Iranians held a ceremony today to mark the opening.

This is Iran's first nuclear power plant, and I gather that the Russians take the position that their participation in the project makes it more likely that the plant can only be used for peaceful purposes.

Russian technicians will operate the plant for the next 2-3 years and gradually hand over responsibility to the Iranians.

465. Are there any Americans who are part of the IAEA inspection teams for Bushehr? Is the inspection process ongoing, or does the IAEA only inspect places like Bushehr periodically?

466. Who is the highest ranking official in the US government who speaks Farsi? I think Admiral Mullen speaks multiple languages, but I'm not sure that Persian is one of them.

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We've had a wonderful trip up the east coast over the course of the week and have arrived in Maine for Ben's wedding. The water, sunshine and lush green grass are beautiful and the cool weather feels like fall. I had a great run with Billy through town this morning and enjoyed hearing what he's up to in southern California. I have not followed the news very closely this week but downloaded the Slate Gabfest and Diane Rehm's Friday Roundup so will catch up some during the drive home.

Iran: Jon Lee Anderson on the Green Movement, Plus Russia Moves Forward on Bushehr

2010-08-16T06:57:00.002-04:00

A couple of updates on Iran:

On May 2, I asked "Will there be large-scale protests/marches in Iran in June, to commemorate last year's election protests? There's been relatively little American media follow-up about what the opposition leaders are doing these days."

There were no large commemorations, at least none that received coverage in the US. In this week's New Yorker, Jon Lee Anderson explains why: Anderson reports that the Green Movement has been largely stifled by the Ahmadinejad government:

"One Iranian, who asked to remain anonymous for his safety, described the movement's status:

'Despotism works. That's what this situation shows. The reformist movement is over. The middle classes aren't willing to die en masse, and the regime knows this. It has killed and punished just enough people to send the message of what it is capable of doing.'"

Anderson interviewed Ahmadinejad for the article, and Ahmadinejad argues that Obama has not really followed through on the offer to improve diplomatic relations between the US and Iran. My understanding is that Obama is (1) continuing (or toughening) sanctions and (2) trying to maintain a stance that the US will use military force if Iran goes too far on its nuclear program.

The thought of the US fighting wars in three countries lined up in a row is really difficult to fathom (talk about looking like empire-builders to the rest of the world), and the Iranian leaders probably realize the odds of American public support for a third war are exceedingly low.

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Meanwhile, the other news in Iran this week is that Russia decided to move forward with supplying a nuclear processing facility (in Bushehr, Iran) that could produce the plutonium (or uranium, I'm not sure?) that's necessary to make a nuclear weapon. Russia argues that it's doing so for economic reasons, and the American media is saying this is a significant setback for the American efforts to stop the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Notwithstanding all the talk of the US/Russia "reset," this development seems to show that Medvedev -- like Putin before him -- is not going to kow-tow to the American agenda.

Wind Energy in West Virginia: Coal River Mountain

2010-08-15T09:10:00.001-04:00

Tom Zeller, Jr. has an article in this morning's Times ("A Battle in West Virginia Mining Country Pits Coal Against Wind," here) about efforts to prevent mountaintop removal coal mining on Coal River Mountain in Raleigh County, West Virginia.

Environmental activitists and wind energy supporters argue that certain mountains in southwestern West Virginia (where the state's coal industry is concentrated) would actually be good spots for wind energy farms. Don Blankenship of Massey Energy (about whom I also wrote on April 10, here), which leases the mountain, is having none of it: he argues that coal opponents are effectively driving American companies to set up shop in Asia, where energy is considerably cheaper.

According to Zeller, approximately 50% of the United States energy supply comes from coal.

462. Over the course of the next 50 years, how much will this percentage change? Will it drop down to 40%, or will the change be more substantial than that? I guess it somewhat depends on the country's evolving attitudes towards nuclear energy, which I gather could become a more significant source than either wind or solar.

463. Does Don Blankenship specifically like controversy? He seems to be so outspoken and anti-environmentalist, versus so many corporate leaders who will attempt to "talk the enviro talk" even if they don't actually "walk the walk."

464. What percentage of China's energy supply comes from coal? How about Russia's?

West Virginia is the second-leading American state in terms of coal production (158 million tons annually) behind Wyoming (468 million tons). Surprisingly, though, only 20,000 jobs in West Virginia are "coal-industry related" (I'd have thought the number would be considerably higher).

The owner of Coal River Mountain, Rowland Land Company, is blunt in admitting that coal is considerably more profitable than wind:

David Pollitt, owner of the Rowland Land Company, the largest of the property owners on Coal River Mountain, says he has nothing against wind farms in principle, but adds that he believes the technology is too expensive, too undeveloped and too rife with its own environmental objections to be viable. In any case, until mountaintop removal is banned, he says leasing his land to coal developers is simply too profitable not to do.

“Certainly if it came to a point in time where the companies we have it leased to say they don’t need the surface, then we can look at alternatives,” Mr. Pollitt says. “And if there ever comes a point in time where they completely outlaw surface mining, we’d certainly look at alternatives. We’d look at anything that would generate income for us.”

For now, though, that’s likely to remain coal, and Massey Energy has already begun blasting on one corner of Coal River Mountain.

According to Zeller, there's been a multi-year controversy about a potential wind energy project in Greenbrier County, West Virginia (I think that's where The Greenbrier is located), and the majority of the locals are against it. A US District Court decision earlier this year will let a portion of the Greenbrier wind project proceed.

One thing I had not realized about wind energy is that a major point of opposition is that the windmills cause a strobe-light effect (from the sun shining through) that is, according to Zeller, very unpleasant if you live nearby. I'm familiar with the aesthetic and noise arguments against windmills, but I had not heard about the strobe-light issue before.

Afghanistan: Questioning the Mission

2010-08-14T16:15:00.004-04:00

These are photos of the ten humanitarian aid workers who were killed by the Taliban last week while on a medical mission in remote villages in northern Afghanistan.

They were traveling from village to village on foot and it sounds like they had hiked a very long ways, and they were specifically working with people on their eyes.

Last year on August 14 I wrote about the upcoming elections in Afghanistan and two of the candidates, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah. I noted that the violence against US troops had increased substantially and asked whether the increase was viewed as necessary (by the Obama Administration) before things could improve.

Well, in the ensuing year, I'd say that the situation in Afghanistan has only gotten worse:

President Karzai is portrayed as, alternately, corrupt or incompetent.
The violence against US troops has gotten even worse, with June and July of 2010 being the deadliest months of the entire war.
The US military has tried to implement "government in a box" in certain southern Afghanistan cities and the reporting is that the efforts have mostly failed.

Given these realities, I do not understand why President Obama persists on what seems a hopeless course, particularly since it seems that we are only counting down until we can begin some sort of drawdown in August 2011.

Just take the past 12 months as a microcosm of the past decade: what have we accomplished? Anything positive (I assume we must have built schools and civic buildings, though I think more of the building/development has done by the Three Cups of Tea man and other private individuals)? Or have we just stirred up even more anti-American fervor at a huge cost in lives and money?

Brian Carderelli is the man on the far left of the second line of photos. He was a 2009 graduate of JMU and had also grown up in Harrisonburg. It sounds like he was a dedicated humanitarian:

Carderelli, 25, of Harrisonburg, Va., worked for the International School of Kabul. He went to Afghanistan in September and also was compiling an album titled "The Beauty – It's Not All War."

"He loved people and was particularly concerned for the poor," the family said in a statement Monday.

Governor McDonnell and Liquor Privatization

2010-08-05T19:03:00.002-04:00

Governor McDonnell's proposal to privatize the sale of liquor is continuing to dominate coverage of Virginia politics (my earlier post is here).

Today's Post has an excellent comparative analysis (here) of Virginia's, Maryland's, and the District's liquor sales systems.

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Although a fifth of scotch costs about the same in the three jurisdictions ($25.00), Maryland and DC each collect only about $2 on the sale, whereas Virginia's government gets $13 under the state-run system!

As I understand the analysis, the difference is in the distibution chain: Virginia cuts out the wholesalers and is thereby able to reap a much larger differential on each sale.

The aggregate result is dramatic. Yearly state collections from taxes/sales of liquor:

D.C. - $10 million
Maryland - $24 million
Virginia - $248 million

In light of these numbers and the ongoing refusal of Virginians to raise taxes, I just do not see how McDonnell's proposal goes anywhere: the money to run the state has to come from somewhere, and this proposal would eliminate a big (and, according to the Post article, reliable) chunk of revenue.

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If not for this summer's newly found budget surplus, I'm not sure McDonnell would even be pushing this right now. Privatization would simply take too much money out of the state coffers and -- politically -- would be viewed as an insider-boon to retail supporters of McDonnell.

It sounds as though McDonnell's aides are arguing they are going to craft a revenue neutral version of the plan, but the industry insiders quoted in the Post say that's not possible:

Experts with the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, one of a number of industry groups that has been advising the governor, are skeptical about the state's ability to match the $248 million revenue stream it gets today. According to an analysis by the council, overall government collections on a gallon of liquor would have to reach $25 in Virginia to match the state's current revenue. That would make taxes in Virginia five times the average in other privatized states. "If you try to impose that kind of tax, you're never going to get the up-front revenue you need. You're taxing away everybody's potential profit," said David Ozgo, an economist with the council, which is neutral on privatization but generally supports modernization of liquor sales.

459. What kind of liquor is drunk by the most people worldwide? What about in America? Which is most remunerative? I'd guess whiskey is the most popular in America, but perhaps gin.

460. How many states run their liquor sales systems similarly to Virginia?

461. I read that Kluge wine was served at Chelsea Clinton's wedding this past weekend. Was it the primary wine, or just one of many?

Jan Hatzius: A Pessimistic Outlook for the American Economy

2010-08-05T18:01:00.006-04:00

Jan Hatzius is a 41-year old economist at Goldman Sachs who was recently chosen as Wall Street's top economist (he's the Tom Brady of forecasting!).

According to a piece by Nelson Schwartz in today's Times (here), Hatzius is extremely pessimistic about the US economy. He forecasts increased unemployment and possibly deflation in the next year or two.

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Schwartz's article says that Commerce Department statitistics show Americans saving 6.4% of after-tax income, versus 1% in the years before the great recession. I gather that the increased savings is part of the reason it's going to be hard to break out of the recession, and frankly I'd rather have people saving more, even if it means the economy recovers more slowly.

Hatzius says there needs to be more deleveraging (again, I agree 100%), but I wonder who he suggests does the deleveraging: investment banks like his own employer or individual consumers who are overly indebted?

Hatzius predicts unemployment at 9.7% at the end of 2011, whereas the more optimistic Richard Berner predicts 8.7%. I think Hatzius will be closer on his prediction; I just don't see where a major expansion in jobs would come from, and I think the likelier path is that companies will continue to sporadically downsize in an effort to maximize profits.

On the issue of deflation, Paul Krugman continues to advocate for a massive second stimulus, and I just do not think that's the answer (I also am bothered by Krugman's "I'm smarter than you" presentational style). I think too much government stimulus would re-inflate the economy in an artificial way that might lead to another good decade but that ultimately would come back to bite us again.

458. What, then, are the promising "solutions" for creating more jobs? Is it all about alternative energy (as per Thomas Friedman), or are there other economic sectors in which a huge number of people could be employed and contribute meaningfully to improving society (and not just to re-stimulating consumption)?

Mad Men, Season 4

2010-08-01T10:35:00.002-04:00

We watched the first episode of Season 4 on Friday night. It was excellent: I've gone from being lukewarm towards this show for parts of Seasons 2 and 3 to being very interested again.

One of the subplots I particularly like is the focus on Don and his partners' conception of how to structure and operate their advertising agency. At the end of Season 3, they split from the British conglomerate that had purchased Sterling Cooper (and which was in the process of making the business increasingly impersonal and factory-like).

From the very beginning, I had liked that Mad Men is about the workplace (making it relatively unique among shows/books/movies), but somewhere in Season 2 it became too much a soap opera about Don's unfaithfulness -- just one cheating episode after another. The focus on his affairs made Don very unlikeable and, more generally, it made the stories less compelling.

Now, though, we've gotten back to more interesting story lines about the trickiness of office politics (including gender politics), "big" versus "small" in the business world (with the new version of Sterling Cooper representing the small, scrappy up-start), the overlay of American political developments (including the Kennedy assassintation and the Mississippi civil rights murders), public relations strategies, and attitudes towards homosexuality in early 60's America.

The best of the episodes are like social history lessons rather than a cheesy soap opera. And the visuals of the show remain excellent: the different colors, decor (the office architecture is fun to see), cool outfits, and old-time habits (including the crazy amounts of smoking and drinking) are a window into a not-that-distant but very different world.

Federal Earmarks for Charlottesville; Oliver Kuttner's Very Light Car

2010-07-31T12:54:00.004-04:00

Brian McNeill reports in today's Progress (here) that the House-approved transportation appropriations bill includes two earmarks for Charlottesville projects:

$500,000 for the 29/250 interchange
$500,000 for the airport's runway extension project (which has a total price tag of $42 million)

Tom Perriello's office is publicizing the earmarks as an example of his successfully steering federal money to the 5th District. I can't decide if highlighting these funds is a good political strategy or not (the politics of earmarks is confusing to me).

I'm not sure why the 29/250 interchange is a federal priority - or why the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization (which requested the grant) would have focused its efforts on getting federal money for this particular project. 29/250 is certainly not the biggest bottleneck on 29 (the intersections with Hydraulic and Rio Road are both bigger problem areas).

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The other prominent local "car" story of the past couple of weeks has been the testing of Oliver Kuttner's electric car, which is the leading contender to win a $5 million prize if it passes several final tests.

The Progress actually sent McNeill to the midwest to cover the story, which I thought was a nice bit of "big picture, future-oriented" journalism by them.

Unfortunately there didn't seem to be a great deal to actually report on while he was there, or maybe I'm just not interested in cars enough to really appreciate the competition. I do love that Kuttner is focusing so much energy (and money) on the electric car project. I hope he succeeds.

Kuttner's Very Light Car

Charlie Rangel

2010-07-31T12:30:00.001-04:00

The biggest political news of the past week has been Charlie Rangel's decision not to reach a plea agreement in connection with the House Ethics Committee allegations against him.

Rangel is accused of a variety of misdeeds, including (1) failing to report income on his Dominican Republic vacation home and (2) using New York City rent-controlled apartments as office space (rather than for residential purposes, which evidently was the requirement for these particular apartments). The biggest charge is that he changed his vote on a particular tax code provision after meeting with a person or persons who agreed to donate to the Charlie Rangel Center and who benefitted (significantly) from the tax law change.

(As an aside: I love the picture of Rangel that I've posted here. Something about legislators who wear their glasses low on the nose cracks me up. Carl Levin is the most prominent example, but this picture reminds me that Rangel does it a lot too. I assume it's done for reading purposes, but it gives the impression of a person who takes himself a bit too seriously.)

If Rangel's case goes "to trial" before the Ethics Committee, it would be the first time in close to a decade of such a trial - I think the last one was for James Trafficant. I get the sense that his fellow Democrats are extremely frustrated that he is being obstinate (in their opinion) in not agreeing to a plea, particularly since the trial would occur in September and very much play into the Republicans' "throw the bums out" narrative.

Another Rangel side-note: whenever Mark Shields talks about Rangel on the News Hour, Shield's visible discomfort is a classic case of the too-close alliance between DC media and politicians. I guess Shields is just being human in showing his personal admiration for Rangel, but something about it plays into a larger problem (for me), which is the unwillingness of many members of the media to truly hold politicians to account.

HUGE News on the Water Supply: Virginia's DEQ Says Norris's Plan Falls Short

2010-07-25T15:19:00.002-04:00

There's a major development in the ongoing water supply debate: in today's Progress (here), Brian Wheeler reports that a draft letter from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality concludes that the Norris Plan wouldn't produce enough water to satisfy the area's demand over 50 years.

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Since I saw him speak about it at a Chamber of Commerce forum this past winter, I have been a supporter of Dave Norris's alternative approach to the water issue: dredge the South Fork reservoir and add to the existing Ragged Mountain dam, rather than build an entirely new one (Norris has been careful to say that he's withholding final judgment until the various analyses are finished, but he seems inclined toward the "dredging +" idea).

I like Norris's proposal because building an entirely new dam seems unnecessarily (1) intrusive and (2) expensive ($142 million!) to me, at least based on what I read and hear from opponents of that project.

But the DEQ feedback is a major roadblock. The 2004 demand analysis called for 18.7 million gallons a day by 2055, and DEQ says that Norris's plan would not meet this demand and would therefore necessitate revised permits from the state. Tom Frederick, according to Wheeler's article, says the new permits would dangerously delay the entire project, and perhaps even more ominously David Slutzky seems to think it's time for Norris to cave ("what we are really talking about here are delay tactics from people who don't want to just admit they had good intentions, a good idea, and it just didn't work out").

It will be extremely interesting to hear the reactions of the various interested parties to the DEQ letter. It sounds like Norris is interpreting it as leaving room for modification to his plan, but could this be a game-changer in terms of people deciding that we do need a brand new dam? For the sake of dam opponents, let's hope the current dryness does not turn into a full-on drought, because that could definitely shape people's perceptions.

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Wheeler's article is very in-depth and provides just the right amount of background. It reinforces my impression that the CT / DP partnership was a brilliant move on both entities' parts: it gets these really well-researched and well-written analyses by CT out to a broad readership, and it gives the DP more "big picture" articles.

Mumford & Sons, Gorillaz, and Broken Bells (Plus NPR's Refusal to Acknowledge Popular Music)

2010-07-24T16:01:00.007-04:00

I listened this morning to part of Bob Boilen's podcast about the twenty top albums of 2010 so far -- as voted by NPR listeners.

The "as voted by NPR listeners" qualification is very important, because NPR listeners evidently do not listen to any pop, rock, or country.

Instead, all of the music is what I would classify as either alternative, indie, or (possibly) singer/songwriter (the one arguable exception is The National at #2 - I think they're considered pretty mainstream). The choices vary from really good to really bad.

457. I may have asked this in connection with last December's end-of-year and end-of-decade lists, but do any NPR listeners vote for pop or country songs? Or is the NPR Music site kind of like Fox (for conservatives) or MSNBC (for liberals), in that it only attracts a very particular segment of music listeners? I would think there'd be at least some people like me who would like some indie music but would also like the more widespread songs.

I shouldn't be too critical, because I actually really enjoy listening to Boilen's analyses of the music and I discover some music that I otherwise never would. It does, though, play into the caricature of NPR as a bit on the elitist side.

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My favorite of the pieces I've heard so far on Boilen's podcast is Mumford & Sons's The Cave, from the album Sigh No More. The song is interesting but accessible: it's actually got a recognizable melody and a catchy beat. I don't understand what the lyrics mean and I like that. I also like the change in pace at different parts of the song.

Illustrative of the non-accessible choices are LCD Soundsystem and Gorillaz. I read about Gorillaz on Wikipedia and it sounds like their idea is to be quite conceptual (the band members are not real people), which is fine as far as it goes but the music is lacking.

Somewhere in the middle is Broken Bells's The High Road: I like the chorus ("it's too late to change your mind, you let loss be your guide") and the two singers' voices together, but it's more of an alternatively-pretty style than a song I'd listen to once a day for three straight weeks while shaving.

George Dawes Green's Ravens (2009)

2010-07-24T15:40:00.001-04:00

I saw Ravens in the staff recommendations section at Barnes & Noble.

I'd not heard of George Dawes Green but liked the three-sentence summary on the back: a Georgia family wins $318 million in the lottery and becomes the target of two dysfunctional drifters passing through town.

I like the book so far. The writing style is easy and fun, with 1-3 page snippets from the points-of-view of the various characters. It's written in a 2009 milieu: lots of references to the ways the internet has changed our lives and the dichotomy between the real connections of people in a small town and the virtual connections that just about anyone can make via current technology.

The main characters are Mitch, Patsy, Tara and Jase Boatwright (the unwitting family) and Shaw and Romeo (the drifters). Tara is best buds with her grandmother Nell, who strikes me as a bit too much of a cooky older lady caricature -- echoes of a Janet Evanovich character who is more annoying than funny.

The setting is Brunswick, Georgia, and I am trying to remember if I've read any other novels set in Georgia. Yes, I've got one: Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full, which as I recall takes place in suburban Atlanta and captures well the striving businessman culture of the 1990's.

The thought-experiment of how winning the lottery jackpot would change your life and outlook is a really fascinating one. I guess that's why it is a plot device in a number of books and movies. I wonder what I would do?

Ross Douthat on White Anxiety

2010-07-20T20:24:00.001-04:00

I think Ross Douthat might be surpassing David Brooks in the "big picture" analytical insights of his columns. Well, at least I'd put it this way: I now look forward more to reading Douthat's latest pieces than Brooks's. This is a major development given how much I have (historically) loved reading the two weekly Brooks columns.

I can't figure out if it's because Douthat seems to take on a broader range of issues (including religion and popular culture) or that Brooks is stuck in the rut of criticizing Obama's belief in technocracy, but something is making Douthat more compelling recently.

Yesterday's column was vintage Douthat: a really provocative examination of why lower and lower-middle class whites feel "put upon" by the ruling class.

Whereas many columnists struggle with saying anything new about race/racial tension in America (I am thinking particularly of the stable of Post columnists, who with the exception of Kathleen Parker have not been very good recently - not even Robinson or Cohen), Douthat uses a recent study by Princeton sociologists to explain the phenomenon of lower class whites feeling that they (rather than minority groups) are the subjects of discrimination:

[According to the Princeton study,] while most extracurricular activities increase your odds of admission to an elite school, holding a leadership role or winning awards in organizations like high school R.O.T.C., 4-H clubs and Future Farmers of America actually works against your chances. Consciously or unconsciously, the gatekeepers of elite education seem to incline against candidates who seem too stereotypically rural or right-wing or “Red America.”

This provides statistical confirmation for what alumni of highly selective universities already know. The most underrepresented groups on elite campuses often aren’t racial minorities; they’re working-class whites (and white Christians in particular) from conservative states and regions. Inevitably, the same underrepresentation persists in the elite professional ranks these campuses feed into: in law and philanthropy, finance and academia, the media and the arts.

This breeds paranoia, among elite and non-elites alike. Among the white working class, increasingly the most reliable Republican constituency, alienation from the American meritocracy fuels the kind of racially tinged conspiracy theories that Beck and others have exploited — that Barack Obama is a foreign-born Marxist hand-picked by a shadowy liberal cabal, that a Wall Street-Washington axis wants to flood the country with third world immigrants, and so forth.

Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres (1991)

2010-07-20T20:05:00.002-04:00

I've been listening to Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres on the Ipod for the past month or so.

I often listen while I'm working in the yard, which I guess is appropriate since a major theme of the novel is the way that working the land shapes different people in different ways (this is not to say that I'm working the land in any significant way, just cutting grass and watering flowers and pruning; it does make me feel satisfied, and I can see why dad has always enjoyed it so much).

Earlier this summer I read Smiley's Good Faith, which I liked better. A Thousand Acres is quite deliberate in pacing, and -- so far (I'm only about a third-in) -- it hasn't broken any new thematic ground or introduced any really intriguing characters.

But I do like the way that both novels deal with real estate as almost a character unto itself; this is especially relevant given that I'm doing primarily real estate work now that Joe has left R&F.

Another problem with Acres is that the narrator, Ginny, seems a bit self-righteous or goody-two-shoes. Here's the way that Gary Kamiya described her at Salon (here):

"The sensitive-unto-death narrative voice was dissonant and grating: Ginny came across as too intelligent and self-aware to be as clueless and numb as she was supposed to be."

455. What's the root of the phrase "goody-two-shoes"?

456. Who is the most famous writer who spent a significant portion of his or her life working as a farmer?

Acres won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. I hadn't realized this from listening to it, but Smiley bases the story on King Lear: the main character is a patriarchal father with three daughters who each struggles in her own way with the relationship with dad. I guess I didn't pick up on the connection because I've never seen or read Lear.

One of the fun points of Acres is that the father (Larry Cook) triggers a lot of the plot developments when he transfers ownership of the farm (using a corporation (this was in the days before LLC's)) to his daughters and their husbands. Since intergenerational-land-transfer is a phenomena with which we advise and work with people, it's interesting for me to read a fictional account of a family's emotional responses --- similar to the way that I enjoyed reading a fictional account of real estate contract-negotiations in Good Faith.

George Will on Puerto Rican Statehood

2010-07-18T13:16:00.003-04:00

George Will has a surprising editorial in today's Post (here) in which he argues that Republican support for Puerto Rican statehood could help change the party's fortunes among Hispanic voters.

Will focuses on Puerto Rico's 49-year-old Republican governor, Luis Fortuno, who says that most Puerto Ricans are culturally conservative. He seems to think that Puerto Ricans might actually vote in favor of statehood, notwithstanding a vote of 50-46 against it in a 1998 referendum.

Fortuno went to law school at UVa.

Will's article includes this funny description of the US's involvement in the Spanish-American War:

The United States acquired Puerto Rico 112 years ago in the testosterone spill called the Spanish-American War. Before another century passes, perhaps Puerto Ricans' ambivalence about their somewhat ambiguous status can be rectified to the advantage of Republicans.

I love the phrase "testosterone spill" - that is historically exactly right. And we continue to spill the testosterone (in other parts of the world) one hundred years later.

Governor McDonnell's Proposal to Privatize Virginia's ABC Stores

2010-07-18T07:35:00.003-04:00

Bob McDonnell wants to privatize the sale of liquor in Virginia. Anita Kumar has the story in this morning's Post, here.

When Prohibition ended, the General Assembly made the decision that beer and wine could be sold in private stores but that liquor would be handled by the state.

There are now 332 ABC stores in Virginia, and several recent governors (including Mark Warner) have explored the idea of selling them off.

It sounds like the primary rationale for privatization is financial: there'd be a one-time boost to the state's coffers of $300-$800 million. This does not seem like very much money to me, and it makes me think this proposal probably will not go anywhere.

Currently, the ABC stores produce about $220 million for the state annually; this is from a combination of taxes and profits. If they already bring in that much annually, then why bother selling them for only $300-800 million?

It sounds like that is exactly the argument being made by opponents of the plan.

Part of McDonnell's retort is a free-market-capitalism argument: government shouldn't be in the retail business (if that's right, then why is government in the retail business of selling lottery tickets?).

Here's the oddest part, though: McDonnell's goal, in selling the ABC stores, would be to generate extra money for the highway system. This illustrates the disfunctionality of our taxing/spending system: Virginia clearly needs money for its roads, but we are unwilling to raises taxes in order to generate the funds. So instead of making the tough decision to raise taxes, we come up with strange disconnected sources of revenue (in this case, a one-time source of revenue, which is problematic given that roads require ongoing maintenance). It's like looking through your closet to find old stuff to sell on eBay rather than taking a hard look at your budget and making long-term decisions about income and expenses.

Virginia's Budget Surplus

2010-07-17T17:05:00.007-04:00

This week I saw 2010's most surprising headline to date: Virginia actually has a budget surplus! The Progress initially printed an AP story and then editorialized its applause later in the week.

Virginia’s battered state budget ended a turbulent 2010 fiscal year on June 30 with a surprise surplus of about $220 million, government figures show ... The surplus ended a dire budget year in which official revenue forecasts were lowered three times and raised once as policymakers struggled to reconcile a nearly $2 billion shortfall.

I was extremely surprised: amidst all of the budgetary woes facing various states (Illinois is the one that's been in the national news recently), I thought that we'd be short at least a few hundred million, particularly since the projected deficit was so large as of this winter.

This is a huge feather in Governor McDonnell's cap in terms of his national political aspirations. I feel like whenever I read a profile article about a governor with national ambitions, it includes a line to the effect of "while the politicians in Washington bicker, [insert name] managed to turn [insert state name]'s budget deficit into a surplus by making hard decisions and being willing to work across the aisle to actually get things done."

The question, of course, is how much damage has been done to the state's public education system in order to balance the budget without raising taxes. It sounds like education was by far the biggest loser in McDonnell's cuts last winter.

Immigration, Part 2 (North Korea to China)

2010-07-15T18:00:00.003-04:00

There's a fascinating article by Barbara Demick, in this week's New Yorker, about North Korea.

Demick focuses on several recent immigrants from North Korea to China - in particular, individuals who cross from the area around Musan into Yanji (a Chinese city 15 miles from the border).

It sounds like the situation in North Korea right now is very bad.

I completely missed this story, but last fall they abruptly devalued their currency and wiped out many people's living savings with one fell swoop. The economic ramifications have been awful - so bad, in fact, that Prime Minister Kim Yong-il apologized in Feburary for having caused so much pain (Kim Yong-il was later replaced, in June, as Prime Minister).

Now, some analysts are predicting that the current regime could actually topple, in particular if Kim Jong-eun succeeds his father and does not quickly gain the confidence of the people. This is one of the first articles I've read that talks about the possibility of an internal regime change, and I wonder how much credence the American government is giving to Demick's reporting.

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Here's an excerpt from the article with a vivid description of a 17 year old girl leaving North Korea:

Song-hee left home early one morning without telling her parents. It was impossible to cross in Musan, so the girls walked past the main athletic stadium and into the mountains north of the city. After hiking three hours through the mountains, they descended to a bend about three miles from downtown Musan - a spot where the river is no more than a hundred feet across. Although it was broad daylight, the border guards couldn't see this section of the river from their concrete pillboxes. They walked across the ice as quickly as they could and clambered up the embankment into China.

When I picture North Korea, I start with St. Petersburg in 1993 and then try to dial-back that image about 10 or 15 years. In my mind, I see a very different world.

Bill Simmons's Hilarious Take on LeBron's Decision

2010-07-11T21:06:00.003-04:00

LeBron James's announcement that he is joining the Heat has been the most discussed sports event in a very long time. Of all the analyses (including Maureen Dowd in her column this morning and even Diane Rehm on the Friday News Roundup!), Bill Simmons has the best:

A few weeks after the 2008 Summer Olympics, Someone Who Knows Things told me the following rumor: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Chris Paul became such good friends during the 2007 Olympic trials, and then during their 2008 Olympics excursion in Beijing, that they actually made a pact in China to play together. You know, like one of those pacts in a chick flick where two friends agree to get married if both of them are single when they turn 40.

As the rumor went, the 2010 free agents (LeBron, Wade and Bosh) would sign with the same team (at that point the Knicks if they created enough cap room), then Paul would join them in 2012 (or sooner). I thought this was the craziest thing I had ever heard -- so crazy, I only mentioned it once (in a November '08 column). It reminded me of being in my mid-20s in Las Vegas, gambling in the wee hours with my single high school buddies, then all of us drunkenly saying, "We should all pick one city and live there, we'd just go out and kill it every night!" Then you wake up the next morning and forget it was ever discussed. So even if the China rumor was true, that didn't mean it was actually going to happen. Or so I thought.

In addition to the hilarious analogy about friends in Vegas, Simmons has this insight on what the Miami decision shows us re: LeBron's competitiveness:

I think it's a cop-out. Any super-competitive person would rather beat Dwyane Wade than play with him. Don't you want to find the Ali to your Frazier and have that rival pull the greatness out of you? That's why I'm holding out hope that LeBron signs with New York or Chicago (or stays in Cleveland), because he'd be saying, "Fine. Kobe, Dwight and Melo all have their teams. Wade and Bosh have their team. The Celtics are still there. Durant's team is coming. I'm gonna go out and build MY team, and I'm kicking all their asses." That's what Jordan would have done. Hell, that's what Kobe would have done. In May, after the Cavs were ousted in the conference semifinals, I wrote that LeBron was facing one of the greatest sports decisions ever: "winning (Chicago), loyalty (Cleveland) or a chance at immortality (New York)." I never thought he would pick "HELP!"

I take the point but disagree with Simmons. I think it's fantastic that LeBron formed the friendships with Wade and Bosh and he's actually pursuing the opportunity to team-up with them and have fun. Good for him if he's a little less competitive than Jordan, Bird, et al.

Immigration, Part 1 (Mexico to United States)

2010-07-11T19:42:00.003-04:00

Jan Brewer - A lightning rod for 2010

Ever since the health care debate ended, there's been lots of media focus on immigration -- notwithstanding the fact that there's no chance at all for legislation to pass this year.

I guess the explanation is that the media needs attention-grabbing "handles" for stories (for instance, last summer's "handle" for the health care debate was the death panel allegation), and the Arizona law has provided a handle to present the immigration debate in a simplistic way.

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Last week I listened to John McCain being interviewed on This Week.

McCain has completely switched his position on immigration reform, and his explanation is that the "situation on the border" has deteriorated seriously. He claims that Phoenix, Arizona has the second highest incidence of kidnapping in the world (!) and that there has been a tremendous rise in violence stemming from immigration and the drug trade.

When I heard McCain's interview, I thought to myself: Is any of this true or has he just bought into the anti-immigrant hysteria? It's very difficult to tell fact or fiction on this story, but I am extremely skeptical of McCain's claims.

In the past week, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has further stoked the hysteria by referring to beheadings related to illegal immigration. Dana Milbank is having nothing of this: in today's Post, he flat out states that Brewer is lying:

There's not a follicle of evidence to support Brewer's claim. The Arizona Guardian Web site checked with medical examiners in Arizona's border counties, and the coroners said they had never seen an immigration-related beheading. I called and e-mailed Brewer's press office requesting documentation of decapitation; no reply.

Immigration is an issue on which I need to find some good, balanced analysis. I think there's a very legitimate claim to make that the federal government is being negligent in not systematically addressing various issues related to immigration, and I credit Bush with having tried harder than Obama to actually do something.

But, McCain/Brewer/et al. are not adding anything to the debate by stoking irrational fears and advocating for a mass deportation of 10 million people.

450. Who has the lead in the polling for Arizona's Republican primary: McCain or J.D. Hayworth?

451. What are Obama's true (deep) feelings about immigration policy? Is he a totally open border advocate, or does he actually have a law and order angle/perspective? I'm having a really hard time deciding what I think Obama's true beliefs are, as opposed to his modified (political) positions (the puzzle is most dramatic re: Afghanistan).

452. How many illegal immigrants have entered the United States in the past couple of years (since the recession began), versus the two years prior to the recession?

453. Were most Latin Americans rooting for or against Spain in today's World Cup final?

454. At the trial court level, will the federal government succeed in arguing that Arizona's law should be pre-empted? My prediction is that the feds win in district court, and then (assuming it ends up at the Supreme Court), they again prevail 5-4. I think this could actually be an issue where the standard Supreme Court "voting blocs" do not hold -- ie, you could have a strange alignment of liberals and conservatives in the majority.

Iraq: A Perpetual and Too-Large American Presence?

2010-07-06T07:13:00.001-04:00

Joe Biden has been in Iraq for the past several days.

The Iraqis have not yet resolved the question of who will be the prime minister; each of al-Maliki and Allawi is trying to establish a coalition. I am not clear how the government is being run during this extended interlude - presumably al-Maliki remains in control?

At the end of August, the U.S. is supposed to complete its drawdown to 50,000 troops. I do not believe there's been much violence against U.S. troops during 2010. I am not sure about Iraqi vs. Iraqi violence.

My concern/problem is this: I anticipate that these remaining 50,000 troops will be in Iraq for a very long time. I do not approve. I'd be fine if we kept a couple thousand people on-the-ground to provide continuing support to the Iraqi military and police, but 50,000 sounds more to me like an ongoing (imperialist) endeavor to exert control over another country.

I guess we will see if Obama moves to further decrease the American presence, but given his misguided decision to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan, I am not optimistic.

Songs of the Summer 2010: Taio Cruz, Brandon Flowers, Macy Gray, and Joe Nichols

2010-07-04T07:53:00.007-04:00

I'm continuing to enjoy the music of the summer and search for the song that most captures the spirit and beat of the times. Waka Waka remains atop my personal list at the moment, but here are some other great contenders:

Taio Cruz is a Brit with two catchy-pop 80's-style dancefests: Break Your Heart (with Ludacris) and Dynamite.

Break Your Heart builds to a peak until Ludacris reprises, towards the end of the song, this riff:

Now I may not be the worst or the best but you gotta respect my honesty.

And I may break your heart, but I don't really think there's anybody's as bomb as me.

So you can take this chance, in the end everybody's gonna be wondering how ya deal.

You might say this is Ludacris, but Taio Cruz tell em' how ya feel!

Brandon Flowers used to be with The Killers. I am completely unfamiliar with their music, though I've heard the group's name in the cultural background for about five years.

Anyway, Flowers has now gone solo. Crossfire is a gem with a sort of quasi-anthemic melody and drumbeat, plus great lyrics.

Crossfire is a definite keeper; something about it reminds me of Viva la Vida, and then I'm also taken way back to 6th and 7th grade and Kansas's late-career rockers.

Macy Gray's got a fun one with Beauty in the World. This song is a spunky mix of the sublime (the aforesaid beauty) and the summer-shakin'-ridiculous ("shake your booty boys and girls").

I'm having a hard time finding good new country songs, which is a bit of a surprise. The early summer releases from the major stars seem to be repeating the standard themes with nothing as original/fun as I'd hope. The one exception, though, is Joe Nichols's Gimme That Girl, which riffs on an old country saw but with especially good singing and stylings.

Gimmie that girl with the hair in a mess

sleepy little smile with her head on my chest,

thats the you that i like best,

gimmie that girl.

Gimmie that girl lovin up on me,

old t-shirt and a pair of jeans,

thats the you i wanna see,

gimmie that girl...

Jacob Zuma

2010-07-03T17:24:00.002-04:00

Jacob Zuma is the President of South Africa.

South Africa has been much in the news this summer because of the World Cup being played there; in today's quarterfinals Germany crushed Argentina and Spain beat Paraguay. This means that even though four Latin American countries made it to the quarters, only one (Uruguay) goes on to the semis.

Here's my post from last August about Hillary Clinton being enthusiastic about Zuma's change-in-approach (from that of Thabo Mbeki, his predecessor) towards fighting AIDS.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault has a profile of Zuma in this week's New Yorker. Hunter-Gault's article, and some of the TV coverage I've seen in connection with the World Cup, make it sound as though South Africa is an incredibly divided society: if no longer racially so, then economically. In contrast to Mbeki, Zuma portrays himself as a populist and a defender of the poor, but most analysts say that he's doing very little to actually improve their plight. During Zuma's Presidency, the unemployment rate has reached as high as 25%.

Hunter-Gault illustrates his lack of an agressive economic policy by focusing on a neighborhood called Orange Farm, which sounds like a large slum area outside of Johannesburg. The residents of Orange Farm are disappointed that Zuma has not focused more on infrastructure or jobs development for their area.

Zuma is a polygamist; he has five wives and defends the practice to Hunter-Gault by saying that many men practice a sort of covert polygamy by having affairs; his way, argues Zuma, is more honest.

Zuma's term as President runs until 2013. Interestingly, his primary potential rival is a man named Trevor Manuel (the0 head of the National Planning Commission), and Hunter-Gault says that Manuel may be practically prevented from ascending the Presidency because he is mixed race.

Here's a picture of Trevor Manuel. He was South Africa's Finance Minister under Mandela and Mbeki.

Microburst Cleanup; The Landmark Arbitration (A Major Victory for Minor)

2010-07-03T17:00:00.006-04:00

The primary activity in Charlottesville this past week has been cleaning up the fallen limbs and trees; there are huge piles on all of the streets and the City is making its way around to collect them. We ended up being without power for about 48 hours, which was just about the same amount of time as for the early February snowstorm.

I've been getting a hard copy subscription to the Progress for the past week and I love it. I love being able to look at all the local articles, the letters to the editor, the daily editorial, and the ads (it's fun to see who is advertising and how the different businesses are portrayed), and it somehow feels healthier to do a little less of my first-in-the-morning reading on a computer screen.

The major local news yesterday: the results of the Landmark Hotel arbitration became public. Based on the news reports, the arbitrator sided with Halsey Minor in a big way: Lee Danielson's company is to pay Minor $4.2 million in damages plus $2.2 million in attorneys’ fees and costs. The reports do not say whether the award is subject to appeal (I doubt that it is).

Rachana Dixit summarizes the arbitrator's rationale in her Progress article (here):

[Danielson's company] breached the development agreement between his company and Minor’s by making material misrepresentations and omissions regarding the budget, misrepresenting true costs, failing to inform the owner that restaurant costs were not included in construction estimates and not acting in the owner’s best interest in dealing with the media and the lender. The arbitration ruling states that the cumulative effect of this “deliberative and reckless conduct” on the part of Danielson’s company amounts to “gross negligence.”

In a very strange twist at the end of Dixit's story, Minor says that a continuing bad guy in the Landmark saga is the FDIC! I do not understand his reasoning at all (unfortunately Dixit does not expand on his comment), but he seems to think that the federal government / taxpayers should become involved in financing a resolution of the project, stating “If we live in a democracy, then the FDIC and the banks should have to pay for the destruction that they reaped on my personal life and the city of Charlottesville.”

Presumably the FDIC is dragging its feet in the ongoing negotiations to resolve the disagreements related to financing the hotel (?), but to blame the federal government strikes me as absurd (and symptomatic of a tendency in society to blame government whenever anything goes wrong).

There's other Downtown Mall news today: evidently several business owners are complaining to the City about the increase in panhandling recently. This does not surprise me, because there are definitely more people asking for money on the Mall now than there were 2-3 years ago. Sounds as though the City is encouraging business owners to read and act on existing Code provision, but I'll be interested to see if there's a discussion abou the issue at upcoming Council meetings.

Ghana 2, USA 1: Richard Kingson Dominates in the Goal

2010-06-27T07:37:00.003-04:00

This picture is by Martin Rose of Getty Images. Richard Kingson is the Ghanaian goalie blocking the shot by the USA's Benny Feilhaber.

Yesterday, Ghana defeated the USA 2-1 in the Round of 16 of the World Cup. For me, the player of the game was Ghana's goalie, Richard Kingson, who came up with as many impressive saves as Tim Howard did for the US against England.

We watched the game at Kingston Road; we did not have power between Thursday afternoon and early this morning (I'm actually surprised it came back on as soon as it did, given how many lines and trees are down around here).

It was a fun game to watch: I always like those moments in sports when you know that watching a particular game is a broadly-shared experience.

The USA gave up an early goal to Kevin-Prince Boateng and was outmatched in the first half; Ghana's passing was quick and sharp, similar to a well-coached offense in an NCAA tourney game.

In the second half, though, the Yanks got their act together and had multiple scoring opportunities. The score came in the 62nd minute, on a Landon Donovan penalty kick after Clint Dempsey was tackled in the box. Throughout the tournament, Dempsey has been the USA's most agressive -- and expressive -- player (sort of the Gary Clark of Brian Mitchell of the team - inspiring others through his intense play and spirit).

After the Donovan goal, the USA had all the momentum. But, about four minutes into the thirty minute overtime, Asamoah Gyan got behind the US defenders and hit a nice loft just over Tim Howard's head. As the overtime wound down, the players from both teams looked extremely tired and there were no super-close chances for the USA.

Here's Rob Hughes, in today's NYT, on why the Ghanaian victory is important:

For Africa, a continent of 600 million people staging an event of this magnitude for the first time in its history, Ghana is now a lone star. For Ghana to field 19- and 20-year-olds and match the best qualities of the United States — in athleticism, stamina and never-say-die spirit — is what this tournament desperately needed.

As Africa’s other teams dropped out one by one, Ghana stayed strong. As America turned its greater experience to bear in the second half, Ghana had little option but to trust the one advantage it possessed: greater skill.

Here's Michael Bradley and Anthony Annan, in a photo by Phil Cole of Getty. I know this is a cliche, but soccer players are really athletic (the non-stop action/running for 45 minutes!) in a way that makes soccer different from the major American sports.

Donovan on his penalty kick. This guy was a great team leader - he lived up to the hype.

Microburst in Charlottesville

2010-06-25T17:46:00.005-04:00

Before this spring, I'd never even heard of a "microburst." Now, we've experienced two in Charlottesville in less than a month.

Yesterday's storm was incredibly intense. The wind and rain started at about 5:15 PM, and I watched trees outside our office window that literally looked like they were spinning in circles.

Like the prior storm, the area around Rugby Avenue seemed to be one of the worst hit. These pictures are from a walk yesterday evening.

Lithium in Afghanistan

2010-06-22T07:14:00.002-04:00

Last week, the Post and other papers reported the discovery of huge mineral deposits (worth literally trillions of dollars?!!) in Afghanistan.

The minerals there include:

Iron
Copper
Cobalt
Gold
Lithium

The lithium discovery is getting the most play (Afghanistan :: lithium as Saudi Arabia :: oil ?). Evidently lithium is used to make the batteries in laptops. I'm not sure I'd even heard of lithium until about 10 years ago, but now it does get mentioned a lot.

Christopher Hitchens has a piece in Slate this week (here) in which he argues that westerners should be psyched about (rather than wringing their hands over) the mineral discoveries.

He says the minerals provide the opportunity for real economic development in Afghanistan -- and for forging a closer alliance between Afghanistan and India (rather than Pakistan), which he says is the key to long-term stability there.

Ironically, I thought the most powerful portion of Hitchen's piece was his summary of the way in which mineral deposits have -- in the past -- brought trouble to countries:

The story of countries that are poor because they are rich is an old one: The Congo has been a scandalous example since the time of its private ownership by the Belgian royal family in the 19th century, and to the list of nations subject to depredation by resource exploitation one could also add Haiti, Angola, India, and (to be fair) China. Afghanistan has no infrastructure or professional civil service, no tradition of extractive industry, and no mechanism for sharing resources among its wildly discrepant provinces and regions. A Klondike beyond the Khyber could be the last thing it needs.

More Ruminations on the World Cup

2010-06-17T14:27:00.006-04:00

Chap and Kimrey, circa '91

UPDATE: Hilarious feedback from JK re: this post: "Not sure which is more surprising – how young we all look in those pics or chaps deep insight on the impact altitude can have on a soccer match."

This morning Greece recorded its first ever World Cup victory, 2-1 over Nigeria. Now if they could just sort out their banking system.

Here's some follow-up from Chappy with possible explanations for the lack of goals during Week One:

I can't believe I forgot the other two major reasons for the games being low scoring:

1 - The BALL!!!!! Everyone is complaining about it. Adidas has made a special ball for the Cup. It is called the "Jabulani" which means celebrate in Zulu. The players are having a hard time controlling it on free, corner and directional kicks. As of right now there hasn't been a goal scored on a free kick. The goalies complain that the ball swerves in the air too much. Still the ball is no excuse for that goal that Robert Green let in.

2 - Altitude- some of the games are being played at fairly high altitude. This really does make a difference on how much players can run and can lead to a boring defensive game.

448. Can the make of a ball -- or other equipment -- actually influence the style of play? Do NFL field goal kickers ever blame the ball when they shank kicks?

449. Is Robert Green starting in England's game tomorrow? Any chance he redeems himself, or has he been permanently enshrined as the British Bill Buckner?

Who's the most baby-faced of the group?

Chap's Thoughts on the World Cup: The Vuvuzela, Martin Tyler, and Watch Out for Chile!!

2010-06-16T17:41:00.010-04:00

Today featured the biggest news of the first week of the World Cup: little Switzerland defeated mighty Spain, 1-0, in an upset that I don't think anyone saw coming.

I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get insights into the Cup from Chappy, who understands the beautiful game better than anyone else I know. Chappy's thoughts are re-printed below in their entirety -- I love the insights and particularly the heads-up to watch for Chile as a spoiler:

I love the World Cup, but after five or so days I'm starting to realize that the level of play is not on par with a regular EPL, La Liga or Seria A game. It is definitely below the level exhibited in a Champion's League match. I think there are a couple of reasons for this:

1 - These national teams assemble maybe three weeks before the Cup starts. During a year they might play between five to eight games for their country. They haven't had enough time together to gel as say a Manchester United or Real Madrid. They don't know the nuances of their teammates. This is one of the reasons for the low scoring games. The only country who looks like a real team is Germany.

2 - The players are worn out. The guys in the top leagues in Europe have already played 50 or 60 games this season. I think this has also contributed to so many players being injured.

Other thoughts:

1- I don't think the vuvuzelas should be banned but they are annoying as hell. Also, they are drowning out some of the fans' chants which -- as you know -- are always great to hear.

2- I like the U. S. squad - While our skill is not up to say Spain or the Dutch we have a true fighting spirit. The best thing about us was said by an Italian player something like "The States never give up, they always think they have a chance to win."

3- I think the U.S. will advance to the second round and if that occurs it looks like we might play Germany.

4- Brazil in this tournament is playing a different game. They have left behind their samba style and are playing more of a defensive game. This comes from their coach Dunga. He spent many years playing in the Italian League and I think the Italian style of play has rubbed off on him.

5- Spain is my pick to win it all.

6- Most interesting team is North Korea. No one knows anything about them or their players.

7- France is a mess and might not make it of the group stage.

8- Argentina's coach is Diego Maradonna- As great of a player he was he just as bad of a coach-plus he really might be crazy.

9- I love that ABC/ESPN are using the English announcers from Sky Sports instead of Americans who are just learning the game. Martin Tyler has been fantastic. He is the Al Michaels or Bob Costas of English Football.

10- Dark horse to advance in the tourney is Chile-Not much is being said about them. I saw them this morning and they look strong. I could seem them making a run to the quarter or semi-finals.

I could easily write another 10,000 words but don't want to bore you.

Chap's prediction that Spain will win it all was made prior to today's big upset. Later in the day he sent me some follow-up thoughts, which I'll post tomorrow.

I think his analysis on Team USA is right-on: Tim Howard, in particular, is a battler.

If we manage to get through the opening round, maybe we could shock the world and beat the Germans? Of course, I'm still not sure I'm not rooting for Slovenia in Friday's game -- Ljubljana rocks and the people there would go crazy to beat the Yanks!

Many thanks John -- you are the futbol man!!

Charlottesville's Landmark Hotel and the Re-Bricking of Second Street

2010-06-15T16:28:00.008-04:00

I've been wondering for some time when downtown business owners would begin getting antsy about the unfinished Landmark and its effect on surrounding properties.

Alas, Dave McNair's got the story in this week's Hook (here): it sounds as though some people are starting to lose (or have lost) their patience. The straw that broke the camel's back is the longer-than-expected City brick work on Second Street.

This is not surprising, since construction was halted approximately 18 months ago (January of '09, I believe) and there's still no news of a possible resolution.

The interesting political theory question that arises, particularly in the comments section of McNair's article, is whether the culprit here is (1) government or (2) the capitalist system. There's an interesting analogy to the Gulf oil spill, where nobody (Obama included) seems capable of deciding if there should be more or less government involvement in addressing the hole in the ocean.

My reading of the comments is that opinion is split down the middle: some people think the City needs to be more assertive while others argue that there's very little the City could actually do.

Here's an excerpt from McNair's piece:

Chas Webster figured that by now there’d be a lovely outdoor patio space and a luxury hotel in front of his restaurant The Box on Second Street SE. Instead, he’s looked out on what he describes as a “war zone” for over two years. And it’s taking a toll.

“Yesterday, I couldn’t even get into my own business,” he says, as the entrance to the building had been blocked off, allegedly without notice, by a construction crews under contract to the City.

“It’s ridiculous,” says Webster. “The City promised this would take four months. Now it’s taken almost twice as long as it did to renovate the entire Mall.”

My earlier posts about the Landmark:

November 21, 2009 (here) - Charlottesville Circuit Court rulings in the ongoing litigation
July 25, 2009 (here) - Halsey Minor allegations against Specialty Finance Group
March 8, 2009 (here) - There'll be no bailout from the City
March 1, 2009 (here) - The litigation gets started

New Federal Spending Legislation

2010-06-13T08:22:00.002-04:00

There's a controversial funding bill working its way through both houses of Congress. Lori Montgomery's got the summary in this morning's Post, here.

The point-of-contention is whether the federal government's bigger priority should be (A) spending to stimulate job creation or (B) deficit reduction. According to Montgomery, President Obama is being accused of inconsistency because he is pushing for an additional $50 million stimulus for state and local governments while simultaneously calling for big-picture reductions in federal spending.

This is a tough one for me. Printing more money to solve current problems does not seem like a viable long-term solution -- my post about Europe's decision to take this approach is here.

President Obama urged reluctant lawmakers Saturday to quickly approve nearly $50 billion in emergency aid to state and local governments, saying the money is needed to avoid "massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters" and to support the still-fragile economic recovery.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Obama defended last year's huge economic stimulus package, saying it helped break the economy's free fall, but argued that more spending is urgent and unavoidable. "We must take these emergency measures," he wrote in an appeal aimed primarily at members of his own party.

The letter comes as rising concern about the national debt is undermining congressional support for additional spending to bolster the economy. Many economists say more spending could help bring down persistently high unemployment, but with Republicans making an issue of the record deficits run up during the recession, many Democratic lawmakers are eager to turn off the stimulus tap.

446. Which American political leader does the best job of thinking about long-term solutions?

447. Where does Tom Perriello stand on this piece of spending legislation? I respect his analysis and will be interested to see if he takes a position on this, particularly in light of the quickly developing campaign against Robert Hurt.

The US deficit now stands at $13 trillion (a number beyond my ability to grasp), so I'm genearlly on-board with the deficit hawks who say that the number one priority should be getting government spending under control. I understand the desire to print more money for the sake of saving jobs, but I wish the Congress would do a better job of simultaneously finding -- and cutting -- excess spending when they pass these massive new spending bills. At this point, I do not get the sense that the Democratic leadership is doing a sufficient job of the "cutting" half of the equation.

World Cup: England 1, USA 1

2010-06-13T07:52:00.005-04:00

This picture of England's goalie, Robert Green, is by Michael Sohn of the AP. I imagine this will become an iconic image of this year's World Cup (at least for the Brits and Americans).

Yesterday afternoon we watched the USA's first match of this year's World Cup, a much anticipated match-up against England.

This was fun! Notwithstanding Chappy's enthusiasm, I haven't watched much soccer since the 2006 Cup, and I have really enjoyed it the past couple of days -- it is truly an artistic sport in a way that sets it apart from American football. I also just love the way the action is ongoing for each 45 minute half; soccer fans must think that American sports' constant stops-and-starts are incredibly annoying.

-----

The Cup began on Friday and the big first-day news was that South Africa (the lowest-ranked team in the field) led Mexico 1-0 for much of that game until Mexico tied it up fairly late in the second half. Mexico's goal was the kind of art I've described above: Rafael Marquez stopped a beautiful cross almost completely stone-cold and then shot it past the charging goalie.

-----

SO: in yesterday's game the USA was a definite underdog and the incoming storyline was whether we could shake off the disappointing 3-loss performance in the 2006 Cup. Sure enough, we played very well - particularly on defense and particularly Tim Howard in goal; even though England controlled the ball for most of the game and had a lot more chances (they outshot us 16 to 11), we stayed aggressive throughout and almost took the lead when Jozy Altidore broke away at about 65 minutes.

England scored quite early (I think in the 4th or 5th minute), and the play of the game was Clint Dempsey's normal looking shot (at 40 minutes) which was headed straight for the English goalie, Robert Green's, arms. Somehow, though, Green muffed it and it trickled past him into the net. I let out a whoop, as I imagine US fans did everywhere --- and I can only imagine the level of English fans' groaning both at the moment and in the coming days.

The USA's hero from yesterday's game: Tim Howard. The picture is by Bernat Armangue of the AP.

There was even a geo-political overlay to yesterday's game: Nancy Pelosi and other US politicians have been calling on BP to halt payment of its dividends while the oil spill crisis plays out, and this has seriously ticked off the Brits -- many of whom rely on the regular dividend payments as a source of income. This past week, even David Cameron stepped into the discussion on England's behalf. For me, this political dimension made yesterday's game that much more interesting.

Here's the NYT's Jeffrey Marcus on Robert Green:

“At a younger point in my life, it would have affected me more,” the 30-year-old Green said. “You turn around and pick the ball up out of the back of the net and say, ‘right, that’s happened, let’s move on.’ You don’t really kick yourself for the next 50 years.” England fans might. The soccer-mad English have mixed feelings about the national team. They are alternately confident about its chances to contend for a title and resigned to the idea that they will be let down in the end. For misfortune to occur so early in the tournament is a bad sign. While it was only the first goal conceded, in the first game, it cost England 2 points (the team earned only 1 for the tie) and left it on equal footing with the United States. Algeria and Slovenia, the other two Group C teams, will play Sunday. “We have to get behind Rob Green,” Steven Gerrard [who scored England's goal] said. “He’ll make a really important save for us somewhere down the line.”

McGuffey Park: Why Fix What's Not Broken?

2010-06-11T17:18:00.017-04:00

In this week's Hook, Dave McNair reports (here) on the disappointing situation at McGuffey Park.

I was particularly interested in McNair's article because -- when we explored a number of the local parks last year -- I was least impressed with McGuffey.

Some of the other parks around here are awesome, in terms of landscaping, facilities, and general "aura." Our experiences in the parks last summer has led to more frequent visits since then. But McGuffey was not as pleasant or as welcoming, at least not last summer.

The biggest problem I noticed is the lack of trees: most of the places to sit are exposed to the sun, and in addition to that practical issue there's the aesthetic shortcoming of a park without big trees.

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time at McGuffey, particularly on Saturdays when we'd come downtown to Dad's office and on Sundays after church. I can remember really liking the merry-go-round (it was the fastest in town, except for the really old one at Meriwether Lewis) and the swingset there. I also shot a fair amount of hoops on the basketball net (speaking of hoops: Lakers/Celtics appears to be shaping up as a classic; it's 2-2 now and although I've only watched part of one game I've got the impression that both teams are really playing well).

According to McNair's article, there are two major problems confronting McGuffey Park:

The lack of trees -- evidently a number of the mature trees were cut down as part of the 2007 overhaul of the park. This leads to the sunshine problem that I noticed and has also contributed to significant erosion and drainage issues.
The park has become a gathering area for local teens (particularly on Friday evenings), and nearby residents are complaining about booze/drugs/sex/general bad behavior.

Regarding #2, the analogy is: McGuffey Park is to 2010 as the Hardee's on 250 was to 1991.

The park's makeover in 2007 cost more than $700,000 (unbelievable), including more than $420,000 in City funds.

An excerpt from McNair on the funding issue:

Ironically, the McGuffey Friends, City officials, former Parks & Rec. director Mike Svetz, and even the Daily Progress editorial staff argued that the renovation would help solve the crime problem that they claimed plagued the old park, where “needles and condoms” were found in the morning. The landscaping firm, Siteworks, claimed that its design would address such problems by “creating better visibility from the street and by providing more potential for flow-through circulation.”

However, several teens a reporter spoke to said that the many benches, long picnic tables, rock walls, and dimly lit areas make it an ideal place for many different groups of kids to sit and hang out. They also said it’s common knowledge that drugs are available in the park. Plus, it’s conveniently located near the Mall.

I think it would probably have been better to spend $400,000 on finding something for these kids to do,” says Rady. “It wasn’t like this before the park was renovated.”

“I was shocked and awed that the city was giving $400,000 for a facelift of one city park,” wrote another nearby resident, Sarah Peaslee, in a letter to the Hook. “Most of us said, If it’s not broke, why fix it?”

Peaslee wondered what would keep out “vagrants and druggies” and predicted that the “lovely, long, fine wood benches” would actually attract more of them. “Help me understand,” she concluded, “why the city spent so much to fix one unbroken park.”

Songs of the Summer 2010: Katy Perry, Shakira, and The National

2010-06-06T16:15:00.004-04:00

Memorial Day was my official kick-off for the search for the Song of the Summer 2010: Personal Edition.

I've found some great early contenders; if these are any sign it is going to be an awesome musical summer:

Katy Perry's California Gurls (and with Snoop Dogg!) - This song is an instant classic. The beat is incredible and the tone is just right for summertime sunshine and fun. Snoop's rap towards the end caps off what is already a fantastic song.

The National's Bloodbuzz Ohio - This one will certainly not make the standard S.o.t.S. lists, but I'd been looking forward to The National's new album, and this song is a somber, melancholic, borderline-completely-depressing treat!

Shakira's Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) - Yesterday I downloaded a bunch of music on iTunes and am so glad that, just before finishing, I came across the official album for the World Cup (which begins on Friday). I remember listening to the 1984 Olympics album endlessly and imagining myself as a sports superstar, and this album captures just the same dynamic. The songs are all about soccer/sports/world-togetherness, and they are incredibly uplifting. Waka Waka is super, as is...

Dario G's Game On - I was literally dancing down the street while listening to this and walking the dogs last night -- so uplifting and fun.

---------

Shakira is from Colombia - I had not realized this. Her first language is Spanish and she also speaks English and Portuguese fluently. Here's an excerpt from Waka Waka:

When you fall get up, oh oh...

And if you fall get up, oh oh...

Tsamina mina

Zangalewa

Cause this is Africa

Tsamina mina eh eh

Waka Waka eh eh

UVa Baseball and Other Charlottesville News

2010-06-05T07:57:00.004-04:00

Israel, the Mavi Marmara, and the Rachel Corrie

2010-06-05T07:01:00.005-04:00

On Monday of this week, the Israeli military boarded a Turkish (humanitarian) aid ship that was attempting to deliver supplies through an Israeli blockade to Gaza. Nine civilians on board the ship were killed in the ensuing batte.

I am putting the word "humanitarian" in parentheses because the legitimacy of the Turkish ship's mission depends on whose story you accept: the Israelis argue that the was a deliberate attempt to provoke Israel -- in other words, that humanitarianism was not the primary goal.

Following the incident, Israel has come in for major criticism. I watched an interesting debate on the Newshour about whether they have the right to impose a naval blockade; the pro-Palestinian commentator argued that blockades are de facto illegal under current international law, while his counterpart said that the UN itself sponsored a long-term blockade during the Balkan conflict of the 1990's.

On Tuesday, Thomas Friedman had harsh words for both Turkey and Israel:

On Turkey: "I have no problem with Turkey or humanitarian groups loudly criticizing Israel. But I have a big problem when people get so agitated by Israel’s actions in Gaza but are unmoved by Syria’s involvement in the murder of the prime minister of Lebanon, by the Iranian regime’s killing of its own citizens demonstrating for the right to have their votes counted, by Muslim suicide bombers murdering nearly 100 Ahmadi Muslims in mosques in Pakistan on Friday and by pro-Hamas gunmen destroying a U.N.-sponsored summer camp in Gaza because it wouldn’t force Islamic fundamentalism down the throats of children."

On Israel: "It is overwhelmingly in Israel’s interest to bring more diplomatic imagination and energy to ending this Gaza siege. How long is this going to go on? Are we going to have a whole new generation grow up in Gaza with Israel counting how many calories they each get? That surely can’t be in Israel’s interest. Israel has gotten so good at controlling the Palestinians that it could get comfortable with an arrangement that will not only erode its own moral fabric but increase its international isolation."

Recep Erdogan is still the prime minister of Turkey. My favorite line of Friedman's piece is his explanation of why the US should put lots of effort into its relationship with Turkey:

443. What are the famous blockades in history? The one that immediately comes to mind is the blockade of Cuba just before the missile crisis, and I think that there may have been an important one during the Peloponnesian War ... any others?

I’ve long had a soft spot for Turkey. I once even argued that if the European Union wouldn’t admit Turkey, we should invite Turkey to join Nafta. Why? Because I think it really matters whether Turkey is a bridge or ditch between the Judeo-Christian West and the Arab and Muslim East. Turkey’s role in balancing and interpreting East and West is one of the critical pivot points that helps keep the world stable.

444. Does Benjamin Netenyahu have a defined term, or is his situation similar to the prime minister in Britain where -- if he loses the confidence of Parliament/the people -- he could be compelled to call elections early?

445. Supposedly there's an Irish ship - a mission structured similarly to the Turkish one - that will arrive in the "outside of Gaza and Israel" waters this weekend. Evidently there's a former Nobel Peace Prize winner aboard -- who is she and what did she win the prize for? Is it the anti-land mine woman? What will be the outcome of this ship's attempted delivery? It sounds as though the Israelis are going to try not to provoke any fighting this time around. I've just done some reading. The Irish ship is the Rachel Corrie (named for an American who was killed in Gaza in 2003). There are only 11 passengers on board (as compared to several hundred on the Mavi Marmara?); here's an excerpt from The Guardian:

The Rachel Corrie is carrying 11 passengers, including the Scottish Captain Eric Harcis. In addition to six British and Irish citizens on the ship there are six Malaysians, including an MP and a team of journalists ... a spokesman for the Malaysian travellers said they were "determined" to continue the journey towards Gaza. The ship is carrying school supplies, printing paper, children's shoes, wheelchairs, sports equipment and fire extinguishers. Its load was checked by the Irish government before it sailed, according to organisers. Israel bars cement and other building materials from entering Gaza, saying they are often used for building tunnels to smuggle in weapons and explosives.

In this morning's Post, Glenn Kessler reports on the Israeli explanation for what happened :

Israeli forces spent four hours trying to persuade the 300-foot-long Turkish ship to shift course away from Gaza, senior Israeli officials said in a briefing Friday for a small group of reporters.

The activists responded repeatedly with shouts -- "Go back to Auschwitz!" -- and kept the ship at its maximum speed of 10 knots. Now it was 4 a.m., and the ship was 70 miles from the Israeli coast.

Israeli officials ran through the calculations. Colliding with the ship could sink it, given its size and speed. Shooting at a ship with 560 passengers on board, including a baby, could result in casualties. So officials decided to dispatch one commando team (14 soldiers) who would board the upper deck by rappelling off a helicopter, and three other 14-man teams who would board the lower decks by sea.

The officials insist they had no choice but to enforce the blockade of Gaza, controlled by the Hamas militant group, because allowing selective ships to pass would have rendered it legally meaningless. "Either you have a blockade or not," one military official said.

Turkish officials have angrily said that the blockade is illegal, that the assault should not have taken place in international waters and that the use of force was disproportionate and even criminal.

Denise Giardina's Storming Heaven (1987)

2010-06-02T06:56:00.001-04:00

This weekend I finished reading Storming Heaven, in which Denise Giardina tells the story of the Battle of Blair Mountain from the perspective of four fictional characters: C.J. Marcum, Carrie Bishop, Rosa Angelelli, and Rondal Lloyd.

The Battle of Blair Mountain took place in Logan County, West Virginia in August of 1921 and is considered to be the largest armed uprising by union organizers in US history.

The pro-union side was defeated (decisively) and their efforts were set back until the mid 1930's.

This book is beautifully written; Giardina's prose is up there with the best I've read. I also liked the map of the locations on the inside cover -- any book with a map at the beginning gets off to a great start for me (this goes back to reading The Hobbit when I was in 6th or 7th grade - I just loved the map of Middle Earth).

Here is a bit from Rondal:

We lived in Winco, West Virginia, once our homeplace. American Coal Company owned our house. Richmond and Western Railroad owned our land. Mommy never talked about the old days, but Daddy told me how it used to be. Our cabin had set on the same piece of ground as the company store, which was three stories high, with stone steps trailing up to plate glass windows ... Most of the houses were built around the hill where the cow and sheep had grazed. "The creek was clear as glass, and we used to git trout outen it, and bullfrogs," Daddy said. "You aint et till you had frog legs. Now the creek wont run clear till kingdom come, I reckon. We let it get away from us."

My one criticism is that the four narrators share the same (general) perspective, and I would have liked if one of the major characters was struggling -- at least internally -- with the coal company perspective.

Reading this book felt very timely to me, with this spring's mining collapse in West Virginia (in which 29 miners were killed and Massey has come in for criticism for operating the mine negligently at best) and, more recently, the BP oil spill in the Gulf. There is a long history of corporations versus people in the American quest for fossil fuels, and it is continuing today.

Printing More Money to Solve Our Problems

2010-05-11T07:19:00.005-04:00

The E.U. announced over the weekend that they (and the I.M.F.) have put together a $1 trillion bailout for Greece and the other Euro-zone countries having debt problems.

The European and US stock markets responded with major upswings yesterday, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how this is a solution to the problem.

Aren't the policy-makers --- yet again --- simply printing more money and thereby "kicking the can" of having to confront the debt further on down the road?

Anne Applebaum explains, in her Post piece this morning (here), some of the things that Greece's government has promised to do in exchange for the dough:

Europe and the International Monetary Fund will spend billions of euros to rescue Greece. And in exchange, Greece will not merely agree to reduce its vast public deficit but will adopt, by June, no fewer than 17 specific legal and budgetary changes. Among other things, the council declares that Greece "shall" reduce the "Easter, summer and Christmas bonuses" of civil servants and pensioners; increase taxes on fuel, tobacco and alcohol; reduce the operating costs of local government; and pass a law to simplify the rules for new business start-ups.

Once all that is out of the way, Greece "shall," by September, fulfill nine other requirements, among them a pension reform that raises the retirement age to 65, from a current average of 61. By December, Greece "shall" adopt 12 additional measures, among them one mandating the use of generic drugs in the state health-care system. There are further deadlines in March, June and September 2011. If the Greek government wants to continue receiving the cash it needs to function, it will have to pass all of this legislation, piece by piece.

Won't the Greek public push back incredibly hard on many of these requirements - particularly raising the retirement age by 4 years? The US government cannot muster the courage to raise our Social Security retirement age by even 1 year!!

Is Elena Kagan Too Much Like an "Organization Kid"?

2010-05-11T06:50:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, President Obama nominated Elena Kagan to fill John Paul Stevens's Supreme Court seat.

David Brooks has a fairly searing critique of Kagan in this morning's Times ("What it Takes," here). Brooks claims that she has spent her entire career avoiding taking any risks or staking out strong positions.

Either Brooks or another commentator has written a similar criticism of Obama (pre-Presidency): that he spent his adult life strategically "above the fray," even when he was in the Illinois legislature.

It's harder to continue making the argument that Obama is unwilling to take a position, now that he hammered the health care reform legislation through Congress. So -- if she is following the Obama model -- perhaps Kagan has spent her life-till-now in an effort to reach a position of immense power (Supreme Court Justice) from which she will take risks?

Here's an excerpt from the Brooks piece:

Yet she also is apparently prudential, deliberate and cautious. She does not seem to be one who leaps into a fray when the consequences might be unpredictable. "She was one of the most strategic people I’ve ever met, and that’s true across lots of aspects of her life,” John Palfrey, a Harvard law professor, told The Times. “She is very effective at playing her cards in every setting I’ve seen." ...

There’s about to be a backlash against the Ivy League lock on the court. I have to confess my first impression of Kagan is a lot like my first impression of many Organization Kids. She seems to be smart, impressive and honest — and in her willingness to suppress so much of her mind for the sake of her career, kind of
disturbing.

John Dickerson, meanwhile, is confused (here) by the Administration's claim that Kagan understands the common folk. Dickerson predicts -- rightly I think -- that she is going to be portrayed as an academic (even if not a juridical) elitist who has lived her life overly removed from the realities that most people confront:

It was easier for the president to make a similar case about Sonia Sotomayor, who had been a district attorney and had an up-from-the bootstraps story that Kagan lacks. In presenting Kagan, Obama cited her work arguing the Citizens United case. How many people even know what the Citizens United case is? It, like Kagan's career, requires a little bit of explaining before you're in a position to be convinced that her position on campaign finance—actually, it wasn't her position but the government's—shows that she understands how the law affects regular people.

The talking points the White House sent to their elite supporters also cite Kagan's Harvard Law Review article "Presidential Administration" as proof that she understands how the law affects people's lives. It was honored as the year's top scholarly article by the American Bar Association's Section on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. After reading some of the article, which addresses the structure of the White House, I asked for some clarification about how that article addressed issues related to regular Americans. A White House aide suggested I Google the host of legal experts who had said so. (I did. I couldn't find them.)

The Times Square Bomb Plot, and an Incisive Critique by Dana Milbank

2010-05-06T20:05:00.004-04:00

Dana Milbank continues to write some of the best opinion pieces of anyone (and he pumps them out at an amazing pace; it seems like some weeks he has articles 5 or 6 days).

I love the way he uses people's words to illustrate the (often) absurd nature of democratic politics -- or at least the way democracy's practiced in America in 2010.

This week Milbank wrote (here) about the Administration's inappropriate gloating after their capture of Faisal Shahzad, the US citizen who tried to blow up an SUV in Times Square last week and then was able to board an overseas flight even though his name had been put on the federal watch list.

Milbank's article captured my response to the Administration's reaction to what happened: I heard an interview with Janet Napolitano on NPR in which she was entirely, inappropriately preening.

I generally like Napolitano -- she strike me as exceedingly devoted to public service and commited to doing an excellent job in whatever role she's asked to serve (you have to be real courageous to accept the appointment as Homeland Security chief; it strikes me as the ultimate no-win government job) -- but she did not impress me in this interview. There was too much focus on "we did everything right" and not nearly enough on big-picture thinking about how to address the possibility of terrorism.

Here's an excerpt from Milbank:

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly described the car bomb using a term popularized by an Oscar-winning film. "That lethal assembly really made a very big hurt locker," he said, shifting from there to the television drama "24." "By my calculation, from the time Faisal Shahzad drove into and across Broadway and parked that vehicle until when he was apprehended last evening at JFK airport, it was 53 hours and 20 minutes. Now, we know that Jack Bauer can do it in 24 [hours]. But in the real world, 53 is a pretty good number."

Yes, but 11 isn't. That's the number of times the people onstage thanked one another and everybody else, from the street vendors in New York who spotted the smoking SUV to the reporters in the room. Add in the various other forms of commendation and attaboys/attagirls, and a whole lot of celebrating was going on in the halls of Justice on Tuesday.
Without question, it was brilliant police work that allowed authorities to identify, track and nab the suspect just before he fled the country. But crowing about a victory against terrorists is dangerous business. The only thing that stopped the Times Square would-be bomber from succeeding was that he, like the Christmas Day would-be bomber, was inept. And while it may be better to be lucky than good, at some point the luck will run out -- it's just not possible to stop every terrorist -- and celebrating the arrest of the Times Square suspect will look naive in retrospect.

Nick Clegg, Charlie Crist and My Roster for a Third Party

2010-05-02T18:22:00.010-04:00

In terms of domestic politics, the past couple of weeks have focused on immigration and financial regulatory reform.

Charlie Crist announced as an independent for the Florida Senate seat at the end of this week, and I say go for it! I wish we had more strong third party candidates -- I see what's happening with Nick Clegg in Britain and love that he's shaking up the system.

There's no way that two institutional structures come up with as many good ideas as three, four or five would - I know there are reasons that two parties have served the US well historically, but right now our politics is largely broken and I think a viable third party could contribute to the fix. The middle-of-the-road kind of people who I'd like to see involved:

Crist
Bob Kerrey
Alan Simpson
Patrick Fitzgerald
Colin Powell
Evan Bayh
Olympia Snowe
Schwarzenegger
Joe Lieberman
Petraeus, Odierno (I assume without knowing that Petraeus and Odierno are middle-of-the-road), Wesley Clark
Colin Powell
Tom Brokaw (I'm only kind of joking)
Susan Collins
Lindsay Graham
Kenneth Feinberg (he could provide the oversight and keep everybody in line)

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The big debate right now is whether Arizona's new law (under which police can demand proof of residency/citizenship based purely on reasonable suspicion) is constitutional.

George Will argues that there's plenty of case law -- including a recent 9th Circuit decision upholding another Arizona law -- that supports the constitutionality of the provision, but the conventional liberal wisdom is that it will necessitate prohibited racial profiling. My questions:

437. Jan Brewer is the governor of Arizona (she assumed the position based on her role as Secretary of State when Napolitano left for Homeland Security) and finds herself smack in the middle of the brouhaha. What other minor public figures have played this kind of a prominent national symbolic role in controversial issues?

438. Which state will be the next to pass a similar law? The stories keep saying that Rick Perry thinks the AZ law is foolish, so it won't be Texas. Could it be a midwestern or southern state in which the conservatives have a strong majority in the state legislature? (Incidentally, Bob McDonnell was one of the few Republicans to speak out against the law this past week)

439. Belgium is in the process of prohibiting the wearing of the burka. My question is, which law - Belgium's or Arizona's - is more problematic from the standpoint of civil libertarians? Which law is more offensive in their eyes?

440. David Plotz's rant on last week's Political Gabfest (in which he called for violence as a response to Wall Street misbehavior) got a bunch of attention on Fox News. How big a "player" in the political/media world is Slate? There was a big article in last week's Times about how prominent Politico has become -- what's the relative readership of Politico versus Slate versus The Daily Beast?

441. Will there be large-scale protests/marches in Iran in June, to commemorate last year's election protests? There's been relatively little American media follow-up about what the opposition leaders are doing these days.

442. Which of the three current "corporate bad guys" - Goldman Sachs, BP, or Massey Energy - will suffer the greatest long-term effect to its reputation and its business? Which one will recover quickest?

Whither the Shares of National Bank of Greece Tomorrow?

2010-04-29T19:47:00.005-04:00

It has been a wild roller coaster ride for the Greek debt situation these past couple of weeks.

The looming deadline is May 19, when bondholders are owed approximately $10 billion. As of today, the Greek government still might not be able to pay.

So Chancellor Merkel (more on her here), President Sarkozy, and the rest of the European gang have been trying to work out the details of a bailout. Problem is, the Germans cannot decide if they really want to get in the business of bailing out southern Europeans and their profligate vacationing. On Diane Rehm's Friday News Roundup last week, the debate revolved around whether or not the Germans would be willing to risk the collapse of the European Union concept for the sake of standing strong on not bailing out the bad behavior by Greece.

As with the US investment banks, it appears that the larger entity (US government then = Germany now) does not want to face what could happen if it doesn't pony-up, so the bailout is in the works.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the IMF is playing a leading role -- could he be an early contender for 2010's Man of the Year, as he steps into the Ben Bernanke role?

Here's an excerpt from today's Times article, by Nicholas Kulish (here):

European leaders tried to claim the initiative and show that they were working to calm market fears over Greece’s tide of debt and the long-term viability of the euro currency. Traveling in Beijing on Thursday, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France told reporters that he was in constant contact with Mrs. Merkel and that Germany and France were “in perfect agreement” over how to deal with the Greek debt crisis, a spokesman for the president in Paris confirmed. Negotiators in Athens pushed to wrap up an agreement for significant cuts in Greek public spending to clear the way for the government to get financing and reassure investors worldwide that European debt was safe.

My last post about Greece was on February 22, here.

The Tallest Man on Earth's The Wild Hunt

2010-04-29T19:18:00.004-04:00

I discovered Kristian Mattson's earlier album, Shallow Grave, last summer, and thoroughly enjoyed The Gardener. I like the simplicity (is it just him and his guitar?) and his raspy voice. I assume the lyrics are poetic, although I haven't felt the need to actually read them -- it's easier to just enjoy the melody sometimes.

Now he's got a new album out, The Wild Hunt, and for an experiment I will check out some of those lyrics. Here's a bit from Love is All:

Well I walk upon the river like it's easier than land
Evil's in my pocket and your will is in my hand
Oh, your will is in my hand

And I'll throw it in the current that I stand upon so still
Love is all, from what I've heard,

but my heart's learned to kill
Oh, mine has learned to kill

Here's the current top 5 on the current Billboard Top 100 chart:

Nothin' on You - B.o.B.
Rude Boy - Rihanna
Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz
Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
Hey Soul Sister - Train (incredible that this song has had so much staying power; my post was on October 31 (here)

B.o.B. and Taio Cruz - any good?

The major phenomenon on pop/hip-hop hits right now seems to be that the song's by one person but featuring another; for instance, Break Your Heart is by Taio Cruz but featuring Ludacris.

Archbishop Rowan Williams and Female Bishops in the Anglican Church

2010-04-25T07:12:00.006-04:00

There is a good article in the most recent New Yorker ("A Canterbury Tale," by Jane Kramer, here) examining the debate within the Anglican Church about whether to permit women to be bishops.

Kramer discusses Rowan Williams's efforts to maintain unity between the pro- and anti- camps, and her description of Williams makes him sound like an awesome spiritual leader:

Williams is a fifty-nine-year-old Welshman with a beautiful voice, a full white beard, and fearsome, flyaway black eyebrows that in pictures, or when he is thinking hard, can make him look like a monk out of Dostoyevsky—a resemblance that is said to please him. He wrote a book about Dostoyevsky in 2008. His manner is friendly, more professorial than priestly. He taught theology for most of the nineteen-eighties, at Cambridge and then at Oxford ... His students—some of them now the priests berating him most strongly for his reluctance to put himself, and his office, on the line for a cause he is known to support—call him the most engrossing teacher they ever had. After a few minutes, I believed it. Williams has a disarming mind, a modesty, and an appetite for conversation, a way of thinking out loud, that belies the austerity of his title. At one point, he stopped himself, saying, “Sorry, this is turning into a sermon.”

I love the phrase "fearsome, flyaway black eyebrows" -- and based on the picture I found at Wikipedia, it's absolutely apt.

Williams actually sounds a bit like Obama in terms of recognizing that pushing for change too fast or too hard could be detrimental to his goal (which, I gather, is to enable women to become bishops):

“How do you eat an elephant?” he said, with something between a chuckle and a sigh, when I asked how he hoped to hold his church together, given that the demands of Anglican women were so completely at odds with the demands of Anglican men whose own inclusion specifically involved excluding those women from episcopal service. “I suppose it’s by using as best I can the existing consultative mechanisms to create a climate—and I think that’s often the best, to create a climate,” he told me. “There’s a phrase which has struck me very much: that you can actually ruin a good cause by pushing it at the wrong moment and not allowing the process of discernment and consent to go on, and that’s part of my view.” He thought that with time, patience, and enough discussion within the Church you could temper the opposition to female bishops—despite the fact that three synods since 1994 have tried to address the issue, and the opposition remains intractable.

The article makes the point that those in favor of female bishops cite to the fact that on Easter Jesus first appeared to two women.

Regarding women and Christianity, Maureen Dowd has been writing searing criticisms of the Catholic hierarchy recently, and she argues that if the priests/bishops/pope had listened to (and granted more authority to) women, then the phenomenon of child abuse by priests may not have been as widespread -- and the cover-up less likely. She also thinks the Catholic Church could use a "nope" -- a nun as pope. I am impressed (and somewhat surprised) with how stringently she's taking the Church to task.

Back to Anglicanism: I imagine that there will be female bishops within the next ten years, but I also anticipate that at least some of the dioceses will split off when it happens. Although Kramer writes extensively about the pope's invitation for dissenting Anglicans to join the Catholic Church, I do not think it will play out that way -- I think they will form an alternative Anglican institution.

One question that came to my mind is how many Anglican bishops there are, and I have not found an answer yet. Based on a percentage given in the article, I am guessing around 1,500, but that actually seems like a smaller number than I'd have thought.

Questions About the Financial Reform Legislation

2010-04-24T14:03:00.004-04:00

For the past couple of weeks, a major story has been President Obama's push to pass financial industry reform legislation. Some of my questions about it:

432. Mark Warner seems to be one of the Democrats who is leading the charge. Did he volunteer to take a major role on this legislation, or was he recruited based on his own background as a businessman?

433. Will any of the Republicans break ranks when the cloture vote occurs on Monday? Bob Corker, perhaps -- he's been involved in negotiating it, and he contradicted Mitch McConnell's claim that the $50 billion bank-funded reserve is a recipe for future bailouts. What about my old fave moderates, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe?

434. What will be the enforcement mechanism for the new regulations? I understand there's going to be an empowered consumer financial protection agency, but will the other new regs be overseen by the SEC or some other entity?

435. Tom Perriello appeared on Rob Schilling's show this week to debate the health care legislation -- we listened to the podcast of it and I thought Tom was outstanding in rationally responding to the Republican critiques. I continue to enjoy Schilling's show most of the times I hear snippets, even though I disagree with the majority of his politics -- what percentage of the show's listeners are non-conservatives?

436. The Obamas are in Asheville, North Carolina for a relaxation weekend. What are they doing with their brief bit of free time? Is he golfing? Reading a lot? Does he jog at all?

North Carolina First and Challenges from the Left to Heath Shuler and Larry Kissell

2010-04-21T16:09:00.004-04:00

Philip Rucker has a story in Monday's Washington Post (here) about a possible third party challenge to three North Carolina Democrats from the left!

Holy cow this is interesting: Tom Perriello could be saved by a third party challenge from the right splitting the 5th District's conservative vote, while North Carolinians could hand three seats to the Republicans because of discontent on the other end of the spectrum!

The Democrats are Larry Kissell, Heath Shuler, and Mike McIntyre, and they've raised liberal ire because of their votes against Obama's health care bill. Shuler is the former Redskins QB (he pre-dated the curse of Dan Snyder and was one of the original bad draft picks after Bobby Beathard left); notwithstanding his poor NFL career, my understanding is that he's been a pretty successful -- and moderate -- politician. Kissell is a former high school civics teacher, and he presents himself on his website (here) as one of the most moderate members of Congress.

Alas, moderation is not doing the trick for North Carolina First, the nascent third party which is receiving funding from the State Employees Association of North Carolina (they've got 55,000 members), which is a subsidiary of the Service Employees International Union.

431. Are there really 55,000 government employees in North Carolina? That seems like a lot, even if you include state and local employees.

According to Rucker, the people behind North Carolina First are serious about the potential challenge:

"It's not a fly-by-night kind of thing," said SEIU spokeswoman Lori Lodes. "We're making a very strong commitment to doing this. There is significant money behind it . . . There's not a ceiling to what we're willing to do."

Notwithstanding the enthusiasm, it sounds like there's a lot of work to do:

Establishing the new party will be difficult. The group must gather signatures from 85,000 registered voters by June 1 to qualify for the November ballot. Then it has one month to nominate candidates; organizers said they had not identified any.

DJ Rowbow and Ghetto Radio in Nairobi, Kenya

2010-04-18T15:33:00.004-04:00

Bono has an op-ed in this morning's Times ("Africa Reboots," here) in which he describes a recent goodwill/cultural/economic mission that he went on with a group of "activists, entrepreneurs and policy wonks." Bono's take-away is that he is optimistic about the directions that a new generation of Africans is leading people there.

Bono writes about DJ Rowbow, a Kenyan DJ who is using radio and music to invigorate the society and democratize the politics:

DJ Rowbow's Ghetto Radio, was a voice of reason when the volcano of ethnic tension was exploding in Kenya in 2008. While some were encouraging the people of Kibera, one of the largest slums in Africa, to go on the rampage, this scary-looking man decoded the disinformation and played peacemaker/interlocutor. On the station’s playlist is Bob Marley and a kind of fizzy homespun reggae music that’s part the Clash, part Marvin Gaye.

I've just spent some time on the Ghetto Radio website (http://www.thisisafrica.me/), which is definitely full of life -- lots of enthusiastic journalism and commentary. I particularly enjoyed a video by a group called Bisso na Bisso; unfortunately I wasn't able to find their music on iTunes.

The site also has a story about Lagos, Nigeria, which evidently was recently named the world's "worst city." The writer makes the point that -- notwithstanding its problems -- people are flocking to Lagos in huge numbers.

430. How much international music does iTunes have in its catalog?

Tom Friedman has a piece in this morning's Times (here) about a medical device start-up (Endostim is the name of the company) whose inventors, financiers and board are a diverse smorgasbord of people from all over the world. He argues that the company's story illustrates his "flat earth" thesis, and after looking at the Ghetto Radio site - from which I can get a live stream of radio from Kenya (!!) - it's hard not to agree with Friedman.

Guinea-Bissau and Drug Trafficking

2010-04-18T10:39:00.007-04:00

James Traub has an article in last Sunday's New York Times (here) about the increasing extent to which countries in west Africa are a mid-point in the flow of drugs from South America to Europe. The scope of the problem: the UN estimates that "40 tons of cocaine, with a street value of $1.8 billion, crossed West Africa on the way to Europe in 2006."

Traub focuses on Guinea-Bissau. GB's population is 1.6 million and its per capita GDP is about $480. It was once part of the empire of Mali.

About two years ago, I read an article about the west African drug trade phenomenon; that piece also emphasized Guinea-Bissau. It sounds like the problem has continued to worsen. Traub analogizes GB and other African states to Afghanistan in terms of their providing ungoverned havens for criminal activity.

Here's a really well-written paragraph from his article that clearly summarizes the issue:

"The dynamic before which Guinea-Bissau and its neighbors along the West African coast are truly helpless is globalization, which ensures that producers will find a way to deliver all things insatiably desired, whether good or bad. West Africa, which neither produces nor consumes significant quantities of cocaine, is a victim of changes in global supply and demand. Partly because of heightened American and South American efforts in recent years, the flow of cocaine to the United States diminished. Traffickers increasingly turned to Europe, where cocaine use grew significantly over the last decade. European law-enforcement officials responded by cracking down on air and maritime routes from South America. And the traffickers in turn adapted by establishing the West Africa connection."

Laura Marling's Rambling Man

2010-04-15T18:55:00.004-04:00

I have found tons of good music recently, and the best of all is Laura Marling's Rambling Man. I came across it last weekend while browsing through the Singers/Songwriters section on iTunes, and I'm going to say it's my favorite song so far of 2010. I love the lyrics, the beat, Marling's voice, and the emphatic guitar part on the refrain.

Marling is British, and Rambling Man is from the album "I Speak Because I Can" which came out in March and is currently #4 on the British album charts. She was in the band Noah and the Whale - I've heard of them but do know any of their stuff off the top of my head. I see where she got some love from NPR Music in 2009. I have a feeling that Rambling Man could become a popular song. I'm not sure what I mean by "popular," but her first album only reached #45 on the British charts, and this one is already at #4 so she's clearly drawing some fans.

"Give me to the rambling man, let it always be known that I was who I am."

I love this line!

Other good stuff I've been listening to recently:

Jakob Dylan's They've Trapped Us Boys

Carrie Newcomer's There is a Tree

Horse Feathers' Thistled Spring

Barenaked Ladies' Snack Time and Bill Staines' One More River

2010-04-11T07:29:00.006-04:00

I have been thoroughly enjoying several of the songs on the Barenaked Ladies' Snack Time. The rhymes and rhythms are awesome. It's fun that different members of the group sing on different tracks. And the tone is happy and, to use a great word from a recent message, wry.

I never really got into BNL's "adult" albums; I thought they were trying to be too clever with their lyrics and therefore became, in an odd way, musically pretentious. But their style works just perfectly on children's songs, and it makes me think that maybe I should give some of their other albums a re-listen.

My favorites are "Raisins," "Louie Loon," and "Here Come the Geese." Here's an excerpt from Raisins:

Raisins come from grapes
People come from apes
I come from Canada
I came in first place
In a non-existent race
To rebuild the Parthenon

The Parthenon's in Greece
Or was it in Grease 2
I can't keep my movies straight
When I make mistakes
I use a lot of salt
Cause salt makes m'steaks taste great

It's music to make you get up and bound!

Then there's the sweet melancholy in "Here Come the Geese":

Look up in the sky, they said on the radio station
They're up quite high, flying in a V formation

Here come the geese.

Now they're on lawns, the patios and ponds

On the sidewalks, on the rooftops

On the hillside, on the playground slide.

I also came across a Bill Staines album called One More River that is vintage, fantastic Bill Staines. "The Fox" and "So Sang the River" are gems and his voice has got to be one of the most calming and soothing of any singer's I can think of.

Brixx Versus Brix, and Lots of Pizza in Charlottesville

2010-04-11T06:12:00.005-04:00

Brix Marketplace is out on Route 50, past Monticello; I had not realized this but there's also one on Pantops.

About a month ago it was announced that Brixx Wood Fired Pizza is opening up shop in the Boston Market space at Barracks Road. (As a side note, it's curious that Boston Market is shutting down, but I think that's been an ongoing national trend ... where did that company go wrong? It seems like they were out-in-front on the issue of mixing fast food and non-fast food, but the operation in Charlottesville did always seem a bit haphazard -- was it poor franchise oversight?).

At any rate, Brixx is a Charlotte-based franchise (the first one opened in '98) with 13 restaurants in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. It looks like they primarily locate in college towns (although their logo is rather bizarre - seems to be aiming for the Chuck E. Cheese crowd more than the hip college-aged kids).

Dave McNair, who has been writing more and more articles for The Hook and whose journalism I really like, reports here that Brixx demanded Brix cease using the overly-similar name, and Brix has agreed to do so. McNair says that Brix owner Karen Laetare is frustrated but made the decision that litigating the possibility that she holds a common law trademark would be too costly.

There's lots of commentary in the Comments section of McNair's article (during the past year, The Hook has definitely become the "go to" spot for reader feedback on Charlottesville controversies), and the vast majority of commenters are critical of the out-of-towners pushing around the local businesspeople who'd spent years building up the value of the Brix name.

I went for a run yesterday morning and discovered that the new pizza place in the Frys Springs Service Station is much further along than I'd thought. I think that place is also going to be gourmet pizza -- and then there's another new gourmet pizza place on The Corner. This is an embarrasment of riches for this particular pizza lover (especially since I'm already enjoying Rise, C'Ville's previous most-recent new pizza place) - what is causing the proliferation of new pizza restaurants in town?

The New Republic Sets Up a Paywall

2010-04-10T16:40:00.008-04:00

This morning I was reading an article about Justice John Paul Stevens on The New Republic's website. Stevens announced his retirement this week and there has been an outpouring of positive portrayals -- and the TNR article promised to examine the reasons for so much adulation.

Alas, I got two paragraphs into the article and discovered that TNR has set up a paywall!!

My two reactions:

1. This is a bummer. I'd recently begun reading TNR quite frequently and was really enjoying their analysis. The writers seem not to try quite as hard as Slate's writers to be counter-intuitive // go-against-the-grain.

2. This is a very interesting development. TNR must have decided they were not willing to (or couldn't, financially) maintain the all-free model, and so it raises the question of whether other similar sites will follow their lead. From my perspective, I'll stop reading TNR as much (their blogs and certain content will remain free, but the "long form" articles will require a subscription), because there are plenty of free alternatives (Slate, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, Real Clear Politics, etc.). How many consumers will respond like me, versus how many will pony up and subscribe?

TNR's Editor Franklin Foer (here) gives a not very satisfying answer to the question of "why?," which makes me think this was largely a financial decision:

There’s also a deeper philosophical question: We charge our subscribers for our print journalism, because these are pieces that often require many months of reporting, writing, and editing. This style of journalism hasn’t exactly flourished in recent years, but it is at the core of our enterprise—and the reason many of us work at TNR. If we are so willing to place a price tag on such journalism in print, then why would we give it away in some other medium? We don’t have a good answer to that question. That’s the reason that we’re introducing the TNR Society. To read our “premium” content—namely, our print pieces and the bulk of our 96 years of archives—you’ll need a subscription.

429. What is the reason that Justice Stevens has received more positive attention than any other justice I can remember (even more than Sandra Day O'Connor at her retirement)?