Current Wisdom
The Great Books Series
Hot off the press -- Prof. David Farber's ill-timed The
Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism lists the prof's
hallucinatory problems "bequeathed" by American conservatism to
incoming President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009. And now that
our modern-day FDR has waved his magic wand, conservatism is in
even deeper trouble:
The remnant of the conservative movement found itself without
sure direction or answers to the problems that the long
conservative ascendancy had bequeathed to the American people --
harrowing economic inequality, a devastated industrial base,
ecological dangers, massive government debt, a broken health-care
system, a failing social-safety net, and diminished international
power.
(From The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism,
by David Farber, Princeton University Press, 296 pages,
$29.95)
New York Review of Books
From the Travel section of the incomparable NYRB, recommended
sightseeing spots for the hip vacationer:
Walking above the village of Mehrauli on Delhi's southern
perimeter, we pass a woman with a half-empty bottle of water -- one
of several we have already noticed since daybreak. Dressed
immaculately in a brightly colored sari, she emerges from behind a
prickly bush on a tract of waste ground. If she were a man we might
not have merited such discretion. India is about the only country
in the world where you actually see human adults defecating. When
traveling by road or rail you can be struck by the image of men
squatting openly, impervious to the public gaze. The UN estimates
that 638 million people -- 55 percent of the Indian population --
still defecate out of doors.
(May 13, 2010)
In These Times
A Miss Joanna Macy, who we are told "has dedicated her life to
peace, sustainability and coexistence with our environment,"
engages an agog In These Times interviewer from her throne at
Bughouse Square, mouthing antiquities once uttered by Eleanor
Roosevelt:
You write, "This is an incredible time to be alive, a great privilege." What do you mean?
This is a time when such big changes are happening -- they're so
big that most people aren't aware of them. People who lived during
the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions were probably not aware
that historic forces were underway that would change people for
centuries to come. In our case these changes are happening because
the mainstream society is not listening, and the current political
economy is not working in more and more ways. We're consuming,
we're making money out of extracting goods from the earth that
cannot be renewed....create huge amounts of waste.
(April 2010)
Al-Bawaba
As reported in one of old Araby's most authoritative sources,
an explanation for why Mr. A. Zeb is likely to be named Pakistan's
ambassador to the United Nations:
In an unfortunate result of translation, Pakistani diplomat Akbar Zeb will not become the next Pakistani ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Zeb's credentials seem in order: He is the former ambassador to the United States, India and South Africa. He held the post of High Commissioner Designate of Pakistan to Canada and is the former director general of Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.
But despite Mr. Zeb's impressive career, the 55-year-old
diplomat's name proved to be the immovable hurdle. When translated
into Arabic. Akbar Zeb means "Biggest Dick." In a region that
stresses modesty, particularly in public, this could not
stand.
(February 14, 2010)
University of Chicago Magazine
In the alumni gazette of a famed American university, the
troubled reflections of a concerned alum, who, incidentally,
suffers from a dreadful case of tin ear:
Bathroom Humor
Quinn Dombrowski, AB'06, AM'06, has indeed recorded bathroom
graffiti that only could have been composed by the geeky (I would
have said intellectual) minds at the U of C (Peer Review,
Mar-Apr/10). However, my all-time favorite U of C men's room
graffiti was in the old music building just north of Rockefeller
Chapel. Above the urinal was boldly written, "The effete place to
excrete." This poetic phrase always seemed emblematic of the
University to me. Still does.
David Joel, AB'72
Chicago
(May-June 2010)
New York Times
Frank Rich on a roll! Still obsessed by his lewd visions of the
pulchritudinous Sarah Palin and her mobs of Middle American
indignados all hot to enforce loyalty oaths on the members of the
Times editorial board, he files one more idiot bull gaining him
entry for a historically unprecedented fifth straight appearance in
this famous omnium gatherum of Liberal fatuity:
The Tea Party is not merely an inchoate expression of a
political mood, or an amorphous ragtag band of diverse elements, or
a bipartisan cry of dissatisfaction with the supposed "government
takeover" of health care. The Tea Party is a right-wing populist
movement with a specific ideology. It resides in the aging white
base of the Republican Party and wants to purge that party of
leaders who veer from its dogma.
(May 23, 2010)
New York Review of Books
Dr. Mark Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia A&M,
accuses conservatives of "dumbing-down" "our politics" prior to
citing with sage approval a string of grammatical blunders from the
precocious David Frum(p):
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Alan Brooks| 8.11.10 @ 10:40AM
"lists the prof's hallucinatory problems 'bequeathed' by American conservatism"
However, as the Derb wrote, Bush's compassionate conservatism was in fact vapid.
Remember the old show 'Father Knows Best'?; the new one is 'Derb Knows Best'
FLOYD KRAUTNER| 9.13.10 @ 10:36AM
Hallucinations are very common among people who do not realize how their party compares with the other.
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How Democrats, Republicans compare
Yagil Hertzberg
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, September 12, 2010
For years I have been trying to persuade supporters of the other major American party to change their mind and vote with me, to no avail. That is, until last week, when three politically minded friends came over for an evening of snacks and politics, and, halfway through the evening, I unleashed my new one-two approach to political persuasion.
First, I asked my friends how they would go about choosing a new dishwasher. We agreed that the responsible and rewarding method would be to ignore any marketing hype and instead follow the Best Buy recommendations by Consumer Reports. Because nobody mentioned the virtues or shortcomings of, say, Whirlpool's executives as a valid criterion for choosing the appliance, I asked why they argue for hours about the perceived personalities of the candidates instead of comparing the track records of the major parties. My friends answered that it's simple enough to summarize the essential properties of dishwashers, while the elections are about a large number of issues that defy easy tabulation. Therefore, they concentrate on the candidates, hoping that by choosing the right person for the job, the elected official will make the right decisions when dealing with all those different issues.
I used to share this view myself, but then I checked the numbers. I was surprised to find out that the results of comparing the track records of the two major parties fall neatly (with one exception) into two categories - economy and family values. In my analysis, I compared all administrations going back to 1960 and all states based on how they voted in the presidential elections since 1980.
It was time for the second phase. I presented my friends with a list of numbers. To overcome bias, I used symbols (A, B, C and D) to represent the two major parties under the two categories. All state-related numbers (including those for the District of Columbia) are per person.
Economy
Jobs: Since 1960, each of the A Party administrations has delivered higher rates of jobs creation than any of the B Party administrations.
Deficit: Since 1960, the deficit each of the A Party administrations has passed to its successor was lower than the one it inherited, while each of the B Party administrations has increased the deficit. The average yearly deficit under the B Party administrations was 277 percent higher than the average deficit under the A Party.
Productivity: The gross state product of the 20 states that voted for the A Party candidate at least 5 times out of the last 8 elections (let's call them the A states) is 15 percent higher than the other states (the B states).
Household income: The median household income in the A states is 16 percent higher than in the B states.
Poverty: The percentage of persons below the poverty level in the A states is 21 percent lower than in the B states.
Health insurance: The percentage of people without health insurance in the A states is 25 percent lower than in the B states.
Advantage: Party A
Family values
Divorce: The divorce rate of the 20 states who voted for the C Party candidate at least 5 times out of the of last 8 elections (let's call them the C states) is 19 percent lower than the other states (the D states).
Birth to teenagers: The teenage birth rate in the C states is 38 percent lower than in the D states.
Birth to unmarried women: The unmarried women birth rate in the C states is 7 percent lower than in the D states.
Infant mortality: Children born in C states are 24 percent less likely to die before their first birthday than children in D states.
Murder: The murder rate in the C states is 17 percent lower than in the D states.
Rape: The forcible rape rate in the C states is 20 percent lower than in the D states.
Aggravated assault: The aggravated assault rate in the C states is 18 percent lower than in the D states.
Robbery: The robbery rate in the C states is 10 percent higher than in the D states (This is the one exception).
High school dropouts: The dropout rate in the C states is 16 percent lower than in the D states.
College: The college graduation rate in the C states is 16 percent higher than in the D states.
Advantage: Party C
I asked each of my friends to pick the category he or she considers more crucial, and then I showed them the key to the symbols.
That's when I was rewarded with my first success at achieving a crossover vote. To check whether your own preferences align with your vote, turn to Page E10.
The answers
This is the key to the identity of the two political parties analyzed by Yagil Herzberg in "The long view of the other party" on Page E3:
A - The Democratic Party
B - The Republican Party
C - The Democratic Party
D - The Republican Party
Yagil Hertzberg is an engineer who lives in Sunnyvale. Contact The Chronicle via our online form at sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1.
This article appeared on page E - 3 of the 12 SEPTEMBER 2010 San Francisco Chronicle
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Considering the facts who do you like now?
sex toys| 7.4.11 @ 1:05AM
Considering the facts who do you like now?