Boy does this guy think a lot of himself. His boasting is enough to make one want to reach for a very long feather and bring forth one’s latest meal. Boy does this guy think a lot of himself. His boasting is enough to make one want to reach for a very long feather and bring forth one’s latest meal. He seems never to tire, for instance, when telling about his childhood, of reporting that he got the highest grades in this or that subject. It makes me wonder if there is not some deep-seated insecurity which he is trying to mask by doing so. Errors are in short supply here. He describes his rambunctousness as being “naughty.” It was a struggle to complete the thing. I kept hoping for bits of analysis that could not be mistaken for blame. I also found myself wondering, as he describes this death and that explosion whether he was not himself the responsible party.
His tale of the coup that brought him to power is compelling reading, even if one gets the sense that there are many things being left out. Of interest is his description of Pakistan’s geopolitical issues. He was quite offended by the terse manner in which Colin Powell and Richard Armitage demanded Pakistani help, but says that he considered all the factors involved and decided that it was in the interest of Pakistan to help the USA. But he remains annoyed that he has not been given what he believes to be proper recognition for all that Pakistan has accomplished, from being one of the few nations in a position to communicate with the Taliban to the large number of al Qaeda captured in Pakistan, many of whom have been handed over to the USA. He does talk about the provincial areas and addresses the problems of governance that these places present, noting that the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is quite porous, has ever been thus, and that the areas on both sides of the border are populated by the same ethic group. As usual, he presents as rosy as possible a picture of Pakistan efforts and results. He blames his predecessors, of course, for aiding the Taliban, but notes that even the USA supported the Taliban for a time, based on the group’s ability to bring a sort of order to the tribal chaos that ruled in that unfortunate nation after the Soviets had been driven out. He makes no note of the notion that it was in the Pakistan’s interest to keep Afghanistan from developing into too strong a country. He pointed out that Pakistan had a natural antipathy toward the Northern Alliance, as they are made up of ethnic groups other than the Pashtun that dominate in Pakistan, and in the Taliban. He also makes light of the activities of A.Q. Khan, as if distributing nuclear technology to sundry third-world nations was not a crime of the highest order. Does anyone actually believe that Khan did his thing without the ok of Musharraf?
One item of gruesome interest was that in one of the assassination attempts made on him, the bomber’s face, yes his face, blew off. It was brought to plastic surgeons who figured out what it had looked like over a skull and used that in helping identify him. There is a photo of the loose face in the book, surreal.
This book significantly altered my view of Musharraf. Despite the fact that he came to power via coup d’etat, I had believed that he was, at heart, a decent sort, whose interest really was the security of his country. I could understand that he did not expend his political capital in attempting to gain control of the border provinces, as it certainly seems that they are uncontrollable. But after reading this book, instead of a national leader struggling to cope with contradictory demands, I see instead a confirmed egotist, maybe even a sociopath, charming for sure, but concerned with only one thing, Musharraf. While the governance of Pakistan today (October 2008) may be chaotic, and may, ultimately, result in more harm than would have been the case under Musharraf’s continued rule, it is still queasy-making to justify the continuation in power of this guy based on the view that while he may be a son of a bitch he is our son of a bitch. He is no one’s son of a bitch but his own. ...more
Out of an unhappy marriage, after a tough divorce (it took place in New York and she addresses briefly how unpleasant it is to get divorced there, as Out of an unhappy marriage, after a tough divorce (it took place in New York and she addresses briefly how unpleasant it is to get divorced there, as if we did not already know from painful personal experience) and having discovered anew a desire to explore her spiritual side, Gilbert sets off on a three part journey of self-discovery in this memoir. These things can get on my nerves as they usually portray the idle rich wandering about contemplating their navels and marveling at the local cuisine, sights and boasting of their passing sexual conquests. There are, I suppose, elements of this, but I was taken with what I believe to have been the honesty of her quest.
Quotes
P 1 When you’re traveling in India—especially through holy sites and Ashrams—you see a lot of people wearing beads around their necks. You also see a lot of old photographs of naked, skinny and intimidating Yogis…wearing beads too. These strings of beads are called japa malas. They have been used in India for centuries to assist devout Hindus and Buddhists in staying focused during prayerful meditation. The necklace is held in one hand and fingered in a circle—one bead touched for every repetition of mantra. When the medieval Crusaders drove East for the holy wars, they witnessed worshippers praying with these japa malas, admired the technique, and brought the idea home to Europe as rosary.
P 44 Europe was once a pandemonium of numberless Latin-derived dialects that gradually, over the centuries, morphed into a few separate languages—French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian. What happened in France, Portugal and Spain was an organic evolution: the dialect of the most prominent city gradually became the accepted language of the whole region. Therefore what we today call French is really a version of medieval Parisian. Portuguese is really Lisboan. Spanish is essentially Madrileno. These were capitalist victories; the strongest city ultimately determined the language of the whole country.
P 131 I’ve heard it said that prayer is the act of talking to God, while meditation is the act of listening.
P 187 We do spiritual ceremonies as human beings in order to create a safe resting place for our most complicated feelings of joy or trauma, so that we don’t have to haul those feelings around with us forever, weighing us down. We all need such places of ritual safekeeping. And I do believe that if your culture or tradition doesn’t have the specific ritual you’re craving, then you are absolutely permitted to make up a ceremony of your own devising, fixing your own broken-down emotional systems with all the do-it-yourself resourcefulness of a generous plumber/poet. If you bring the right earnestness to your homemade ceremony, god will provide the grace, And that is why we need God.
P 196 [ re turiya] During typical human experience, say the Yogis, most of us are always moving between three different levels of consciousness—waking, dreaming, or deep dreamless sleep. But there is a fourth level, too. This fourth level is the witness of all the other states, the integral awareness that links the other three levels together. This is the pure consciousness, an intelligent awareness that can—for example—report your dreams back to you in the morning when you wake up. You were gone, you were sleeping, but somebody was watching over your dreams while you slept—who was that witness? And who is the one who is always standing outside the mind’s activity, observing it’s thoughts? It’s simply God, say the Yogis. And if you can move into that state of witness-consciousness, then you can be present with God all the time. This constant awareness and experience of God-presence can only happen on a fourth level of human consciousness, which is called turiya.
Here’s how you can tell if you’ve reached the turiya state—if you’re in a state of constant bliss. One who is living from within turiya is not affected by the swinging moods of the mind, nor fearful of time or harmed by loss. “Pure, clean, void, tranquil, breathless, selfless, endless, undecaying, steadfast, eternal, unborn, independent, he abides in his own greatness,” say the Upanishads, the ancient Yogic scriptures, describing anyone who has reached the turiya state. The great saints, the great Gurus, the great prophets of history—they were all living in the turiya state, all the time. As for the rest of us, most of us have been there, too, if only for fleeting moments. Most of us, even if only for two minutes in our lives, have experienced at some time or another an inexplicable and random sense of complete bliss, unrelated to anything that was happening in the outside world. One instant, you’re just a regular Joe, schlepping through your mundane life, and then suddenly—what is this?—nothing has changed, yet you feel stirred by grace, swollen with wonder, overflowing with bliss. Everything—for no reason whatsoever—is perfect.
…Your treasure—your perfection—is within you already. But to claim it you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart. The kundalini shakti—the supreme energy of the divine—will take you there.
P 205 The Indians around here tell a cautionary fable about a great saint who was always surrounded in his Ashram by loyal devotees. For hours a day, the saint and his followers would meditate on God. The only problem was that the saint had a young cat, an annoying creature, who used to walk through the temple meowing and purring and bothering everyone during meditation. So the saint, in all his practical wisdom, commanded that the cat be tied to a pole outside for a few hours a day, only during meditation, so as not to disturb anyone. This became a habit—tying the cat to the pole and then meditating on God—but as years passed, the habit hardened into religious ritual. Nobody could meditate unless the cat was tied to the pole first. Then one day the cat died. The Saint’s followers were panic-stricken. It was a major religious crisis—how could they meditate now, without a cat to tie to the pole? How would they reach God? In their minds, the cat had become the means.
Be careful, warns this tale, not to get too obsessed with repetition of religious ritual for its own sake. Especially in this divided world, where the Taliban and Christian Coalition continue to fight out their international trademark war over who owns the rights to the word God and who has the proper rituals to reach that God, it may be useful to remember that it is not the tying of the cat to the pole that has ever brought anyone to transcendence, but only the constant desire of an individual seeker to experience the eternal compassion of the divine. Flexibility is just as essential for divinity as is discipline.
P 208 If humanity never evolved in its exploration of the divine, a lot of us would still be worshipping golden Egyptian statues of cats. And this evolution of religious thinking does involve a fair bit of cherry picking.
…the Hopi Indians thought that the world’s religions each contained one spiritual thread, and then these threads were always seeking each other, wanting to join. When all the threads are finally woven together they will form a rope that will pull us out of this dark cycle of history into the next realm.
P 237 The word amok, as in running amok, is a Balinese word, describing a battle technique of suddenly going insanely wild against one’s enemies in suicidal and bloody hand-to-hand combat. ...more
The subtitle tells it all, “the decline and fall of truth from 9/11 to Katrina.” This book is about how the Bush administration, with their willing acThe subtitle tells it all, “the decline and fall of truth from 9/11 to Katrina.” This book is about how the Bush administration, with their willing accomplices in the media have made a casualty of truth. It is not, as one might expect it to be, a compilation of his NY Times op ed pieces, but a well ordered, easy to read overview of what lies were told, when, by whom and to whom. Good stuff. I doubt that any Republican would get past ten pages though. Although Rich offers plenty of concrete examples and reasons for his views, he allows his scorn of these evil gnomes to shine through a bit too obviously. There is a lengthy, 70 pages or so, section at the back end with two columns. On the left, are the actual events in a timeline. On the right are the statements (lies) that were told and when. A nifty piece. Although I enjoyed the book and it never hurts to get information reinforcement for my challenged memory, it did strike me that Rich was preaching to the choir, as I doubt many who are not already clued in to the current white house crowd would plunk down their cash for the book....more
Lawrence Wright looks at the players involved in the history and construction of Al-Qaeda, offering short bios [image] Lawrence Wright - from his site
Lawrence Wright looks at the players involved in the history and construction of Al-Qaeda, offering short bios of Sayyid Qtub, Ayyman Zawairi, bin Laden on the AQ side and John O’Neill of the FBI and others on the anti-terrorist teams. It is a thorough and interesting work. As someone who has read quite a bit about the players here, my expectations were modest. But I was impressed with the clarity of the story-telling. It was also impressive in the level of detail he presents. Some of that was amusing, as in his depiction of O’Neill’s girlfriend-juggling struggles. He comes down hard on the unwillingness of the CIA and FBI to share meaningful information in a timely manner. It is clear from his descriptions that turf wars played a larger role than did the institutional barriers to sharing information, although the latter were not trivial. This is highly recommended for anyone interested in the background to the terror events of the 21st century, clear, compelling and informative. The Pulitzer Committee thought so, awarding Wright their 2007 award for general non-fiction. The book earned a slew of other awards as well.
Published – August 8, 2006 Review first posted – October 2008
A nice article in Variety about the Hulu production
[image] Jeff Daniels as John O'Neill in the Hulu production - image from IMDB.com
My personal experience of 9/11 seemed wrong to include in the review proper, so I am putting it here under a spoiler tag for any who have an interest. It is a slightly edited journal entry.
Many years before, in the late 80s and early 90s, I had worked at the World Financial Center, across the street from the WTC, passing through the WTC complex on my way to and from work every day. I would often stop into the WTC at lunchtime. There was a nice lunch place that had good, affordable chili and a video jukebox. In 1993, I was working across the river in Jersey City at one of the increasing number of skyscraping office towers that mirror Manhattan, reachable via PATH trains, the terminal being in the lower levels of the WTC. We felt the thud of the first attempt at the towers while at our desks.
My wife and I did not personally know any of the people who lost their lives on 9/11, but were only a couple of degrees removed from people who did. A friend lost a sister. A nephew knew one of the firemen who had died. We still grieved as New Yorkers, Americans and human beings.
(view spoiler)[8:45a. Mary Ann was running late getting out to work. I was still in bed. She was just putting her shoes on when she heard on NPR that there had been an explosion at the World Trade Center. She dashed to the TV, and when she saw the carnage woke me immediately. We were watching varied television coverage when we saw the second explosion. In the shot, from the north of the towers, it was not at first obvious what had happened. The reporter on that station (I do not recall which) thought she had seen something and had it re-run. In the upper right hand corner a dot appeared and grew slightly. It was clear that it had been the cause of the explosion in the south tower. It was also clear that this was not just a tragic explosion but a coordinated attack. Eye-witnesses had various accounts. One said he saw a small plane go into the north tower. Another swore he had seen a prop plane. We were shaken. I remember saying to M, “This means war.” We applied our attention to CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN hungry for dreaded information. Later, I heard that one of the towers had collapsed and could not believe it, presuming that some portion of the building might have toppled. It was quite jarring to see footage of the entire building collapsing in upon itself. Mary Ann was in various states of weeping at many moments this day. I heaved with near sobs myself. It was too much to take in. I tried calling my brother to see if he was ok. (He worked at Federal Plaza, only a couple of blocks from the Towers.) There was no answer. I kept trying until we finally connected. By 2 PM, after having been glued to the set for over five hours, we went out to eat.
We went to a favorite diner in Park Slope, Katina’s. On the way we ran into a neighbor who had been working in the downtown area at the time of the attack. He had been able to get out unscathed. At Katina’s the tables were filled. Every eye was on the TV that rests atop a cabinet behind the register. Giuliani was holding a news conference. There was talk about Bin Laden as a prime suspect. What would happen next?
I was scheduled to pick up my daughters from their grandparents’ house in Sheepshead Bay that evening. We arrived ahead of schedule so drove around the neighborhood, and then experienced the strangest vision of the day. The cloud from the WTC fires was very much a presence several miles southeast of the disaster. But as we drove around it appeared that there was a flock of birds heading south. It was not birds. Pieces of paper, letter sized, or at least paper that had once been letter sized wafted to the ground, some charred, in vast numbers. People on the street stopped to pick them up. I saw a child snatch one. A middle-aged lady grabbed another. People gazed upward at this unexpected precipitation. I noticed that the windshield looked as if it had been had driven a bit too close to a volcanic explosion. There was a coating of streaked soot on the glass. We got the girls at 6. The grandparents had, thankfully, been watching coverage on TV, so the girls were not hearing it for the first time from us. We later asked the girls if their mother or their grandparents had talked with them about the events of the day. They had not. We did.
It was a quiet car on the drive north. The light gray cloud from Manhattan was clear, above and in front of us at 10 o’clock, spreading from a narrow plume in the distance to a wider coverage above. Back home, we watched coverage throughout the evening. I sat on the couch with them, holding Caitie’s hand. She clung tightly. Tash, only 8 at the time, did not seem to grasp the significance, although she accepted my hand on hers. The most telling detail of Caitie’s reaction was that as the evening progressed, she acquired two of her stuffed animals and clung to them. I managed to reach my brother. He works at least some of the time at 26 Federal Plaza. I had tried earlier in the day. There was no one at home. I had also called my New York sisters hoping one of them might have heard from him. I even tried my Pennsylvania sister. All to no avail. It was nerve-wracking. Thankfully, I finally reached him. He had gotten news of the event before leaving for work. He had been scheduled to head to Edison, NJ today, not Manhattan, so he would not have been at risk in any event.
When Tash was in bed reading, Cait continued watching with us. She fell asleep on the couch. We woke her and she walked to bed. I tried to sing to Tash, “Always” from Tarzan. It seemed appropriate. I found that I was unable to sing at all. Tears seeped into my eyes and my voice caught. I told her that I was sorry, but I could not sing because the attempt made me cry. I explained to her that the attack on the World Trade Center was an attack on us all. I told her that there were people in the world who wanted to kill us just because we were Americans. [I believed that at the time, but have arrived at a more informed opinion in the years since.] Maybe we had not suffered any losses in our family, but we probably knew people who had. My brother had told me of a friend of his oldest son, a young man of 26 who had been in the Fire Department for only a year or so. He had almost certainly perished in the carnage. I told Caitie that we needed to feel for and support each other as Americans as we would as family members. On this day, we were all a family, an American family. She seemed to get at least some of this, and accepted sleep calmly.
Mary Ann had tried many times during the day to reach her brother, a teacher in Harrisburg. Finally, she got through to his school. In a major surprise, when she reached a school secretary, the secretary had her hold on while she went to fetch him. He had been, obviously, very concerned about her. Our attempts through the rest of the day to reach my sister and other relations in Pennsylvania were unavailing. We were faced with telephone company messages saying that all lines were busy.
One aspect of the day was sound. There is a normal din from the many flights that constantly overpass the city. Today there was almost none of that. Traffic noise is usually oppressive here, with trucks entering the Prospect Expressway on their way toward Manhattan. It was much less today. There were the occasional sirens of emergency vehicles, whether rushing to provide direct service themselves or accompanying convoys of volunteers. Even in this crisis Brooklyn is not a quiet place. Yet the distinct change in background din, almost a hush, was very noticeable
Remembering that day, particularly seeing images of the destruction, still makes my eyes leak. And I never look up at an airplane without having at least a passing concern about whether it is aloft with dark purpose. . (hide spoiler)]
Wright posted the ff in September 2014 in The New Yorker, about a significant omission in the 9/11 Commission Report, removed at the behest of Dubya - The Twenty-Eight Pages - worth a look
4/21/18 - My wife and I just finished watching the 10-part miniseries of The Looming Tower on Hulu. It is amazing, informative, gut-wrenching, and rage-inducing. So much could have been prevented but for egos, turf-wars, downright stupidity, and willful blindness....more
I was reminded of teachers of programming and tech things of that nature. What they do is offer ten to twenty minutes of lecture then go around from dI was reminded of teachers of programming and tech things of that nature. What they do is offer ten to twenty minutes of lecture then go around from desk to desk answering individual questions. That appears to be Prose’s technique, which got on my nerves. I was hoping for something a bit more formulaic, in the sense of indicating what rules made sense, showing how to use this or that that tool to create such-and-such an effect. Instead, Prose says that there are rules, but here are many, many examples of writing outside those rules. Prose keeps saying that really-talented writers “doan need no stinking rules,” without the bandolero, of course. This is what makes the book so frustrating. She clearly loves literature and can explain how a particular piece works. So that is what she does. She takes many, many examples of good writing and explains for each exactly what is right about it. I got the sense that she was using these quotes as filler, and I got really annoyed when they began to exceed reasonable paragraph length and go on for pages at a time. It feels like cheating. One thing she favors in her teaching is to read literature very, very closely, line by line, looking for the methods as well as information that is being used and communicated. There is certainly merit in this sort of analysis. And I suppose that is the strength of this book, her ability to look at the many examples offered and deconstruct them. But I felt unsatisfied by the book, no better off than before I had read it....more
**spoiler alert** Marley is a lovable lab and the structural element around which Grogan writes his own coming of age story. Grogan and wife are repor**spoiler alert** Marley is a lovable lab and the structural element around which Grogan writes his own coming of age story. Grogan and wife are reporters in south Florida, and take on the responsibility of a pooch as a way for his wife to see if she is up to the challenge of handling a baby. We follow Grogan as he tries to gain some control over the rambunctious Marley. He leads us through the life of a young couple as they try and fail to have a child, then try and try again, successfully. He shows us the changes in his neck of Florida, and the changes in Marley and his wife. We meet his babies and see how Marley attaches to them. It is a charming tale, warmly told, of a flawed but lovable pooch. It is no shock that this tale bolted its way to the top of the bestsellers’ list and would not let go. Eventually the family moves to Pennsylvania as Grogan takes over publishing duties for the Rodale Press. The Pennsylvania portion is definitely the lesser part here. Marley learns about snow and gets a taste of the Middle Atlantic, but all too soon he begins to go gray and soon after he begins a rapid medical decline. The final chapters address his demise. I was relating particularly to the passing of Bo, our alpha cat, while reading this, choking up the whole time. Grogan tacks on his take on what Marley taught his human masters. It was a bit maudlin, but what the heck. This is a very engaging and enjoyable read. Payload, such as it is, concerns dogs in general and labs in particular. But the joy here is the pure, untrammeled love of Marley for life and his loyalty to his family. Recommended. Carry tissues....more
[image] Rajiv Chanrdasekaran - Image from Citizen University
Baghdad’s Green Zone is a world unto itself, with its own power supply, water, restaurant[image] Rajiv Chanrdasekaran - Image from Citizen University
Baghdad’s Green Zone is a world unto itself, with its own power supply, water, restaurants. One need never leave, and many never do. The author describes the separateness of the place but uses that as a base from which to foray out to related subjects. Some of his examples are particularly poignant. One enterprising fellow built a pizzeria just outside the compound, only to discover that the Americans all eat inside. He talks much about the plague of outsourcing and how it resulted in oddities like sending laundry to Kuwait to be done. He offers many examples of earnest people trying to do good, but being stymied by either the impracticality of their dreams or interference from a completely politicized administration. Considerable space is devoted to the process whereby so-called sovereignty was handed over to the locals. Despite the vast sums allocated by the USA for this enterprise it seems that many of those attempting to actually reconstruct Iraq were always sorely lacking in funds. There was a ridiculous level of bad-faith dealing between the CPA, which was aligned with the Defense Department, and any personnel operating at the behest of State. They refused them funds, and even threatened violence against at least one State rep.
This is yet another portrayal of the bounteous ineptitude of an administration that put ideology and partisanship ahead of any form of practicality. It continues to be shocking. Bremer features heavily here, as an imperious dictator, but with some tempering of the dark portrayal. While the gist of the content is certainly familiar, it is useful, nonetheless, to have the gist filled in with a host of details. A worthwhile if not a required read. The excellent film, The Green Zone, was based, to a large extent, on this book.
Erik Saar spent two years studying Arabic with the US military. Motivated by his patriotism and a desire to help fight the forces of evil, he was chomErik Saar spent two years studying Arabic with the US military. Motivated by his patriotism and a desire to help fight the forces of evil, he was chomping at the bit to get down to Guantanamo and put to use the knowledge he had gained. This is his description of life at Gitmo, the things he heard and saw, and the concerns that grew within him as he witnessed the America he loved and served acting in a distinctly un-American manner. The story is not only about the cruelty of the tactics used at the base, but the incompetence of its managers, the bigotry of the MPs, the dysfunction of the military system in which he found it prudent to begin all manner of communications months before his expected time of release to make certain that the would actually be released at the end of his tour and not simply extended. It is clearly policy to extend tours as a matter of course. He only got stuck waiting two weeks, but that was because he went to everyone, including his congressman and his senior commanders. He describes a poorly run, morally bankrupt system that does not produce what it says it produces and is loath to admit even the possibility of error. This is a must read for anyone who wishes to hear first-hand information on how we treat our “non-combatants.” ...more
Chapman, a great grandson of Darwin, set himself to report on the modern day Scopes Monkey Trial held in Dover Pennsylvania in 2005, when the local scChapman, a great grandson of Darwin, set himself to report on the modern day Scopes Monkey Trial held in Dover Pennsylvania in 2005, when the local school board attempted to insinuate the notion of intelligent design into the science curriculum of their district. He offers a look at the personalities involved in addition to the political and social forces at play. I was reminded of Capote painting a landscape with the residents of Holcomb, Kansas. He lacks Capote’s singular genius for language, but his descriptions and insights are interesting and engaging. Although I agree with his take on most things, his disdain for religion and alarm at the degree of religiosity in the USA, I wished sometimes that he would have allowed the events and characters to speak more for themselves. While amusing, the snarky running commentary did wear thin after a while...more
This brief book-form report offers 79 recommendations for how to move forwards toward a better tomorrow in Iraq. It is notable that it makes almost noThis brief book-form report offers 79 recommendations for how to move forwards toward a better tomorrow in Iraq. It is notable that it makes almost no attempt to look at the errors and misjudgments of the past, let alone the lies and deliberate obfuscations. It makes me think of a theoretical scenario in which a person had been charged with murder, a commission had been set up to look at the event in question, and the commission reported only on how to keep the accused from murdering again, with no mention of the first killing. I was surprised to learn that a considerable problem in Iraq is violence by the criminal element. I liked one line in particular. It was that if New Jersey were occupied by a foreign power, Tony Soprano would be an insurgent leader. There were few surprises in the report, at least to the reader who attends to the news. It calls for engaging with Syria and Iran and makes a point of citing the Israeli-Palestinian problem as a serious source of regional difficulty. Note is also taken that as bad as things are with the volume of daily attacks, many incidents are left out of the tally.
p 95 – A roadside bomb or rocket or mortar attack that doesn’t hurt U.S. personnel doesn’t count. For example, one day in July 2006, there were 93 attacks or significant acts of violence reported. Yet careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light 1,100 act of violence. I also learned that there is significant tension even within the Shia militias. Incidents are cited in which the Badr militia came to blows with the Mahdi Army. ...more
This is a very alarming portrait of some of the darkest forces at work in America, or anywhere for that matter. Hedges argues that the extreme wing ofThis is a very alarming portrait of some of the darkest forces at work in America, or anywhere for that matter. Hedges argues that the extreme wing of the contemporary Christian movement in the US shares much with the actions and worldview of other historical fascist movements, movements that often mask the full extent of their drive for totalitarianism and their willingness to make concessions only until they achieved unrivaled power. There is little in here that I was not aware of, as far as the overall goals of the Christo-fascists, but as he explores some of the details it was illuminating, and even more disturbing than I had already realized.
He describes how a dominionist-based ideology is at the root of a radical movement that seeks to shred the barriers between church and state. The new radical churchies would have been familiar to George Orwell, with the attempt to redefine our very language to their sinister purposes. They are systematically attempting to subvert the root institutions and beliefs of America, intent on ushering in a theocratic state, disenfranchising any who object, attacking the other, whether for sexual or religious preference. He points out how the leaders of this movement have evacuated core Christianity of its meaning, substituting inside the false cover of the Christian name a core of exclusion, violence, victimization, and dehumanization that is very much worth fearing.
There is a reasonable swath of examples from which to choose here. Perhaps I am picking nits, but I felt that, while his take was compelling, I would have been more impressed with more detailed, point by point comparison of contemporary and historical movement actions. Also, the information seemed more anecdotal than scientific. Maybe that might have been addressed by referring to other, more precise, less popular works that detailed the trend by the numbers. But, overall, Hedges makes a compelling and very alarming case that there is considerable darkness afoot and all who value core American values like separation of church and state and the first amendment would do well to pay attention, and take action where possible.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
-----May 26, 2018 - NY Times - A Christian Nationalist Blitz – by Katherine Stewart - An alarming report on the place where activist faith meets fascism
-----December 31, 2018 - NY Times - Why Trump Reigns as King Cyrus - by Katherine Stewart - a very frightening look at how the evangelical right views Trump and justifies his many crimes
================================QUOTES P 10 America and the Christian religions have no monopoly on goodness or saintliness. God has not chosen Americans as a people above others. The beliefs of Christians are as flawed and imperfect as all religious beliefs. But both the best of American democracy and the best of Christianity embody important values, values such as compassion, tolerance and belief in justice and equality. America is a nation where all have a voice in how we live and how we are governed. We have never fully adhered to these values—indeed, probably never will—but our health as a country is determined by our steadfastness in striving to attain them. And there are times when taking a moral stance, perhaps the highest form of patriotism, means facing down the community, even the nation. Our loyalty to our community and our nation, Reinhold Niebuhr wrote, “is therefore morally tolerable only if it includes values wider than those of the community.”
These values, democratic and Christian, are being dismantled, often with stealth, by a radical Christian movement, known as dominionism, which seeks to cloak itself in the mantle of the Christian faith and American patriotism…Dominionism seeks to redefine traditional democratic and Christian terms and concepts to fit an ideology that calls on the radical church to take political power. It shares many prominent features with classical fascist movements, at least as it is defined by the scholar Robert O. Paxton, who sees fascism as “a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cultures of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.
P 13 While traditional fundamentalism shares many of the darker traits of the new national movement—such as blind obedience to a male hierarchy that often claims to speak for god, intolerance toward nonbelievers, and a disdain for rational, intellectual inquiry—it has never attempted to impose its belief system on the rest of the nation. And it has not tried to transform government, as well as all other secular institutions, into extensions of the church. The new radical fundamentalism amounts to a huge and disastrous mutation. Dominionists and their wealthy, right-wing sponsors speak in terms and phrases that are familiar and comforting to most Americans, but they no longer use words to mean what they meant in the past. They engage in a slow process of “logicide,” the killing of words. The old definitions of words are replaced by new ones. Code words of the old belief system are deconstructed and assigned diametrically opposed meanings. Words such as “truth,” “Wisdom,” “Death”, “Liberty,” “Life” and “death” mean life in Christ or death to Christ, and are used to signal belief or unbelief in the risen Lord. “Wisdom” has little to do with human wisdom but refers to the level of commitment and obedience to the system of belief. “Liberty” is not about freedom, but the “liberty” found when one accepts Jesus Christ and is liberated from the world to obey Him. But perhaps the most pernicious distortion comes with the word “love,” the word used to lure into the movement many who seek a warm, loving community to counter their isolation and alienation. “Love” is distorted to mean an unquestioned obedience to those who claim to speak for God in return for the promise of everlasting life. The blind, human love, the acceptance of the other, is attacked as an inferior love, dangerous and untrustworthy.
P 21 Dominionists wait only for a fiscal, social or political crisis, a moment of upheaval in the form of an economic meltdown or another terrorist strike on American soil, to move to reconfigure the political system. Such a crisis could unleash a public clamor for drastic new national security measures and draconian reforms to safeguard the nation. Widespread discontent and fear, stoked and manipulated by dominionists and their sympathizers, could be used by these radicals to sweep aside objections of beleaguered moderates in Congress and the courts, those clinging to a bankrupt and discredited liberalism, to establish an American theocracy, a Christian fascism.
P 28 The movement is fueled by fear of powerful external and internal enemies whose duplicity and cunning is constantly at work. These phantom enemies serve to keep believers afraid and in a state of constant alert, ready to support repressive measures against all who do not embrace the movement. But this tactic has required the airbrushing out of past racists creeds—an effort that, sometime after 1970, saw Jerry Falwell recall all copies of his earlier sermons warning against integration and the evils of the black race.
P 36 Those in the movement now fight, fueled by the rage of the dispossessed, to crush and silence the reality-based world. The dominionist movement is the response of people trapped in a deformed, fragmented and disoriented culture that had become callous and unforgiving, a culture that has too often failed to provide the belonging, care and purpose that make life bearable, a culture that, as many in the movement like to say, has become a “culture of death.” The new utopians are not always wrong in their critique of American society. But what they have set out to create is far, far worse than what we endure. What is happening in America is revolutionary. A group of religious utopians, with the sympathy and support of millions of Americans, are slowly dismantling democratic institutions to establish a religious tyranny, the springboard to an American fascism.
P 151 [people] who do not conform to the ideology are gradually dehumanized. They are tainted with the despised characteristics inherent in the godless. This attack is waged in highly abstract terms, to negate the reality of concrete, specific and unique human characteristics, to deny the possibility of goodness in those who do not conform. Some human beings, the message goes, are no longer human beings. They are types. This new, exclusive community fosters rigidity, conformity and intolerance. In this new binary world segments of the human race are disqualified from moral and ethical consideration. And because fundamentalist followers live in a binary universe, they are incapable of seeing others as anything more than inverted reflections of themselves. If they seek to destroy nonbelievers to create a Christian America, then nonbelievers muse be seeking to destroy them. This belief system negates the possibility of the ethical life. It fails to grasp that goodness must be sought outside the self and that the best defense against evil is to seek it within. When people come to believe that they are immune from evil, that there is no resemblance between themselves and those they define as the enemy, they will inevitably grow to embody the evil they claim to fight. It is only by grasping our own capacity for evil, our own darkness, that we hold our own capacity for evil at bay. When evil is always external, then moral purification always entails the eradication of others....more
As might have been expected, Israeli and Jewish leaders were apoplectic at Carter for daring to criticize Israel. David Ross, who worked with Carter, As might have been expected, Israeli and Jewish leaders were apoplectic at Carter for daring to criticize Israel. David Ross, who worked with Carter, had published an Op Ed in the NY Times excoriating Carter for a factual error he had made in identifying a map in the book. Fourteen members of the board of Carter’s foundation resigned in protest. So what is all the fuss about?
[image] Jimmy Carter - image from USA TODAY
Carter has a fluid, if dry writing style. One reads him for information and analysis, not for literary inspiration. It is difficult to imagine the guy cracking a joke. There will be no whoopee cushions appearing unexpectedly under Roslynn at the dinner table. But Carter is arguably America’s greatest living statesman, a serious, religious fellow who puts his beliefs into practice by attempting to resolve international conflicts. He is a force for good in the world, and stands out when compared with the post White House activities many of the other ex-presidents. Nixon engaged almost exclusively in self-serving memoir writing. Reagan looked for the big payday giving million-dollar-a-pop speeches in Japan. 41 did some fishing and played a little golf before he teamed up with Bubba to do some concrete good. Ford dropped out of sight. I imagine 43 has maintained a low profile, spending his time clearing brush and enjoying holidays with his Saudi friends. Obama has been quiet, but has an activist organization working on important public issues and has been working on a project to help fix our gerrymandered congressional districting. Carter is the ex who has been the most engaged in the world on a global scale. He may be the only American who might have been ever been deemed a candidate for UN Secretary General. While one may agree or disagree with him on the particulars of specific international conflicts, only a maniac would contend that he is not a force for sanity in the world.
Carter offers specific information on what was agreed to when, what was said, what was understood re the various dealings between Israel, the Palestinians, and the national enemies at Israel’s borders. It is clear from his reportage that Israel does not live up to the innocent victim image it is so fond of presenting to the world. There is a common view that the Palestinians could have had over 90% of what they wanted in their negotiations with Israel if only Arafat had not been such a hard-ass. Carter offers a very detailed explanation for why that view is seriously at odds with reality. He concludes that what Israel has created, in the occupied territories, is a form of apartheid, in which the Palestinians play the role of South Africa’s blacks. It is a compelling case, particularly when Carter points out the actual significance of Israeli roads that not only divide the West Bank, but which engender cushion-space around them that Palestinians may not enter, when he points out that the pattern of Israeli construction is having the effect of chopping the West Bank up into islands of separate space, incapable of being joined into a single political entity, when he points out all the rights the Palestinians, in their own land, are denied. I’d be blowing things up too.
This view fits with what I have learned from other sources, both in books and from the journalists with whom I worked briefly a few years back. They told first hand accounts of Israeli soldiers who would taunt the local Palestinian youth and then when these people responded with tossed stones, the Israelis would slaughter them with automatic weapons. It was clear to me then that the perennial victims had taken on the attributes of their tormenters. If anything I believe Carter understates the case for the demise of moral authority in Israel. As in the USA, Israel is a nation that has come under the sway of extreme elements. Not all, or even certainly a majority of Israelis hold with the view of the extremists that all the land of the West Bank is really a part of Israel, but as long as extreme elements hold political power, and as long as they insist, despite UN condemnation and international law, on building more settlements in occupied territory, the problems there will only worsen. And it is clear that Israelis in power have every intention of absorbing large swaths of the West Bank into Israel-proper, in fact if not in law. It is no wonder that a disgusted populace rallied behind a murderous Hamas.
Jimmy Carter may not be the most dynamic writer, but he is very effective at presenting the information he has, and in offering his very informed take. If you are at all interested in Middle-East politics, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid is a must-read.
Obama wrote the book himself. That is a good thing. On the other hand, I was actively annoyed with the guy for the first 150 pages or so as it seemed Obama wrote the book himself. That is a good thing. On the other hand, I was actively annoyed with the guy for the first 150 pages or so as it seemed to me that he was all about talking around subjects in order to let us know that he respected both sides’ views. But I stuck with the book and he eventually got around to citing some positions. They are, in general, your basic moderate Democratic views, with maybe a tilt left here and a little right there. We could do worse. He portrays himself as just a regular guy, albeit one with a rather exotic background, having lived in Hawaii and Indonesia, as well as Chicago. He lays it on a bit thick, I thought. Obama is a top notch orator, and he excels at stirring us with a cheerful, balanced view. At times it seemed to me that oratory was the only thing he was about.
He seems much taken with Robert Byrd and Bill Clinton. He tells of meeting Byrd and how Byrd’s advice to him was the very basic notion that it was critical to learn the rules of government. He should pay attention.
I picked up that he disparages the liberal wing of the party. On page 75 he refers to “the MoveOn.com crowd, the heirs of the political counterculture the senator had spent much of his career disdaining. Using the word “crowd” here indicates that Obama shares Byrd’s view. I believe there is more substance to those who support MoveOn. Without pressure from people who have strong beliefs we (democrats) will be condemned to be led by a host of politicians unwilling to stake out strong, progressive positions (see Hilary) and deliver us from this repressive, anti-working-people, anti-environment, anti civil-liberties, pro-theocracy nightmare. One Taliban is quite enough.
Quotes and comments
P 76 One of the surprising things about Washington is the amount of time spent arguing not about what the law should be, but rather what the law is. The simplest statute—a requirement, say, that companies provide bathroom breaks to their hourly workers—can become the subject of wildly different interpretations, depending on whom you’re talking to: the congressman who sponsored the provision, the staffer who drafted it, the department head whose job it is to enforce it, the lawyer whose client finds it inconvenient, or the judge who may be called upon to apply it…the diffusion of power between the branches, as well as between federal and state governments, means that no law is ever final, no battle ever truly finished; there is always the opportunity to strengthen or weaken what appears to be done, to water down a regulation or block its implementation, to contract an agency’s power with a cut in its budget, or to seize control of an issue where a vacuum has been left.
He follows this by pointing out how the Republicans simply ignored all our laws and understandings in applying their wishes to things like Abu Ghraib and Teri Schievo, the same thing they accuse the Dems of all the time. The conclusion is obvious to me, but he is unwilling to go there. There is no law. There is only power.
Addressing the filibuster he notes that it was used for many years by right-wingers to prevent civil right legislation, thus he has ambivalence.
P 82 The threat to eliminate the filibuster on judicial nominations was just one more example of Republicans changing the rules in the middle of the game.
…I would supported the filibuster of some of these judges, if only to signal to the White House the need to moderate its next selections. But elections ultimately meant something…Instead of relying on Senate procedures, there was one way to ensure that judges on the bench reflected our values, and that was to win at the polls…I wondered if, in our reliance on the courts to vindicate not only our rights but also our values, progressives had lost too much faith in democracy.
He conveniently ignores that the right has gleefully prevented Democratic presidents from doing just that. Again, he seems willing to unilaterally disarm against a sociopathic opponent.
P 88 So if we all believe in individual liberty and we all believe in these rules of democracy, what is the modern argument between conservatives and liberals really about? If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that much of the time we are arguing about results—the actual decisions that the courts and the legislature make about the profound and difficult issues that help shape our lives…If it doesn’t help us to win, then we tend not to like it so much.
P 89 [He talks about the strict constructionist adherents and those who view the constitution as a dynamic entity, saying that he has sympathy for the former, but that he felt he would side with them only when the meaning of the framers was crystal clear regarding the issue at hand, and that when there was no such clarity, he was of the dynamic constutional bent.]
p 92 What the framework of our Constitution can do is organize the way by which we argue about our future. All of its elaborate machinery—its separation of powers and checks and balances and federalist principles and Bill of Rights—are designed to force us into a conversation, a “deliberative democracy” in which all citizens are required to engage in a process of testing their ideas against an external reality, persuading others of their point of view, and building shifting alliances of consent.
P 100 [Byrd’s advice] “Learn the rules,” he said. “Not just the rules, but the precedents as well.” He pointed to a series of thick binders behind him, each one affixed with a hand-written label. “Not many people bother to learn them these days. Everything is so rushed, so many demands on a senator’s time. But these rules unlock the power of the Senate. They’re the keys to the kingdom.”
P 116 I’ve never been entirely comfortable with the term “special interests,” which lumps together ExxonMobile and bricklayers, the pharmaceutical lobby and the parents of special-ed kids. Most political scientists would probably disagree with me, but to my mind, there’s a difference between a corporate lobby whose clout is based on money alone, and a group of like-minded individuals—whether they be textile workers, gun aficionados, veterans or family farmers—coming together to promote their interests; between those who use their economic power to magnify their political influence beyond what their numbers might justify, and those who are simply seeking to pool their votes to sway their representatives. The former subvert the very idea of democracy. The latter are its essence.
P 169 Instead of subsidizing the oil industry, we should end every single tax break the industry currently receives and demand that 1 percent of the revenue from oil companies with over $1 billion in quarterly profits go toward financing alternative energy research and the necessary infrastructure. Not only would such a project pay huge economic, foreign policy, and environmental dividends—it could be the vehicle by which we train an entire new generation of American scientists and engineers and a new source of export industries and high wage jobs.
P 219 Politics is hardly a science, and it too infrequently depends on reason. But in a pluralistic democracy, the same distinctions apply. Politics, like science, depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. Moreover, politics (unlike science) involves compromise, the art of the possible. At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It insists on the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God’s edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one’s life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime; to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing…Any reconciliation between faith and democratic pluralism requires some sense of proportion. This is not entirely foreign to religious doctrine; even those who claim the Bible’s inherent inerrancy make distinctions between Scriptural edicts, based on a sense that some passages—the Ten Commandments, say, or a belief in Christ’s divinity—are central to Christian faith, while others are more culturally specific and may be modified to accommodate modern life. The American people intuitively understand this, which is why the majority of Catholics practice birth control and some of those opposed to gay marriage nevertheless are opposed to a constitutional amendment banning it. Religious leadership need not accept such wisdom in counseling their flocks, but they should recognize this wisdom in their politics.
If a sense of proportion should guide Christian activism, it must also guide those who police the boundaries between church and state. Not every mention of God in public is a breach in the wall of separation. As the Supreme Court has properly recognized, context matters. ...more
This was a very illuminating work about how chaotic situations are used, and sometimes created, as cover for the imposition of drastic economic and po This was a very illuminating work about how chaotic situations are used, and sometimes created, as cover for the imposition of drastic economic and political reorganization in vulnerable economies. The end product of these actions is a so-called free market model as advocated by the Chicago School of Milton Friedman and his acolytes. Examples used include Chile, China, Argentina, Bolivia, South Africa, Russia, among others. The technique is for western financial powers to swoop in during a time of financial crisis and refuse to lend a struggling nation any money until that nation agrees to a radical reworking of its economy. This reworking is done in a shock, with many changes instituted all at once, with little or no warning. These changes, as they are draconian toward the lower classes, usually need to be accompanied by severe political repression in order to enforce the transition. What we see here is the mechanism of a growing form of corporatist colonialism.
Klein parallels her examination of the stresses endured by many national economies with a look at actual, literal, personal shock treatment. In the 1950s a researcher named Ewan Cameron did research on his theory that instead of Freudian therapy a more effective method of treating mental illness was to erase the patient’s personality using electric shocks. Then the blank page would be receptive to reconstruction by the good doctor. The shocks caused amnesia and extreme regression. Cameron devised a new tool, one that applied six shocks at once, and even used a wide range of drugs to disorient and wipe clean as much of the patient’s personality as possible. Once the subject was reduced to a vegetative state, Cameron played them tapes dozens, maybe hundreds of times over. The CIA took note and launched a program of its own.
She posits a parallel between treatments that serve to erase personality with the economic and political shocks that struggling nations are forced to endure, shocks that are part and parcel of the move from a developmentalist economy, one that seeks local control and self-sufficiency, to a globalist economy, one in which foreign investment in and ownership of local enterprise is encouraged.
While I found that at times Klein extended her discourse beyond the reach of her material, her analysis of the subject matter is compelling, her linkage of different forms of shock (personal, political, economic) illuminating, and the applicability of her work to the current economic disruptions frightening. Despite its subject matter, this a compelling, and relatively fast read. It should be mandatory reading for anyone concerned with politics, economics, world affairs or current events.
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August 4, 2011 - the following article has particular relevance not only for the international implementation of TSD, but to its application within the USA. It is an interview with Dr. Michael Hudson, a guy who has been ahead of the curve for a long time on the roots of current economic atrocities.
June 18, 2012 - Joe Nocera's NY Times column on how ALEC-based programs are gutting democracy in Rhode Island ...more
Population 485 is Perry’s attempt to communicate what it is like to live in a small town in 21st century America. New Auburn, Wisconsin is the place iPopulation 485 is Perry’s attempt to communicate what it is like to live in a small town in 21st century America. New Auburn, Wisconsin is the place in question. Perry focuses on his experiences as a volunteer fireman. He was native to the town, had been away for many years, but returned to the roots he knew. His methodology is to relate his personal tales of town life, how his volunteering proved to be a mechanism to further anchor his roots in the community, allowing him to interact with a large number of town residents. I found his anecdotes sometimes moving, but I also found that I was frequently mentally twiddling my thumbs, eager to move on to something a bit more interesting. He offers the occasional memorable line (“puke is the great constant”) and I did, on occasion, laugh out loud. There is payload to be had pertaining to small town history, firefighting and emergency medical care. But I found the overall exercise less than compelling. And while Perry does offer plenty of examples of his failings, I also got the sense that he is rather full of himself, which is off-putting. ...more
Preston looks at the very tallest trees on our planet and the people who seek them out, climb them and study them. This was a very engaging trip into Preston looks at the very tallest trees on our planet and the people who seek them out, climb them and study them. This was a very engaging trip into a very unfamiliar territory. One amazing thing was that knowledge of the whereabouts of earth’s wooden giants is held by a very few individuals. The people on whom Preston reports range from Phd biologists to obsessives with no particular scientific background. He looks closely at tree-climbing methodologies (being a tree-climber himself) and at the extant technologies that support such endeavors. I learned things here, and got a far greater sense of what is lost when land is clear cut. Well worthwhile, educational and engaging.
==============================EXTRA STUFF
I first saw the article here, Lofty Aspirations, in Smithsonian Magazine back in 2002. But when I searched for it on that site, it was a nogo. Thankfully it still lives on the author's site.
March 17, 2018 – Smithsonian magazine for March 2018 – A fascinating article by Richard Grant, Do Trees Talk to Each Other?, about a German author and forester, Peter Wohlleben, who, in a new book, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate, offers a novel understanding of our woodsy friends. The title of the story in the print magazine was The Whispering Trees. It was changed for the on-line version. Amazing stuff.
[image] Wohlleben compares beeches to an elephant herd—”They look after their own, help their sick and are even reluctant to abandon their dead.” (Diàna Markosian) - from above article
Maybe to start I can point you to the author. Yes, the book is written anonymously. The author had for four Hi, I'm Will. I'll be your reviewer today.
Maybe to start I can point you to the author. Yes, the book is written anonymously. The author had for four years written a blog about his experience as a waiter in a New York restaurant and needed to preserve his anonymity in order to prevent mayhem at his workplace. But you may notice that there is an actual name displayed up at the top of this menu page, so I guess he moved on in the years since his book came out.
[image] The author revealed
Steve Dublanica's is a tale of having wandered a bit, never really catching hold of a career, until at age 31, he found himself in a situation with which I am far too familiar, unemployment and desperation, and made some meringue out of the lemons life had served him. I found this to be (occasionally) a laugh-out-loud funny read, with much information to impart about what life is like in the restaurant business. We learn of the difference between the waiting and cooking staff. The latter work 13-14 hour days for less money than the waiters, for one. He tells of miserable customers, unpleasant restaurant owners who think nothing of regularly insulting their employees, stealing from them, and treating them terribly in a wide range of ways. How they are not shot dead more often is one of the mysteries of science. It was entertaining and informative, raising one’s appreciation for this work, and encouraging us all to leave better tips.
I'll get that check for you now. Thanks for reading, have a great day and come back soon.
August 7, 2017 - Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema spends some time in the shoes of restaurant dishwashers - At the Heart of Every Restaurant - a wonderful article...more
**spoiler alert** The White City is the Chicago Columbia Exposition, a world fair in which all the buildings were painted white; the time the late 180**spoiler alert** The White City is the Chicago Columbia Exposition, a world fair in which all the buildings were painted white; the time the late 1800s during the fair; the Devil is a serial killer. Yet this is a non-fiction book. Larson has written a very informative as well as entertaining story. The Columbian Exposition was a very big deal. Chicago had vied for the honor of presenting a world’s fair, and when they were selected the energy of the famed slaughterhouse city was put to the wheel. There are many personalities involved, not least Daniel Burnham, one of the top architects of his day and the coordinator of the entire project design. He brought in Frederick Law Olmstead and many other top architects. Chicago was determined to outdo the French, whose world fair in Paris had been a triumph, introducing, among other things, the Eiffel Tower, and mass use of alternating current. Larson describes the conflicting and outlandish personalities of the time, and makes us marvel that the thing ever actually got done. The Chicago Exposition introduced some significant items of its own, not least of which was a very progressive notion of city planning, for the enterprise required attention to a multitude of facets simultaneously in order to come to fruition. One of the structures built was then the largest building in the world. The fair introduced Mister Ferris’ first working wheel. The Disney family attended and the fair may have inspired Walt to a development of his own. Buffalo Bill made millions with his entertainment just outside the fair gates (The fair had not allowed him to be a part of the show inside). Weather was a formidable opponent to the construction, as was the state of the economy, namely plummeting.
Counterbalancing the travails and triumphs of creating the fair, the Devil of the title was a young man named Holmes (no, not Sherlock). He had a very winning way with people, particularly creditors and attractive young women. He had some flaws however. Among them was a complete inability to empathize with anyone. He was an extreme example of what we refer to today as a psychopath. He set up shop in Chicago about that time, acquired some property and constructed on it a building of his own design. It was called The Castle, and one might be forgiven for imagining it with lightning bolts blasting stormy skies. For it was here that he murdered untold numbers of people, women, men, children. He designed the building to incorporate a space in which he could trap and gas people. He also allowed for his need to incinerate the bodies without releasing much aroma. His charm kept the suspicious at bay. Eventually, of course, he was found out and brought to justice, but not until he had slain somewhere between 50 and 200 people.
Larson peppers the book with dozens of satisfying factoids, about the people he is describing and about the times. It was, despite some of the darker subject matter, a very engaging, informative, and yes, fun read. ...more
Weinberger tells of his experience trying to break into the movie business after graduating from B-school at Stamford. It is an entertaining and inforWeinberger tells of his experience trying to break into the movie business after graduating from B-school at Stamford. It is an entertaining and informative look behind the scenes at the horror that is tinsel town, where who you know, one’s word is never one’s bond, and where intelligence and knowledge always take second place to connections and style. ...more
[image] Cathryn Jakobson Ramin - image from The Commonwealth Club
Ramin covers a wide swath of possibilities looking into why memory fails, and seeks s[image] Cathryn Jakobson Ramin - image from The Commonwealth Club
Ramin covers a wide swath of possibilities looking into why memory fails, and seeks solutions to each of the problem areas. It is very interesting reading. I felt at a loss at times in trying to follow the science. I was never much of a bio whiz. But it does appear that there are least understandable causes for much loss of mental capacity, and there might be ways to address most of those. Still, it might have been a nice thing to have had a chapter summarizing the gathered information, in tabular form with the causes on the left and the solutions, or at least ameliorative attempts on the right. As it is, I expect to be referring back to this book for some time, if I can only remember where I put it....more
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