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Ted Kennedy

Monday, June 14, 2010

They say you can judge a person by the company he or she keeps. I submit that for politicians, at least, you can also judge them by the enemies they make. By that measure, Ted Kennedy was one of the greats:

For decades after his brothers John and Robert were assassinated, Sen. Edward Kennedy received many threats that he would meet the same fate, according to FBI documents released Monday.

More than 2,000 pages of partially redacted documents from 1961 to 1985 show that Kennedy, the veteran Massachusetts Democrat who died from brain cancer last year, received death threats from individuals and organizations including the Ku Klux Klan, the National Socialist White People’s Party and “Minutemen” groups.

It would certainly be an honor to be despised by those groups.


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Saving journalism

Monday, June 14, 2010

I was asked to plug this upcoming forum, which I’m more than happy to do. The press release follows

Public Forum: “Democracy vs. the Propaganda State:
Why We Must Support Independent Media and Build
a Real Alternative to Corporate Power”

John Nichols, The Nation magazine Washington correspondent and co-author

of the new book, “The Death and Life of American Journalism:
The Media Revolution that will Begin the World Again”
will discuss the crisis in U.S. media at a June 19th public forum in New
Haven, CT

The Nation magazine’s Washington correspondent, John Nichols, is coming to
New Haven, CT’s Center Church on the Green’s Parish House on Saturday,
June 19th, where he’ll discuss his new book, “The Death and Life of
American Journalism: The Media Revolution that will Begin the World
Again,” co-authored with Robert McChesney, which examines the crisis in
U.S. journalism and proposes a rescue plan that looks back to our Founding
Fathers to save the nation’s endangered daily newspapers, investigative
reporting and democracy.

In this public forum titled, “Democracy vs. the Propaganda State: Why We
Must Support Independent Media and Build a Real Alternative to Corporate
Power,” Nichols will argue that journalism should be seen as a public
good, much like education and defense spending. He believes the federal
government should intervene to assist the ailing newspaper industry —
plagued by closings and layoffs — as a free press and an informed
electorate are among the most important elements in a well-functioning
democracy. Democratic nations economically equivalent to ours, such as
Canada, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany,
Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden etc. spend between $8 billion to $45
billion on public media and other subsidies. The U.S. government spends
only $400 million.

The forum, sponsored by locally produced Between The Lines Radio
Newsmagazine, will be held from 2 -4 p.m. Saturday, June 19th at the
Center Church on the Green Parish House (Pratt Hall), 311 Temple St., New
Haven, CT. John Nichol’s talk will be preceded by a press conference
between 1 and 1:45 p.m. at the Parish House. A Q&A session with the
audience will follow Nichols’ talk along with a booksigning and reception
with light refreshments.

John Nichols comes to this Connecticut event after serving as the keynote
speaker at The International Federation of Journalists 2010 World
Congress, May 25-28, 2010, in Cadiz, Spain where they launched the IFJ
report on the future of journalism.

John Nichols and Robert McChesney are co-founders of the nation’s largest
media reform organization, Free Press www.freepress.net. Free Press works
to promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media,
quality journalism, and universal access to communications.

Net proceeds from this public forum will benefit Squeaky Wheel
Productions, nonprofit distributor of Between The Lines Radio
Newsmagazine, broadcast on 50 radio stations in the U.S. including WPKN
89.5 FM in Bridgeport and WESU 88.1 FM in Middletown. Suggested donation
is $15, $5 for students. Seating is limited, advance reservations
recommended. For tickets or more information call 1-(203) 268-8446 or
visit www.squeakywheel.net or www.btlonline.org. Media sponsors of this
event are WPKN Radio 89.5 FM, The New Haven Advocate and Fairfield
Weekly.

This is quite timely. This morning’s Times carried a story about the FTC, which is itself looking in to the issue, and trying to come up with ways to save American newspapers. Among other things, they are looking at whether it would be advisable to change the antitrust laws as a means toward this salutary end.

For what it’s worth, I’ll once again pass along my thoughts.

Start from the proposition that the future is on the internet. My son, who writes for a newspaper, does not get a paper newspaper, and that is true of most younger people these days. We get three, but I get most of my news on my Ipad.

Like most people, I’m happy to pay for content, so long as it is convenient and reasonably priced. When I am surfing the net and I click on a link, I don’t want to be met by a barrier and a toll if I want to read an article on a newspaper site to which I might otherwise rarely go. I propose treating content providers like TV channels in a cable system. For one monthly fee I can visit any channel I like. If I want premium channels, I pay a little more. You could do the same with newspapers, magazines and other periodicals on the internet. It wouldn’t take rocket science to figure out a reasonable way to divvy up the money. My suggestion would be that a disproportionate share of a subscriber’s payment should go to local media. In my case, the New London Day might get a fairly large cut of my subscription fee. The rest could be allocated by hits, or in some other fashion that makes sense from the industry perspective. It would be important to make sure the system allowed for new entrants. The fee would simply be added on to the regular monthly internet bill. If you didn’t want access to news on the internet, you wouldn’t have to pay it, but you’d be kissing the New York Times or any other participating paper good-bye.

At the moment, newspaper sites are either free, or subscription based, like the Wall Street Journal. The subscription covers a single publication. That’s a bit like providing cable television, then making you pay through the nose for each channel you might want to have the privilege to watch. The one fee for universal access, or tiered fees, makes a lot more sense.


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Saturday trip

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Yesterday my wife and I had a dinner date in Glastonbury, and we decided to leave extra early and wander around in the Chester area. We left while the weather was fairly good, but by the time we got half way there we encountered torrential rains, which sort of put a damper on the project.

However, the rain let up when we arrived at the Sundial Gardens in Higganum, a place we enjoy because it combines my wife’s love of gardens with my love of tea.

The garden is relatively small, but it in incredibly well designed. Very peaceful. Right now, because of the strange weather we’ve had so far, it’s not quite ready for optimal viewing, portions of it being roped off, but I would recommend it to anyone seeking a place for a short stop.

Here’s some pictures.

This last picture depicts trees that have been pleached, trained to grow, in this case, in the form of an arch.

The tea selection is quite good, but be warned. The owner, Ragna Tischler-Goddard, will give you an education, at some length, on the finer points of tea, if you express the slightest interest. She also carries a great selection of the best accompaniment to a fine tea: chocolate.


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Blumental Fundraiser Next Week

Sunday, June 13, 2010

I’ve attached a copy of a flier I received regarding a fundraiser being held here in Groton for Dick Blumenthal at 35 Beach Pond Road. The event is scheduled for Sunday, June 20th at 1:00 PM.

This is the first time I can recall that Blumenthal has come to Groton for an event centered around him. He’s been here on countless occasions to help the local Democrats raise money, or to help local candidates, so here’s our chance to show our appreciation for his past efforts.


blumenthal june 20

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Friday Night Music

Friday, June 11, 2010

I had something else lined up for tonight, but I read in the Times today that Crispian St. Peters died recently, so I changed my plans. He had precisely one hit here in the States, and truth to tell, it was not such a great song, but it’s one of those tunes that sticks with you. In fact, if you’re not careful you can’t get rid of it. I understand the Germans have a word for the phenomenon (ah, here it is). Mark Twain wrote a very funny short story about the affliction, and how to get rid of it, the events of which took place on Farmington Avenue, a hop, skip and a jump from where I grew up. Anyway, this is one of those songs. Go ahead. Listen to it. Now listen to it again. Once more, maybe. Let it sink in a bit. Now, see if you can get it out of your head in any way other than banging said head against a wall (and even that won’t work) or somehow inflicting it on someone else. It’s called Pied Piper.

I discovered in the Times obituary that before Pied Piper he had a hit in England with You Were on My Mind, which was a hit here by a group called We Five. His version is actually much better, since the We Five (who were also one hit wonders) converted it into a happy song. Here is his version. Maybe, if you already have Pied Piper running through your head, this can help get rid of it, or maybe it will just replace it.


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Good news, sort of

Friday, June 11, 2010

Well, according to the Treasury, we taxpayers have now been fully repaid for all those Tarp loans. But it’s important to note that those loans were basically interest free, and in fact the banks made money on them.

How?

Well, the interest the Treasury charged was so low as to be non-existent, so the banks just turned around and loaned the money back to the Treasury, earned a higher interest rate than they were paying, and pocketed the difference. They didn’t loan the money out to stimulate the economy, like they were supposed to do, had they been good little boys and girls. So the cup is only half full, if that.


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Hair

Friday, June 11, 2010

Seems that Carly Fiorina dissed Barbara Boxer’s hairstyle, which trivial incident is worthy of a front page article in the New York Times, which appears dedicated to the proposition that the incident is both totally trivial and monumentally important. Personally, trivial or not, I hope it hurts Fiorina, but I’m a partisan hack.

What I find interesting is the length some reporters will go to to get ridiculous “expert” quotes that prove or disprove the meme they are trying to push. What’s amazing about this one is that the reporter in question is a woman. Yet, take a gander at this:

“If you are dissing their hair, you are dissing their personality and their lifestyle,” said Billy Lowe, a celebrity stylist who owns a hair salon in Los Angeles. “It is probably the one thing a woman spends most of her time on every day. It’s always on their minds. Your hair is your personality.”

Of all the people in California to ask about women’s relationship to their hair, who does she pick: a high end hair stylist who makes a living off of narcissistic women who may, in fact, have the money and idle time to obsess about their hair. His customers self select. It’s all he sees so he extrapolates and tars all women.

I don’t know a single woman who obsesses about her hair. My wife is a woman. I can’t get inside her head, but judging by her words and actions she spends “most of her time” thinking about her job, her kids (they’re gone but she still worries), politics, her garden, organizing political functions, etc. Hair is unlikely to make the top 100 on her list of concerns, and I’m sure she’s not alone. Most women, as opposed to those who go to celebrity stylists, are struggling to get by in a world that the husbands of women who go to celebrity stylists have rigged against them. They don’t have time to think about their hair, which is one of the accidental benefits of being in the class of people who are getting screwed by the people who have wives who can afford to obsess about hair.


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BP offers a deal

Thursday, June 10, 2010

I was just watching Countdown and, in typical breathless Olbermann fashion, they were reporting on a proposed “deal” whereby BP would agree not to pay a dividend if, somehow, the federal government turned down the rhetorical heat. This is apparently BP’s idea, and it is reported that it is unlikely to fly.

Apparently the new British PM is putting heat on Obama to turn down the heat on BP. Supposedly, the British government is concerned because BP is one of its largest corporations, and if BP tanks, it could affect the pensions of millions of Britons.

It appears to be the too big to fail argument, applied to an oil company. As always, in order to justify helping the corporation, we will start hearing about the collateral harm-the harm to pensioners, in this instance. We will be told that BP deserves a bailout, either directly, or indirectly by relieving it of liability, in order to help these poor innocent pensioners.

So, to help the pensioners, in one way or another we will have to funnel money through BP, where a certain amount of it, for that’s how these things work, will wind up as bonuses for the folks who destroyed the Gulf of Mexico. After all, they need their lives back. It would never occur to the powers that be that it would be more efficient to just bail out the pensioners, and leave BP to fend for itself.


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News Flash: Senate does not do something crazy

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Some good news out of Washington, sort of. The Senate beat back an attempt by Lisa Murkowski, the person who only appears sane when contrasted with her nemesis, Sarah Palin, to deprive the EPA of the right to regulate greenhouse gasses. Had the resolution passed, presuming it would have had legal effect, it would have destroyed any chance, no matter how remote, that the Senate will pass any type of energy legislation. It’s only the threat of the EPA doing something sensible that furnishes the incentive for the Senate to do something half-baked and inadequate.

We can thank Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and the Democratic establishment for one third of this:

Murkowski’s resolution had 40 co-sponsors, including three Democrats – Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

Tuesday night Bill Clinton stood on stage with Lincoln and embraced her after she beat a real Democrat. Two days later she stands tall with the Republicans to block any chance, no matter how slim, that we will take some effective action to deal with climate change or our dependence on oil, for make no mistake, this vote was all about protecting the oil and coal industries. We can take cold comfort from the fact that come January, she will be replaced by a person who calls himself a Republican.


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Hypatia comes to the Silver Screen, but not here

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I sometimes feel I’ve passed on too much from Pharyngula, but Myers has admitted that his readers tip him off to stories, a luxury I don’t enjoy, so I don’t feel too guilty. I had to comment on this because it involves one of my favorite historical figures.

A Spanish director has made a movie about Hypatia. I first read about her while plowing through Will and Ariel Durant’s Story of Civilization. Believe it or not I read every word of that multi-volume tome, excluding a few footnotes. What can I say? I was young and foolish. In any event, her story stuck with me long after I forgot the details of most of the rest of the history of the world. I’ve since read a biography of her.

Hypatia lived in the fourth century. If memory serves, she was both a philosopher and mathematician, and was roughly equivalent to a university professor. She lived in Alexandria, which was, at the time, perhaps the last bastion of learning in the Empire. To say the least, she did not keep in her place. She even drove her own chariot.

She lived at a time when the Western mind was closing, not to open again for over a thousand years. Christianity had become the official religion. The Christians argued among themselves about esoteric points of doctrine and reason was abandoned by all but the pagans, who experienced persecution far more vicious and pervasive than anything to which the Christians were subjected.

Besides the characteristics I’ve already mentioned, Hypatia was a pagan, which stands to reason because she stood for reason. The combination of all her qualities made her particularly toxic, and she met her rightful fate. A mob of Christians, spurred on by “Saint” Cyril, dragged her naked through the streets until she was dead, to the greater glory of Jesus, Amen.

I have no idea how faithful the movie is to the facts, but it appears from the trailer below that Hypatia is the good guy, meaning the Christians are the baddies, which is definitely in line with the facts. The movie was a blockbuster in Spain, but apparently can’t find a distributor here, though it has all the hallmarks of a hit, including someone Myers characterizes as a star (Rachel Weisz), though I admit I’ve never heard of her, which means nothing, given my knowledge of current film.

What does it say about the decline of this country that a movie like this can be shown in Catholic Spain, the former home of the Inquisition, and more recently of Franco, but it can’t be shown in the United States, the country that practically invented religious freedom (can’t forget Holland) and which was founded on enlightenment principles? But it’s easy to see why there have been no takers so far. Can’t you just imagine Bill Donahue hyperventilating about this one? Hypatia would feel right at home, and not in a good way.


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