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Saturday, December 30, 2006
Sic semper tyrannis
30 Dec 2006 09:58 am
[Clive]
From Albert Speer's prison diaries, October 16, 1946:
At some hour of the night I woke up. I could hear footsteps and indistinguishable words in the lower hall. Then silence, broken by a name being called out: "Ribbentrop!" A cell door is opened, then scraps of phrases, scraping of boots, and reverberating footsteps slowly fading away. Scarcely able to breathe, I sit upright on my cot, hearing my heart beat loudly, at the same time aware that my hands are icy. Soon the footsteps come back, and I hear the next name: "Keitel!" Once more a cell door opens, once more noises and the reverberations of footsteps. Name after name is called. To some of these men I was linked by common work and mutual respect; others were remote from me and scarcely crossed my path. Those I feared, primarily Bormann, then Himmler, are missing; likewise Goebbels and Goering. Some I despised. More footsteps. "Streicher!" A loud, excited exclamation follows. From our floor comes a shout: "Bravo, Streicher!" To judge by the voice, that is Hess. Below, the calling of names goes on. I cannot estimate the time; it may be taking hours. I sit with clasped hands.
[Picture: Franco Pagetti/Polaris]
Friday, December 29, 2006
"Old" books of the year
29 Dec 2006 08:42 pm
[Clive]
The blogger series continues with two more choices. First up is the always outspoken Stephen Pollard, newspaper columnist, political biographer and newly installed president of the Brussels-based think tank, the Centre for the New Europe.
I've just re-read John Kennedy Toole’s "A Confederacy of Dunces". I'm not a great fan of fiction, so the fact that I must have read it at least twenty times probably says as much about me as it does about the book. It is, by quite a long way, the greatest novel of the twentieth century (a judgement based on the most profound of all criteria – near total ignorance of the relevant material).
I won’t reveal the "plot"; if you haven’t read it, drop everything and do so NOW. The gist can be gained from the derivation of the title, which is Swift’s epigraph that: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." Toole is a Dostoevsky for the modern age. His book explains politics, democracy, welfare, family, education, society and life. It is, to use a much-overused word, truly a work of genius.
And here's the selection of Iain Dale, leading Tory activist, TV pundit and purveyor of inside news from Westminster.
Richard Nixon was one of the finest political writers of the twentieth century. I first read "In the Arena" in the early nineties; it inspired me to explore all of his other books. In this semi-autobiographical work, he talks about what it takes to be a politician who can make a difference in the world. Whatever his failings, his words both inspire and entertain. He has a lightness of style which is untypical of politicians of his generation. Too many people close their ears to him because of Watergate. They are missing out on a literary and political treat. He has a lot to teach us, if only we are prepared to listen.
In defence of John Edwards
29 Dec 2006 07:41 pm
[Clive]
A reader responds to Professor Bainbridge's criticism:
To say that Edwards took no "pro bono cases" is a half-truth at best. Every case a trial lawyer like Edwards handles is taken on a contingent basis. That means the lawyer takes no money from the client up front. In fact, the lawyer normally funds all the costs of the case from his own pocket. Those costs can run into the millions of dollars, all being funded by the lawyer and with no guarantee he'll get any of it back.
So the "no pro bono cases" remark, coming from the Washington Times, is intentionally misleading. Every case Edwards handled is "pro bono" in the sense that he asks for nothing from the client up front. Or to put it differently, a lack of funds does not prevent poor people from gaining access to the legal system - the classic definition of "pro bono."
But the irony of the remark from the Washington Times goes beyond that. Right wing publications like the Times frequently object to the contingent fee arrangement because it gives people too much access to the courts, thereby (in the view of the right wing) resulting in spurious litigation. For the Times first to criticize trial lawyers from making litigation too easy and then criticize John Edwards for not taking "pro bono" cases is laughable.
Just to add one point. Perhaps my introduction wasn't clear enough, but some of the e-mailers seem to think I actually wrote the Bainbridge post. (Similarly, although I ran a libertarian's book choice the other day, it doesn't mean I'm a libertarian. I have no idea who I'd vote for in 2008 - if I had a vote, that is. My interest in trench warfare politics is at an all-time low right now.)
Incidentally, I've been asked what happened to my co-bloggers. I'm not sure, to be honest. As soon as I have news, I'll pass it on.
UPDATE: Edwards isn't quite in the clear, according to this reader:
I'm sorry, but the response to the effect that John Edwards's contingency cases are, in effect, "pro bono" is simply laughable. A lawyer works pro bono when he has no expectation of receiving his customary fee. A lawyer works on contingency when he expects to receive his customary fee (or higher) at the end of the case. The client in a contingency case still pays the lawyer, the payment just comes from the client's recovery. Some contingency cases do end up being pro bono, but that's a function of bad case selection, not an intention to provide for the public good.
I'm a contingency lawyer and I would never have the temerity to suggest that my cases qualify as pro bono work when I report my pro bono activities to the state bar.
None of the above should be taken as a defense of Bainbridge's knock on Edwards to the effect that Edwards should have taken more pro bono cases during his legal career. Most lawyers (even very successful ones) don't take on much pro bono work because their areas of specialization are not relevant to the type of legal representation required by the vast majority of indigent people. A mergers and acquisitions attorney is going to do a poor job of representing a tenant in a dispute with a landlord and even a highly accomplished civil litigator would not be my first choice as a defense attorney in a criminal trial.
The View From Your Window
29 Dec 2006 03:54 pm
Kuala Lumpur, Boxing Day.
Fair trials and media trials
29 Dec 2006 11:21 am
[Clive]
One American idea I like the sound of: elected law enforcement officials. One idea I don't like: the constant media speculation that surrounds criminal cases long before they reach court. Although it was striking how much of the UK press also ignored that convention in their coverage of the recent Ipswich murders, even before the main suspect had been charged. The amount of gossip and speculation was amazing. At one point, the background noise was so deafening that I assumed the law had been changed somewhere along the line, and I just hadn't noticed. But no, apparently it hasn't. As Telegraph columnist Nigel Farndale observes, the reporters - and the police - simply decided to play by different rules.
The curious thing about this case is that the police seem to have been as much to blame as the media. Both seem to have been confused about the rules of contempt, which, actually, are quite clear: liability applies from the moment of arrest, not from the moment a suspect is charged. Not only were the two suspects in this case identified in the press as soon as they were arrested, but their whole life stories were reported in Technicolor detail, thereby potentially prejudicing jurors against them
I've noticed that the French media also seems to get a reasonably free hand to publish all sorts of rumours before a case is formally heard. I was living in the US during the early stages of the O.J. case, and never got used to the constant barrage of "facts" emanating from news anchors and Geraldo-style talking heads. None of my American friends thought there was anything odd about it. Are they right? Does the system balance itself out in the end? For all I know, the rate of miscarriages of justice could be roughly the same in both countries. I'd love to know the answer.
Remembering Glenn Gould
29 Dec 2006 10:28 am
[Clive]
Next year marks the 25th anniversary of his death. None of his records means as much to me as the second version of the Goldberg Variations, recorded a year before he fell victim to a stroke. We're so lucky that director Bruno Monsaingeon was on hand with his video cameras. For some reason, the DVD has been out of circulation for quite a while. This YouTube clip contains the opening aria and the first half-dozen variations. Magical.
Gould looks terrible - fat, puffy, pasty, partly unshaven. His dark blue Viyella shirt, with the cuffs unbuttoned, looks simply sleazy. And all the celebrated "mannerisms" are on display; he sways and sings and sighs and makes gestures of conducting himself and more gestures that seem to signify his going into a trance. Yet as one watches, one gradually abandons all these prejudiced observations and becomes a participant in Gould's extraordinary performance. Not only is he playing beautifully, and passionately, but he looks serenely and profoundly happy in his transcendental ability to do what he is doing. Never before has he so clearly achieved his youthful goal of ecstasy.
Otto Friedrich, Glenn Gould: A Life and Variations.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Assessing Edwards
28 Dec 2006 08:47 pm
[Clive]
Professor Bainbridge casts an eye over the candidate's record, and gives him a low grade:
Given the deleterious effects the trial lawyer industry has had on the American economy... I remain unconvinced that a trial lawyer ought to have much authority over the economy.
The rhetoric about fighting poverty doesn't go down too well, either:
His concern might be more plausible if he has demonstrated such concern in private life. Unfortunately, as the Washington Times reports, "During his career of allegedly championing the helpless, he took no pro bono cases."
The View From Your Window
28 Dec 2006 08:31 pm
French Quarter, New Orleans, 6:35am.
"Old" books of the year
28 Dec 2006 08:09 pm
[Clive]
Here comes the choice of Norman Geras, proprietor of Normblog. Professor emeritus in government at the University of Manchester, and an authority on Marx, he's currently rambling around Australia, where he's cheering on the home side in the Ashes series. (The less said about that, the better. The subject is just too painful for English readers.)
Some time ago I read "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates, and followed up with three other of his novels - "Easter Parade", "Cold Spring Harbor" and "A Special Providence". Somewhere in there I formed the intention of reading all of his work. This year I've read two more of the novels: "A Good School" and "Young Hearts Crying". I'll nominate this last as my pick of the year. I love Yates's writing. From the first page I feel settled in it, like I'm listening to an old friend talking. The world he describes is often one of hopes on the downward slope to defeat, of the compromises and small deceptions that find their way into the spaces between those living side by side, of the wear and tear of daily lives, and of the humanity that endures within them despite everything. "Young Hearts Crying" isn't the best of Yates's novels, but it has all these qualities, and like his other books it tells a gripping story.
Dissents on Studs
28 Dec 2006 07:15 pm
[Clive]
Not everyone approves of the old rebel. One reader points out that Terkel got into a nasty slanging match with Christopher Hitchens not too long ago. Yes, I should have mentioned that. Another adds that Studs has a leftist agenda. True. And this reader thinks the fireman's comments were unfair to bank staff:
I'm also a public high school teacher, and I would never share the Studs Terkel quote from the fireman with my English classes. What a myopic view, a kind of reverse snobbery that shows how ignorant the fireman is about how our society works.
I'd better stress that the whole point of the "old" books choices was to gather a lot of different viewpoints across the spectrum. (For some reason, after I sent out the initial requests, I got more responses from conservative bloggers than from left-wingers.) As for me, I'm right-wing on some issues, left-wing on others. Like most people, I guess.
Saddam and the hangman
28 Dec 2006 01:19 pm
[Clive]
Martin Peretz isn't impressed with calls for a reprieve:
Italian Prime Minister Prodi has now protested the anticipated execution by hanging of Saddam Hussein because he doesn't believe in capital punishment. I don't believe in capital punishment either. Did Prodi believe the death sentence for Adolf Eichmann also wrong? I didn't. Even if Saddam is not exactly in the category of Eichmann, he - like Pol Pot and other leaders of deliberately killer regimes - has no claim on our conscience. What's more there is something prissy and finicky in Prodi if Saddam's fate can touch his soul.
Well, if Prodi is genuinely opposed to the death penalty, then he's right to speak up. But I'm with Peretz on this one, despite feeling uncomfortable about my double-standards. I'm glad we don't routinely execute murderers in the UK (the Japanese hanged four convicts over Christmas, in case you hadn't heard) yet I do lean toward what you could call the Nuremberg Principle, i.e. some crimes are so heinous that only the ultimate penalty will do. (One of my all-time favourite books is Albert Speer's prison diaries but if truth be told, the former Armaments Minister probably deserved to be hanged instead of being given 20 years.) In Saddam's case, justice would have been best served if he'd been given a quick hearing by his fellow-Iraqis and then dispatched, Ceausescu-style. The trial in Baghdad became an ugly farce very early on.
Bronwen Maddox states the opposite view in today's London Times:
The rapid confirmation of the death sentence against Saddam Hussein is a long step backwards for Iraq. It is a brutal, if inevitable, display of victor’s justice that offends the principles that the US said it sought to uphold in toppling Iraq’s dictator.
BTW, Peretz also has a good post on Tony Blair's dodgy holidaying habits and his taste for schmoozing with the super-rich. That's one side of TB's character which has always baffled me.
[Photo: AFP]
Work, work, work...
28 Dec 2006 11:14 am
[Clive]
And then there are the end-of-year performance targets to worry about. No wonder everyone's so stressed:
In the past, companies would try to hold off making layoffs during the holiday season, but no longer. The fourth quarter has become the most common time for layoff announcements, said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement firm. "There’s no stigma anymore."
Beautiful bossa
28 Dec 2006 10:56 am
[Clive]
Music by Brazil's greatest songwriter, Antonio Carlos Jobim, performed by the ethereal trio of Japanese pop star Ryuichi Sakamoto, cellist Jaques [sic] Morelenbaum and his wife, Paula. Their tribute album, "Casa" was recorded in Jobim's home in Rio. A gorgeous disc, as is the follow-up, "A Day in New York". Paula Morelenbaum's singing is so simple, yet so evocative.
Meet Peppermint Gomez
28 Dec 2006 09:41 am
[Clive]
Whether or not many American viewers have had a chance to tune in, Al Jazeera's English-language channel has got off to a surprisingly good start. I don't watch it every day, but from what I've seen so far, the journalism is solid and sober, and the coverage of Third World issues has been refreshingly un-condescending. (To put it bluntly, you don't often see brown people talking about other brown people on TV.) Samantha Bee, on the other hand, is as mad as hell and can't take it any more. If you haven't yet caught the Daily Show reporter's mischief-making visit to the newsroom, you're in for a treat. The funniest thing I've seen in months. [Via 'Aqoul]
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
"Old" books of the year
27 Dec 2006 11:49 pm
[Clive]
It's the turn of Jackie Danicki, American in London, libertarian blogger and all-round live-wire, who also finds time to run sites devoted to food, health and beauty. A new media consultant, she knows where all the bodies are buried in Silicon Valley:
Having rediscovered "The Color Purple", I struggled to reconcile the tale of individual struggle and triumph with the politics of author Alice Walker. How could a writer who created such harrowing accounts of suffering under the white racist and black patriarchal societies of the southern US proceed to count Fidel Castro as a friend and decry the "toxic culture" of globalization? How could a writer whose work celebrates the liberation of women feel such disgust for the very movement which is lifting so many African people out of poverty?
I know, I know: one should separate a writer's politics from her work. Fortunately, the quality of "The Color Purple" is such that I was largely able to do just that for the duration of the story. It is staggering, captivating, and a complete contradiction.
Fan mail
27 Dec 2006 11:43 pm
[Clive]
A well-wisher writes:
Clive Davis, you are a pompous ass. Please stop posting so often. I may never come back if you continue your hourly regurgitations. We all understand Andrew is on vacation, stop using his space as your soapbox. Have a nice day.
Sorry, I'm just one of those compulsive linkers. Always have been. Besides, with any luck, my co-bloggers will be back soon.
Obama's text
27 Dec 2006 10:21 pm
[Clive]
Gary Hart gives The Book a thumbs-up, more or less.
Despite being new to the scene (although he did serve three terms in the Illinois State Senate), Obama casts himself in the role of a political veteran, using phrases like "the longer I served in Washington" (less than two years) and "the more time I spent on the Senate floor." But his particular upbringing gives him special insights into the transition of American politics in the 1960s and ’70s from debates over economic principles to a focus on culture and morality, and into the divisiveness, polarization and incivility that accompanied this transition.
Views of Iraq
27 Dec 2006 04:13 pm
[Clive]
Jack Keane and Frederick Kagan sketch in more detail about their plan for Baghdad:
Of all the "surge" options out there, short ones are the most dangerous. Increasing troop levels in Baghdad for three or six months would virtually ensure defeat.... The only cure is to maintain our presence long enough either to root out the hiding enemy or to defeat him when he becomes impatient. A surge that lasted at least 18 months would achieve that aim.
It goes without saying that Juan Cole thinks the idea is doomed from the start. What's the most depressing part of his list of "10 myths about Iraq"? Perhaps this:
The parliament was not able to meet in December because it could not attain a quorum. Many key Iraqi politicians live most of the time in London, and much of parliament is frequently abroad.
Meanwhile the NY Review of Books is running a long article by journalist Christian Caryl on how the country looks from ground level:
We have little impression of Iraqis as people trying to live lives that are larger and more complex than the war that engulfs them, and more often than not we end up viewing them merely as appendages of conflict.
Her thoughts on the courageous Iraqi blogger, Riverbend are an especially interesting mix of praise and criticism:
It is also the mistakes of the young Baghdad woman, her limitations, that make her narrative worth reading. The daughter of an upper-middle-class family, she is a progressive Muslim and an idealistic Iraqi nationalist, intent on demonstrating to her American readers the high level of Iraq's cultural and economic development. And yet she is also distinctly oblivious to some of the darker sides of Saddam's regime. "Some would say that they [the Kurds] had complete rights even before the war," she notes at one point, in a characteristic moment of blindness (she has apparently never heard of the poison gas attacks Saddam's regime staged against Kurdish civilians). "The majority of Iraqis have a deep respect for other cultures and religions," she argues elsewhere. She decries American policies that seem to her aimed at dividing Iraqis into ethnic and sectarian communities, and makes a great point of emphasizing the mixed Sunni-Shia origins of her family.
As the story progresses, though, reality begins to catch up... Riverbend reminds me of those Soviet patriots who failed to understand the events that ushered in the final agony of the USSR. Many of those who lived well under the system were unable to see its crimes for what they were, making them dismissive or uncomprehending when the once-oppressed began to express their own political demands.
[Picture: Todd Pitman/AP]
In praise of Studs T.
27 Dec 2006 02:04 pm
[Clive]
That book choice struck a chord with this reader:
I retired in June from a long stint of public high school teaching in California. I taught in many subjects, but primarily history for my first twenty years or so and thinking back, Terkel's "Working" was one of the most exciting sources I ever used teaching anything. Such a wonderful collection of folks so absolutely in their voices - and such compelling and thoughtful reflections! If I were teaching still, I'd find ways to use it and the Michael Apted "Up" series, from seven to forty-nine. What a treat to read the reference to the fireman, which I remembered verbatim.
Gerald Ford, R.I.P.
27 Dec 2006 12:32 pm
[Clive]
From George. W. Bush's statement:
On Aug. 9, 1974, he stepped into the presidency without ever having sought the office. He assumed power in a period of great division and turmoil. For a nation that needed healing, and for an office that needed a calm and steady hand, Gerald Ford came along when we need him most.
The admirable Nelson
27 Dec 2006 11:29 am
[Clive]
Willie Nelson, Lone Star songsmith, performs "I Never Cared For You" on tour in Amsterdam. It's almost note-for-note the same version he delivers on that terrific CD, "Teatro".
The vintage clip of "Night Life" is also worth a look, just to see him looking so scrubbed and tidy and respectable. That was a long, long time ago.
Health and safety
27 Dec 2006 11:19 am
[Clive]
We bought our youngest son, Anand, a train set for Christmas. (I'm desperate to have a go on it once all this blogging is out of the way.) Rummaging through the box, I just discovered a slip of paper bearing the all-important warning:
ATTENTION. The train may de-rail if the speed is too high. So please slowly increase the speed adjusting knob of train controller to prevent the train coming off the tracks.
It doesn't say whether I have to hire an official to walk in front and wave a red flag
Reading 101
27 Dec 2006 10:50 am
[Clive]
Great minds think alike, and all that... John Judis, author of a biography of William F. Buckley, among other titles, has put together his own selection of choice tomes from yesteryear. It's a long list, and it's firewalled, but here's a taster:
Several books are personal touchstones that have shaped the way I think about American politics. Herbert Croly's "The Promise of American Life" is high on the list, but so is David Riesman's "The Lonely Crowd". I am still something of neo-neo-Marxist in my overall outlook, but Karl Lowith's book, "Meaning in History", was among the first to shake my faith...
I have written two books on American foreign policy, but I still feel I don't know the subject--perhaps because I have little first-hand knowledge of the world outside the United States. I was raised in the Wisconsin School, but on foreign policy, I prefer others to Williams himself, notably Walter LaFeber's "The New Empire "(about the development of American expansionism in the late nineteenth century), Carl Parrini's "Heir to Empire" (about America's attempt to supplant Great Britain after World War I), and N. Gordon Levin's "Woodrow Wilson and World Politics." The best one-volume biography of Wilson is August Heckscher's little-known book, which never even went into paperback. The most powerful case for realism is Walter Lippmann's "U.S. Foreign Policy: Shield of the Republic", which he whipped off in the summer of 1943.
His comment about foreign travel reminds me that, in an ideal world, America and Europe would swap pundits and commentators for six months every couple of years. That way, we might find a way to speak the same language.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
In sickness...
26 Dec 2006 07:32 pm
[Clive]
Is universal health care firmly back on the agenda? Ezra Klein makes the case in the LA Times:
The U.S. healthcare system cannot, in its current form, go on forever, or even for very much longer — employers can't afford it, individuals can't handle it and the country's conscience won't countenance it. And change may come sooner than most think. Across the country there are unmistakable signs that the gridlock and confusion sustaining our sadly outdated system are coming to an end and that real reform may finally emerge, possibly even starting in California...
As for the British model, all I can say is that I've had very mixed experiences, as have most of my friends and acquaintances. Yet I ought to stress that my eldest son, who has a heart condition, has always received excellent care from the NHS.
For a little more perspective, I recommend this 2005 piece by the Fox News journalist David Asman. His wife suffered a stroke during a trip to London, and was treated at London's Queen's Square before being taken back to the US. As he followed her progress, Asman had a chance to consider the strenghs and weaknesses of both systems:
When I received the bill for my wife's one-month stay at Queen's Square, I thought there was a mistake. The bill included all doctors' costs, two MRI scans, more than a dozen physical therapy sessions, numerous blood and pathology tests, and of course room and board in the hospital for a month. And perhaps most important, it included the loving care of the finest nurses we'd encountered anywhere. The total cost: $25,752. That ain't chump change. But to put this in context, the cost of just 10 physical therapy sessions at New York's Cornell University Hospital came to $27,000--greater than the entire bill from British Health Service!
There is something seriously out of whack about 10 therapy sessions that cost more than a month's worth of hospital bills in England. Still, while costs in U.S. hospitals might well have become exorbitant because of too few incentives to keep costs down, the British system has simply lost sight of costs and incentives altogether.
Christmas with Bob
26 Dec 2006 07:03 pm
[Clive]
My favourite Dylan-blogger has been listening to the singer's festive radio show. I enjoyed these lines from Mr D's script:
This week, we start being heard in England. So, we want to wish everybody a very merry Christmas, and for the duration of this show, anytime I use the world "humor", "color" or "favor", I’ll be adding an extra "u."
Ups & downs on the big screen
26 Dec 2006 06:57 pm
[Clive]
Over at Cinematical, they're mulling over the largest turkeys of the year, "Basic Instinct 2" chief among them, and inviting readers' suggestions. Having been burned many times in the past (the hype business seems to be getting worse and worse) I've become a very reluctant cinema-goer. I'd really rather watch at home. But I did venture out to see "Casino Royale", and was duly punished. I really should have taken the advice of my colleague, Cosmo Landesman, and given it a miss. Unfortunately, as a hard-core fan of "Goldfinger", I fell for the claims that this was a return to the golden era. No such luck. Daniel Craig is very good, though. "The History Boys" was an even bigger dud. (I say that as a long-time Alan Bennett admirer.) I'm amazed to see it getting such good write-ups in the States. Proof that the concept of the snob hit never dies? One other recent let-down was the French thriller, "The Page Turner", which attracted the kind of breathless reviews that slightly pretentious, under-nourished French films invariably get.
Meanwhile, my expat American friend, Jo, has been going on so much about how she loathed "Children of Men" that I was thinking of suggesting therapy. Yet it's one of Cinematical's picks of the year. I think I'll play safe and wait for the DVD. On the brighter side, I enjoyed "The Queen" and "The Squid and the Whale", not forgetting the harrowing but excellent German film about the ill-fated anti-Hitler campaigner, Sophie Scholl. (I think it was actually released at the end of 2005, but I caught it late at my local art-house.)
Meeting Mormons
26 Dec 2006 05:27 pm
[Clive]
The BBC's man in Washington is visited by a couple of Mitt Romney's co-religionists, and finds himself warming to them:
I offered them coffee and began a learning process. You may already know that Mormons do not drink coffee or alcohol but what you might not know is that their religious ban is on "hot drinks". And that cocoa has been decreed "not hot". And, furthermore, that Coke and Pepsi and the like exist at the moment in a doctrinal grey area.
All these things I learned that morning.
But as 10 minutes became half an hour and an hour and more, I made a much more profound discovery about this faith: that its adherents are bright and intellectually open, and have a sense of humour, of humanity, that is sadly lacking in other strands of American religious life.
Viva Lila
26 Dec 2006 03:35 pm
[Clive]
That captivating singer, Lila Downs goes on another journey across the Mexican border in this performance on the KCRW show, Morning becomes Eclectic. "Agua de Rosas" comes from her latest album, "La Cantina".
"Old" Books of the Year
26 Dec 2006 10:38 am
[Clive]
Our seasonal series continues. Dave Hill [below], one of the UK's best left-of-centre blogger-journalists, pays tribute to the indefatigable Studs Terkel:
October 17th was the date chosen by the National Trust for its brilliant "One Day In History" project. Ordinary Britons were invited to post on-line their experiences during and reflections on the twenty-four hours in question. The result was an instant wealth of online oral history causing me to be drawn again to the master of the art in the book medium, Studs Terkel. I like all his collections of interviews with everyday Americans, but my favourite is "Working", in which people talk about their jobs. It is candid, sad, inspiring and at times almost unbearably moving. The very last paragraph in the final entry in the book chokes me up every time I read it. This is a fireman talking:
"I worked in a bank. You know, it's just paper. It's not real. Nine to five and it's s**t. But I can look back and say, 'I helped put out a fire. I helped save somebody.' It shows something I did on this earth."
One of the saddest things about journalists and historians alike these days is that so few seem interested in hearing those kinds of stories any more.
Monday, December 25, 2006
A Christmas truce
25 Dec 2006 10:04 am
Happy holidays to all of Andrew's readers. Thanks for putting up with me. I hope to do some light posting tomorrow. In the meantime, have a peaceful day, undisturbed by arguments over Bush and Blair, Pelosi and Putin. Maybe we should all try to learn a lesson from this old French cartoon, published when the controversy over Alfred Dreyfus was at fever-pitch.
"Above all, let's not discuss the Dreyfus Affair!"
They've discussed it...
Soul Brother Number One, R.I.P.
25 Dec 2006 09:34 am
[Clive]
I wasn't planning to add anything else today, but... Awful, awful news about James Brown. One of the last of the true giants.
At least he'd packed several lifetimes into his 73 years. Was there ever a song as funky as "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"?
The View From Your Window
25 Dec 2006 03:45 am
Bayview, Wisconsin, 3 pm.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Miles ahead
24 Dec 2006 08:51 pm
[Clive]
The greatest modern jazzman of them all, Miles Davis, captured in his pomp in a 1959 TV performance of "New Rhumba". Gil Evans is the conductor. (Yes, they used to allow jazz musicians on the small screen in those days.)
That kills two birds with one stones, as the tune was composed by my favourite jazz pianist, the arch-minimalist Ahmad Jamal, seen here doing some sweet improvising on a blues.
All of which is as good an excuse as any for one of the silliest musical Christmas jokes of all time. I first came across it in bass-player Bill Crow's priceless collection of anecdotes.
A guy walked into a pet store looking for a Christmas gift for his wife. The storekeeper said he knew exactly what would please her and took a little bird out of its cage. "This is Chet," he said, "and Chet can sing Christmas carols and songs."
Seeing the look of disbelief on the customer's face, he proceeded to demonstrate. "He needs warming up," he said. "Lend me your cigarette lighter." The storekeeper lifted Chet's left wing and waved the flame lightly under it. Immediately, Chet sang Oh Come, All Ye Faithful.
"That's fantastic," said the customer.
"And listen to this," said the storekeeper, warming Chet's other wing. Chet sang O Little Town of Bethlehem.
"Wrap him up," said the customer, "I'll take him!"
When he got home he greeted his wife: "Honey, I can't wait until Christmas to show you what I got you. This is fantastic." He unwrapped Chet's cage and showed the bird to his wife. "Now, watch and listen."
He raised Chet's left wing and held him over a Christmas candle that was burning on the mantlepiece. Chet immediately began to sing Silent Night. The wife was delighted. As Chet's right wing was warmed over the flame, he sang Joy To The World.
"Let me try it," said the wife, seizing the bird. In her eagerness, she held Chet a little too close to the candle flame. Chet began to sing passionately:
"Chet's nuts roasting on an open fire..."
Well, I did warn you it was silly.
Comic touch
24 Dec 2006 08:44 pm
[Clive]
My earlier attempt at humour gets a mixed review from one reader:
Huh? Does your wife really think that joke is non-sexist? Or did she just say that hoping to encourage you to post it so that she could enjoy watching you get verbally pilloried? Oh, the joke is undeniably funny, but it is also extremely sexist. I for one would have left the husband store as soon as I discovered there wasn’t a floor offering smart and funny men. That is the reason I read Andrew’s blog every day and have been reading yours, Alex’s and Daniel’s posts all week. You’re all smart and funny. Oh, OK, Andrew also happens to be nice-looking but I would read his blog even if he looked like a mud fence.
I went downstairs and told the joke to my fifteen-year-old son and my husband and asked them to be honest and tell me if they would stop on the second floor of the wife store or keep going. My husband said that he would keep going because a potential wife should have "at least a shred of intelligence" and my son said that he would go to the next floor hoping to find one that offered Asian women.
But the joke is funny.
I'm not sure I get the bit about Asian women. I'll have to consult my wife again (she's Indian)...
Ellison vs Goode
24 Dec 2006 04:24 pm
[Clive]
I haven't been following developments in that particular controversy, but Rod Dreher has:
Though I agree with Rep. Virgil Goode that it's a smart idea to sharply reduce immigration from Islamic countries, at least at the present difficult time, I find appalling his behavior toward Muslim convert Keith Ellison's intention to use the Koran at his swearing-in in Congress. Ellison, who's right in this matter, has responded like a real gentleman in all this, much to his credit, and to his opponent's embarrassment.
Rod is no soft touch on the subject of Islamic extremism, of course, so his words carry extra weight.
[Picture: Ann Heisenfelt/AP]
"Old" books of the year
24 Dec 2006 12:29 pm
[Clive]
Frank Portman (alias Dr Frank) leads an unusual double life. Rock aficonados may know him as the singer-guitarist with the Bay Area group, The Mr T Experience. He's now also the author of "King Dork", a terrific novel for wordly-wise older teens (and adults too). It's a hugely readable mix of high school angst and detective story. A film version is said to be in the works. I had a great evening with him not long before the book came out. Sloshing back beers in a grungy San Francisco bar, as a juke box played in the background, I actually started enjoying music I'd normally run miles from.
Here's his choice:
I first saw Richard Allen's "Punk Rock" in 1977 on a table in a strip mall bookshop. I was thirteen, stranded in a hopeless suburb yet gathering clandestine data on punk rock wherever I could, so I tended to notice stuff like that. I didn't buy it at the time, but the cover copy impressed me: "The Punks are on the march - and the Teds are out to nobble them." A punk rock novel, I said. One day I will read you.
Time passed. Twenty years later, I stumbled on the book again in a used bookshop in Sheringham, Norfolk. This time, the cover copy made me laugh. I bought it though. It traveled with me back to California, but remained unread for ten more years, till now.
A reporter goes undercover to write an exposé on "a day in the life of a punk star," plunges into the seamy world of New Wave rock, and bites off a bit more than he can chew. The punk rock material is simply plugged in to a standard trash-pulp framework, like Michael Avallone with spikes. Richard Allen, I understand, is a pseudonym of one David Moffatt, who churned out tons of the stuff in the seventies. All in all, not a bad way to tie up a loose end in one's life, though I doubt I'll be reading another Moffatt title any time soon - unless I manage to find a copy of "Diary of a Female Wrestler", which he wrote under the name Trudi Maxwell. I very much doubt I could resist that.
Saving Baghdad?
24 Dec 2006 11:00 am
[Clive]
Frederick Kagan reiterates his call for a "surge" :
Clearing and holding the critical mixed and Sunni neighbourhoods in Baghdad would require approximately nine American combat brigades, or about 45,000 soldiers. There are now five brigades operating in Baghdad, so America would have to add four more — about 20,000 soldiers...
The increase in US troops cannot be short-term. Clearing and holding the critical areas of Baghdad will require all of 2007. Expanding the secured areas into Anbar, up the Diyala River valley, north to Mosul and beyond will take part of 2008. It is unlikely that the Iraqi army and police will be able to assume full responsibility for security for at least 18 to 24 months after the beginning of this operation.
This strategy will place a greater burden on the already overstrained American ground forces, but the risk is worth taking. Defeat will break the American army and marines more surely and more disastrously than extending combat tours. And the price of defeat for Iraq, the region and the world in any case is far too high to bear.
As for past mistakes, Kenneth Pollack - author of that influentual pro-invasion book, "The Threatening Storm" - trawls through a very long list. Is it too late to make up for all that lost time?
