August 10, 2008
GREAT MOMENTS IN GIVING UP:
So I'm reading Helene Tursten's police procedural, The Torso, and, to my surprise it has footnotes, not something you come across often in mystery novels. Not to worry though, Soho Press only put them there to explain the metric measurements used in this Swedish book to the American audience. Sublime.
NOTHING COSTS MORE...:
Relief for consumers: prices falling: After soaring for months, prices for oil, rice, and other commodities are going down (Ron Scherer, 8/11/08, The Christian Science Monitor)
Prices are now lower on staples such as rice, wheat, corn, and soybeans. Also down are prices for metals such as aluminum, zinc, and copper. The commodity almost everyone follows – oil – is off nearly 20 percent as well, dropping Friday to its lowest level since May 1. [...]"The falling prices helps shore up consumer spending and also has an effect on inflation," says Jay Bryson, global economist at Wachovia Economics Group in Charlotte, N.C. "The Fed probably does not need to tighten interest rates now."
Stronger dollar pushes commodities lower (Richard Wray, 8/11/08, The Guardian)
Traders are braced for heavy falls in oil and commodity prices this week, heralding the end of the so-called commodities boom, after the US dollar posted its biggest one-day gain against the euro for eight years on Friday.Analysts said the spread of economic contagion beyond the US has reduced demand expectations for commodities and interest rate forecasts, especially for the eurozone, which makes other currencies less attractive against the dollar.
Last week's comments from Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, that third-quarter growth in the eurozone will be "particularly weak" was taken to mean interest rates will be held or even reduced. That would narrow the gap between interest rates in the US and Europe, which helped fuel the dollar's decline.
Dollar at crossroads amid brighter US outlook (Peter Garnham, August 10 2008, Financial Times)
Analysts say the turn towards the dollar reflects surprise that the fallout from the credit crisis has had such a marked effect on economies outside the US.They say other central banks, unlike the Federal Reserve, have been slow to respond to a potential slowdown, refusing to cut interest rates as they focus on fighting inflation.
However, Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, warned of a slowdown in the eurozone in the coming months, quashing expectations of higher interest rates.
The trend is expected to be confirmed by data from Germany this week, which is forecast to show that growth contracted in the second quarter.
Japanese officials have warned that the economy is heading for recession, while UK data continue to deteriorate and the Reserve Bank of Australia has said it is set to cut interest rates.
Ulrich Leuchtmann at Commerzbank said in a note he expected the dollar to rise “like a phoenix”. He said low US interest rates were not a burden on the dollar but an attraction, proof that the Federal Reserve was able to react quicker to turmoil than other central banks.
He said that in a very short period, “sentiment turned by 180 degrees – the market now believes that the US economy once again will be able to leave a crisis behind very quickly”.
It costs a lot to pretend the European economy is strong, the US weak, and inflation existent.
BRASS IN POCKET:
I'm so angry, it's time to change: Ever since the 2000 elections I've been angry -- not just at the government but at all of us Americans. (Cary Tennis, Aug. 11, 2008, Salon)
Dear Cary,The past few years my personal life has taken a nosedive. I think the biggest factor is this anger I've got inside, which frequently prevents me from socializing and meeting new people (or just having a good time with people). Basically I've become a very grumpy middle-aged man.
This all basically started after the 2000 election. By now, I feel justifiably disgusted by the Bush administration and his supporters of course, but it's bigger than this. [...]
Anger Issues
Dear Anger Issues,
Some of us who think of ourselves as liberal, rational, freethinking, freedom-loving patriots have a special problem with anger.
As far as we can determine, this is not a parody.
DOES ANYONE EDIT SALON?:
Why isn't Obama crushing McCain?: A conversation with two prominent journalists and a Bush-Cheney campaign official about why, in what should be a Democratic year, Obama can't put McCain away. (Thomas Schaller, Aug. 11, 2008, Salon)
Salon asked two respected journalists and a veteran Republican operative to give us their best guesses. Tom Edsall, a former Washington Post reporter, is political editor of the Huffington Post. He was also a professor of journalism at Columbia University for 25 years. Mark Murray is the deputy political director for NBC News and was previously a reporter for the National Journal. He co-writes MSNBC's First Read, a roundup of national political news. Ben Ginsberg, a lawyer in the Washington firm Patton Boggs, served as counsel to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign in both 2000 and 2004 and played a central role in the 2000 Florida recount. [...]Mark Murray: I do agree that Barack Obama has some problems, particularly with white voters. There is an interesting new Democracy Corps Poll, a poll that's put out by Stan Greenberg and James Carville, and it actually showed that Barack Obama versus John Kerry in 2004 is running poorer than Kerry did among many whites, particularly among older whites. So that is a problem for Obama. On the other hand, some of that is offset by Obama doing much better than Kerry did among African-Americans, independents and younger voters, and so some of his weaknesses are offset by some of his strengths. But no doubt, for him to really capitalize in this environment, he's going to need to shore up some of his weaknesses.
However, to be a little counterintuitive, I would actually say that a lot of this also has to do with John McCain. I was looking back at a March NBC-Wall Street Journal poll that had both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton running about 2 or 3 points ahead of John McCain, even though the generic ballot had Democrats winning by 15 points. Against Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, John McCain was doing much better than your average Republican, and a lot of that has to do with McCain's appeal with independent voters. And whether or not that holds up from here to November is an interesting question. But certainly, John McCain's maverick brand, his relationship with independents, really has helped him in this type of environment.
So I think it's two things. It's Obama's weaknesses and also some of John McCain's strengths. That said, the latest AP poll had Barack Obama 6 points over McCain, and if Barack Obama wins a 6-point election come November, that would be one of the biggest election margins of victory we've seen in the last few presidential cycles.
Schaller: It's funny, I have heard repeatedly from pundits, and I think that they're right about this, that this election is mostly going to be a referendum on Obama. Mark Shields recently on "The NewsHour" made a comparison to the 1980 race, the argument basically being that the country was unhappy with Jimmy Carter then; the country is unhappy with George Bush now. Even though I think Ben Ginsberg's point that it's not Bush running again and not necessarily an heir apparent in McCain, still the parallel here is people in 1980 were not quite sure about Reagan and it was up to Ronald Reagan to assuage and assure the country. Is that a fair parallel? Does Barack Obama need to pass a minimum threshold, and if so, what is it going to take to do that?
Murray: I completely agree that the 1980 comparison is apt. And a lot of the burden is on Barack Obama to make the sale, just as [it was on] Ronald Reagan in 1980. And as we all saw, Reagan was able to make that sale. It wasn't apparent in poll numbers in the summer, but once you got to the fall, and once you ended up getting to the debates, it was clear that Reagan was going to be the big winner.
Pretty spectacular factual butchery for a respected journalist.
OBVIOUSLY SHE DOESN'T HAVE THE POLITICAL SAVVY OF HER HUSBAND...:
Clinton told to portray Obama as foreign (Mike Allen, August 10, 2008, Politico)
The Penn memo suggesting that the campaign target Obama’s “lack of American roots” said in part: “All of these articles about his boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared towards showing his background is diverse, multicultural and putting that in a new light.“Save it for 2050. ... Every speech should contain the line you were born in the middle of America American to the middle class in the middle of the last century. And talk about the basic bargain as about the deeply American values you grew up with, learned as a child and that drive you today. Values of fairness, compassion, responsibility, giving back
“Let’s explicitly own ‘American’ in our programs, the speeches and the values. He doesn’t. Make this a new American Century, the American Strategic Energy Fund. Let’s use our logo to make some flags we can give out. Let’s add flag symbols to the backgrounds.” [...]
• [Atlantic Senior Editor Joshua Green ] reports that on Feb. 11, the day that Clinton finally replaced campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with Maggie Williams, Wolfson aide Phil Singer cursed out first Wolfson, then Policy Director and Solis Doyle ally Neera Tanden, yelling: “[Expletive] you and the whole [expletive] cabal” before climbing on a chair, berating the entire staff and leaving.
The same day, Washington Post Managing Editor Phillip Bennett wrote Williams to complain Singer had spread rumors about one of his reporters. Williams eventually saw the letter after Wolfson intercepted it, and Singer left for a week. On his return, Green reports that Wolfson explained to a colleague, “When the house is on fire, it’s better to have a psychotic fireman than no fireman at all.”
...but given that the Unicorn Rider was basing his appeal on being foreign, she can't have needed this explained to her.
HE'S A DEAD MUTHA... (SHUT YO MOUF) [profanity alert]:
Isaac Hayes, Pioneering Singer, Is Dead at 65 (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 8/10/08)
In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White. And he was rapping before there was rap.His career hit another high in 1997 when he became the voice of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show "South Park."
Isaac Hayes, 65, a Creator of ’70s Soul Style, Dies (BEN SISARIO, 8/11/08, NY Times)
With his lascivious bass-baritone and flamboyant wardrobe, Mr. Hayes developed a musical persona that was an embodiment of the hyper-masculine, street-savvy characters of the so-called blaxploitation films of the era. In his theme song to Gordon Parks’s “Shaft” from 1971, the title character is summed up in a line that has become a classic of kitsch: “Who’s a black private dick/Who’s a sex machine to all the chicks?” [...]Isaac Hayes was born Aug. 20, 1942, in a tin shack in rural Covington, Tenn., to a mother who died early and a father who left home. He was raised largely by his grandparents, and worked in cotton fields while going to school. He began playing in local bands, and by early 1964, when he was 21, he was working as a backup musician for Stax. His first session was with Otis Redding.
Soon he began writing songs with David Porter, and their music — numbers like “Soul Man” and Hold On, I’m Comin’ ” for Sam and Dave, and “B-A-B-Y” for Carla Thomas — came to embody the Stax aesthetic. It was tight, catchy pop, but full of sweat and grit, a proudly unpolished Southern alternative to Motown.
By the late 1960s Mr. Hayes was stepping out as a solo artist, and his reputation grew as much for his dress as for his music. The cover of his 1969 album, “Hot Buttered Soul,” pictured him in customary style: shaved head, dark shades, gold chains, bare chest. The album was similarly eccentric, consisting of just four songs, including lengthy, elaborate versions of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Walk On By” and Jimmy Webb’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” It also included spoken segments that he called raps, and the album became one of his biggest hits, reaching No. 8.
When he was approached to create the score to “Shaft,” one of the first blaxploitation films, Mr. Hayes said he also wanted the lead role. The part went to Richard Roundtree, but Mr. Hayes recorded the music anyway. It was done in four days with several members of the Bar-Kays, one of the house bands at Stax.
With a cymbal pattern borrowed from Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness,” which Mr. Hayes had arranged, the song layered funk guitars, horns, woodwinds and strings, prefiguring disco. It became a No. 1 hit.
In 1971 he followed up the “Shaft” soundtrack with “Black Moses,” a double album that was another ambitious expansion of the vocabulary of soul music. In its original issue, the cover folded out to reveal a portrait of Mr. Hayes in crucifix form.
One of the great moments in television history was Dr. Ruth interviewing him about why the ladies love him so. She was vibrating like a tuning fork.
And, of course, the opening of Shaft remains the most thrilling in the movies, not just because Richard Roundtree is so freakin' cool, but because of the pulsing beat from Ike underneath the scene.
MORE:
-WIKIPEDIA: Isaac Hayes
-Isaac Hayes (Rock Hall of Fame)
-Soul icon Isaac Hayes dies at 65 (BBC, 8/10/08)
-OBIT: Soul icon Isaac Hayes dies in Memphis at 65 (Dean Goodman, 8/10/08, Reuters)
-AUDIO: 'Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It?' (NPR, November 14, 2005)
Ed Gordon talks with soul music icon Isaac Hayes about his long career — he's been making music for nearly 40 years — his influence on hip-hop and the release of a collection of his now-legendary Stax Record tunes called Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It?
ANYONE REMEMBER...:
Hats off to France's literary star: The historical novels of French writer Alexandre Dumas have thrilled generations. As a once-lost, last book is published, Dumas devotee Hugh Schofield explains the author's enduring appeal. (Hugh Schofield , BBC)
I have been a devoted follower of Dumas ever since I was introduced to The Three Musketeers, about 15 years ago.Not just the first book, of course, but the series of musketeer novels, culminating in The Man in the Iron Mask and (much to my surprise at the time) the deaths of Porthos, Athos and d'Artagnan.
The Count of Monte Cristo followed (to my mind not as good, the second half is rather flat), and since then bit by bit my collection has grown, until I have now about 20 novels in translation and the original French.
Not many people realise it, but the Dumas books taken as a whole actually comprise a kind of swashbuckling novelistic accompaniment to the length of French history, starting from the late Middle Ages through practically to the writer's own day.
The so-called Valois novels tell the stories of the wars of religion at the end of the 16th Century, the musketeer books deal with the reigns of Louis Treize (XIII) and Quatorze (XIV).
Later there is the Marie Antoinette series, and finally a trilogy set in the time of Napoleon, the last of which, Le Cavalier de Sainte Hermine, is now being published in book form for the very first time.
The story of how The Last Cavalier was found is an exciting enough tale in itself
...the cartoon classics they used to show on tv, back in the day? One suspects that's how most boys of our generation got hooked on Dumas, Cyrano (speaking of which, the Ferrer version is available on-line), etc.
LikeTelevision Embed Movies and TV Shows
AMY WITHOUT THE CRACK:
Duffy proves she's worth the hype (Dan DeLuca, 8/08/08, Philadelphia Inquirer)
On Wednesday, Duffy - that's her stage name - brought high expectations and a Brigitte Bardot hairdo to a three-quarters-full Theatre of Living Arts to be put to the is-she-the-real-deal? test.Rockferry, the 24-year-old Welshwoman's debut, and the biggest-selling album in the U.K. this year, argues that she is. Produced by guitarist Bernard Butler (formerly of the London Suede), it's a canny exercise in vintage '60s pop.
Its string-infused and horn-injected nuggets draw as much from Petula Clark as Dusty Springfield as they sashay down the lonely avenue. And in the grabby song "Mercy," with its "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" hook, Duffy has a captivating calling card that introduces her as a clean-cut innocent in stark contrast to Winehouse's soul-in-torment.
WHAT'S MORE CONSERVATIVE THAN A HISTORICAL MEMORY?:
The Dennis Miller interview (JEFFREY RESSNER, 8/10/08, Politico)
A lot of popular comedians seem to be conservative: Drew Carey, Adam Sandler. And SNL creator Lorne Michaels has contributed to the McCain campaign. Why do you think many comics tilt this way, while liberals seem to dominate the film and TV business?[...]
How would you describe support for John McCain in Hollywood?
It’s broader than you think. Listen, John McCain, by putting his name at the other end of a hyphen from Russ Feingold, has at least tried to reach across the aisle. Barack Obama is located nowhere near the end of the aisle — he’s way far out on the left. He makes Bernie Sanders look like Curtis LeMay. So I think this time around, at least, it’s much more easier to come out as a conservative or a moderate or at least pragmatic because otherwise the guy you’d have to vote for has the most liberal voting record in the Senate. And some people aren’t for that right now. He’s a 47-year-old nice enough guy who is reflexively liberal and wants to get Chatty Cathy with bad guys.
In just the past few minutes you’ve referenced obscure figures ranging from a '60s-era general to a vintage talking doll. Given your audience on conservative talk radio, are you too hip for the room?
Obscure?
ANGEL OF PONTYPRIDD (via Bryan Francoeur):
Cher fan has his stereo destroyed (BBC, 8/07/08)
A man who blasted out Cher and U2 from his home has had his stereo equipment and music collection destroyed.Karl Wiosna, of, Graig, near Pontypridd was warned to turn down his music by Rhondda Cynon Taf Council after complaints were made. [...]
All of Wiosna's equipment has now been destroyed and he was also fined £265 by local magistrates after admitted the charges against him.
If he'd played The Song it would hopefully have been a capital crime.
THE MARTIAL ARTS ANALOGY IS CORRECT TO THIS EXTENT...
McCain mocks Obama oratory (MIKE ALLEN, 8/9/08, Politico)
John McCain is mocking the oratorical gifts of Barack Obama, recommending that he “should consider someone with a knack for brevity and directness, to balance the ticket.”“Taking in my opponent's performances is a little like watching a big summer blockbuster,” McCain sneers in his weekly radio address, “and an hour in, realizing that all the best scenes were in the trailer you saw last fall.” [...]
McCain’s gibe about a less windy running mate is part of a continuing effort by the Republican’s presidential campaign to turn Obama’s strengths against him.
Obama is popular with younger voters, and Americans usually vote for the more likable presidential candidate. So using political jujitsu, McCain used TV ads to portray his opponent as an air-headed celebrity more in the mold of Paris Hilton than commander in chief.
...that you're taking the opponent's momentum and then accelerating it as you throw him. The point is that what spellbound pundits and followers perceive as the Unicorn Rider's strength--that he gives speeches that appeal to youngsters--is a weakness. All you have to do is emphasize what he's doing. If he were a substantial candidate the kids wouldn't pay attention.
THE STARK CONTRAST BETWEEN REFORMIST RHETORIC AND HACK REALITY:
McCain and Obama's Senate Clashes (David Broder, 8/10/08, Real Clear Politics)
On the other hand, there were few direct personal clashes. Both of them remembered only two -- the same two.The first occurred in February 2006. Obama had joined members from both parties in a group organized by McCain to draft bipartisan legislation on ethics and lobbying reform, after McCain's hearings on the Jack Abramoff scandal. But when other Senate Democrats decided to write their own bill, Obama aligned himself with them.
McCain told me, "He went off and voted with (Minority Leader) Harry Reid on the Democratic substitute. And I wrote him the now famous letter."
The letter he sent Obama began with this stinging sentence: "I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere." It continued, "I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics, I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble."
Obama wrote back that he had "no idea what has prompted your response." He told me the other day: "That was one incident where he thought I had undercut him. I had a completely different view of it."
The second occurred in June 2007, during Senate floor debate on the immigration bill. One key piece of the bill authorized a guest-worker program, which was unpopular with unions, who saw the immigrants as threats to their jobs. McCain told me that Obama had become part of a bipartisan group, led by Sen. Edward Kennedy and himself, whose members understood "we had to take tough votes, sometimes against the majority of our own party, in order to preserve the coalition." But when an amendment was offered to "sunset" that part of the bill after five years, it was viewed as a "killer amendment."
"Obama went out and voted with the unions," McCain told me. McCain and Kennedy lost by one vote.
No wonder some on the far Right like him, having spiked immigration and lobby reform....
WHICH IS WHAT HAPPENS...:
NH health care survey: 69 percent wash hands (AP, 8/09/08)
Only 69 percent of New Hampshre health care workers in hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers are washing their hands - on average.
...when 31% of your population is of French-Canadian descent.
A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR NUCLEAR DELIFERATION:
U.S. Assails Russian 'Escalation' Of Crisis (Karen DeYoung, 8/10/08, Washington Post)
The Bush administration yesterday decried Russia's use of strategic bombers and ballistic missiles in Georgia as a "dangerous escalation" of the hostilities there, but said it will not immediately send an envoy to help mediate the crisis."It's hard for us to understand what the Russian plan is," said a senior U.S. official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity. "People can argue back and forth over who shot first," but the Russian response is "far disproportionate to whatever threat" it may have perceived in the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia.
With residents of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, in a "panic" amid fears that the city will be bombed, the U.S. Embassy there has been placed on "authorized departure" status, meaning that dependents can leave at U.S. expense, the official said in a conference call.
The Bush administration is also arranging to transport as many as 2,000 Georgian troops back home from Iraq. Georgian forces make up the third-largest contingent in the multinational force in Iraq, after the United States and Britain.
Give the Russians 12 hours to withdraw or we take out all their nuclear facilities. Hopefully they refuse and at that point we can do Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, China and France at the same time. The Anglosphere must have a nuclear monopoly.
MAYBE NBC....:
8 Killed in China's Muslim Northwest (VOA News, 10 August 2008)
Chinese state media say the death toll in a series of attacks Sunday in the troubled western Xinjiang region has risen to eight.Xinhua says the violence began before dawn, in the city of Kuqa, when a three-wheeled vehicle carrying explosives was driven into the yard of a police station. The attackers set off a blast that killed the security guard and wounded two police officers and two civilians.
...could have a separate channel just to televise nationalist violence during the Games?
WHICH RAISES THE OBVIOUS QUESTION...:
Obama shifts affirmative action rhetoric (DAVID PAUL KUHN, 8/10/08, Politico)
On the one hand, Obama opposes the current state ballot measures (McCain supports them), thus offering at least de facto support for the current policy that gives preference to minorities and women and is rooted in the programs begun by President Kennedy and later significantly expanded by President Nixon.On the other hand, Obama’s said that his two daughters should not be given preferential treatment, owing to their relatively privileged upbringing, and has called for government to “craft” a policy “in such a way where some of our children who are advantaged aren't getting more favorable treatment than a poor white kid who has struggled more.”
Such hints of a possible new policy focus are a relatively recent development from Obama, who once said that he had “undoubtedly benefited from affirmative action” in his own academic career, though he didn’t specify at what institution he had so benefited. Friends have since recalled him saying that he did not list his race on his Harvard Law application, though the candidate has said only that "I have no way of knowing whether I was a beneficiary of affirmative action either in my admission to Harvard or my initial election to the Review. If I was, then I certainly am not ashamed of the fact, for I would argue that affirmative action is important precisely because those who benefit typically rise to the challenge when given an opportunity.”
While as a presidential candidate he tends to draw attention to the diversity of the people he met as a community organizer after graduating from Harvard, in his 1995 memoir “Dreams From My Father: A story of race and inheritance,” Obama stresses that he settled in Chicago with the idea of "organizing black folks at the grass roots for change."
As a state senator representing the 13 district on the South Side of Chicago, he deemed traditional, race-oriented affirmative action “absolutely necessary,” and pushed hard for programs that mandated racial- and gender-based hiring preferences.
...if your own father is a Harvard graduate are you not from a relatively privileged background yourself?
