October 2006 Archives

Robert Fagles - Report - New York Times

Robert Fagles follows his celebrated translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey with a new translation of the Aeneid, becoming in the process one of the few people to translate all three epics. Remarkably, Fagles, who earned his doctorate in English literature, taught himself Greek and Latin. The Times' review has an interesting discussion of the subtle distinctions that Fagles attempted to capture between the poem's "public" voice and the private voice expressiong Aeneas' personal anguish.

Where We Went Wrong - washingtonpost.com

Dick Armey, of all people, on the current state of the Republican Party:

Now spending is out of control. Rather than rolling back government, we have a new $1.2 trillion Medicare prescription drug benefit, and non-defense discretionary spending is growing twice as fast as it had in the Clinton administration. Meanwhile, Social Security is collapsing while rogue nations are going nuclear and the Middle East is more combustible than ever. Yet Republican lawmakers have taken up such issues as flag burning, Terri Schiavo and same-sex marriage.

Armey is also probably right that if the Democrats win control of Congress in the coming election, they need to concentrate on sound policy that is good for the country rather than simply settling scores with the Republicans. Where Armey is wrong is in the implication that doing so is synonymous with surrendering to the Republican agenda of 1994.

In general, I like Andrew Sullivan, even if I suspect that there are many issues over which we disagree. I do not read Hugh Hewitt much, but what I have read, I do not like. I do not think that my reaction is based simply on my feelings about their respective politics, although I am sure that is part of it.

Reading Hewitt's interview of Sullivan, I found Hewitt's single-minded attack on Sullivan tendentious. Hewitt's tactic is basically to assert a superior knowledge of Constitutional Law and Catholic theology and then attempt to trip Sullivan on the details. Cross examination may be an effective means of determining credibility in the courtroom, but it does not make for a very pleasant or enlightening book interview. As a rule, when I watch a book interview, I am more interested in substantive information about the book than I am in skewering the author. I am willing to give the author enough of the benefit of the doubt so that I can learn something about his book. I have not yet read Sullivan's book, but the impression I get from his blog, in contrast to Hewitt's, is that he is more interested in a free spirit of inquiry than in playing the role of the grand inquisitor. Humility is a becoming trait, but it appears to be one in which Mr. Hewitt is singularly lacking.

Are Republicans Republicans because they hate Bill Clinton, or do they hate Bill Clinton because they are Republicans?

One person I asked thinks that the Republicans are obsessed with Bill Clinton because he got away with eight years of peace, prosperity, and even some legislative accomplishments — without having control of Congress for the most part — whereas the Republicans, after six years of virtually complete dominance of all three branches of government, have nothing to show but a yawning deficit and a catastrophic foreign war. The only explanation is that Bill Clinton worked some weird mojo on them and is still laughing from the sidelines. (She dismissed the idea that people are obsessed with Clinton because he is an unethical male horndog — after all, doesn't one expect that of our (male) politicians?) What do you think?

I have just finished Bob Woodward's State of Denial. I can't quote from it, because I have already lent my copy to a friend. However, I can say it is a very clear explanation of how the Iraq War, a bad decision in the first place, went from bad to worse. Most of the outline should be known to any reader of the newspaper by now, but the details are quite telling. Perhaps most revealing for me was Woodward's account of Jay Garner's telling Donald Rumsfeld the United States had made three tragic mistakes: disbanding the Iraqi army, purging the government of mid-level Ba'ath party members, and refusing to meet with a provisional government. Garner's analysis, however, does not begin to capture the fundamental wrongheadedness of the prosecution of the war portrayed by Woodward, from the futile search for the Weapons of Mass Destruction that never were to the willful deafness to any kind of bad news.

The Year Of Playing Dirtier - washingtonpost.com

The Washington Post reports on new lows in political ads, mainly Republican — from false accusations that Democratic candidates engaged in phone sex to white women making come-ons to African American candidates in Sourthern states with particularly virulent lingering biases against interracial relationships.

Newsrack, the most recent addition to my blogroll, responds to Rush Limbaugh's juvenile attack on Michael J. Fox's poltical ads in support of stem cell research. Limbaugh accused Fox of faking the symptoms of his illness and the side effects of his treatment. The link has a YouTube clip of one of the ads, so one can see what the controversy is about.

Having rather enjoyed and admired Victor Davis Hanson's book on the Peloponnesian War, I was quite disappointed to read his screed on how the Arabs should be more grateful after all we have done for them. Hanson may be right that politics in the Middle East is broken, but he does not seem to be willing to acknowledge how deeply implicated the West has been in the breaking. And it seems churlish for a Classical scholar to deride the intellectual heritage of the people who preserved the writings of the Greeks.

Link from Lawyers, Guns and Money

Ben Cardin has the most powerful political ad I have heard on the radio in a long time. However, to get it you need to know (1) who John Lewis is, (2) that African Americans may well be the swing vote in the Maryland Senate race, and (3) that the Republican candidate Michael Steele is also African American.

Bumpersticker by Irregular Goods.

Books: State of Denial - washingtonpost.com

Bob Woodward faces questions on his new book, State of Denial, which I am finding engrossing, if depressing.

Embattled CEO To Step Down At UnitedHealth - WSJ.com

William McGuire's company is rich beyond the dreams of avarice by limiting or denying needed medical care to kids like mine. Dr. McGuire is rich beyond the dreams of avarice because he allegedly backdated his stock options illegally.

At the end of last year, Dr. McGuire's cache of unexercised options was valued at $1.78 billion, a sum far greater than any other U.S. corporate chieftain. Yesterday, UnitedHealth said he agreed to have all of the options issued to him from 1994 through 2002 repriced, likely cutting tens of millions in dollars from their value. But the company left open other financial arrangements with Dr. McGuire, and the exact terms of his departure are likely to be the subject of intense negotiations.

McGuire is under investigation by the S.E.C. , federal prosecutors in New York, and the Minnesota attorney general. Somehow, however, I am skeptical that Dr. McGuire will ever do more than a few months at a federal country club, after which he will be free to enjoy his ill gotten millions.

The BBC Climate Change Project uses idle time on thousands of PCs around the world to create a virtual supercomputer that runs climate change experiments. Basically, once you sign up and download the software, if you are not using your computer, the BBC Climate Change Project is. A variety of similar projects, powered by BOINC technology, are available through GridRepublic; GridRepublic lets you run several different projects on your computer.

Anyone who cares to join one of my teams (the Hong Kong Kavaliers! after the Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai) can sign up for any of the following projects at the following sites or through GridRepublic:

Hong Kong Kavaliers:

• BBC Climate Change Project


• Similarity Matrix of Proteins


• Einstein@Home


• SZTAKI Desktop Grid


• Quantum Monte Carlo at Home (QMC@Home)

Restraints Fray as Nuclear Age Grows Globally - New York Times

The New York Times explains why nuclear power may be mankind's most tragic mistake, since it enables the widespread proliferation of nuclear weapons.

TAPPED

Scott Lemieux debunks criticism of the Lancet study in the American Prospect.

(Incidentally, in an earlier post I stated that the study was 95 percent accurate. More precisely, there is a 95 percent chance that the number of deaths falls between approximately 400,000 and 800,000 950,000, with the most likely number being around 600,000.)

Congratulations to Professor Joan Meier and the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP) on receiving the Mary Byron Foundation's Celebrating Solutions Award today. DV LEAP provides critical help to domestic violence victims and lawyers who are appealing adverse rulings in the courts. Not only does DV LEAP aid and empower victims, but it works actively to improve the law regarding domestic violence.

Playin' with technorati.

Not surprisingly, MoorishGirl already had the story. The commentary is worth reading, particularly the note that Bush may have killed more Iraqis than Saddam.

Iraqi Death Toll Exceeds 600,000, Study Estimates - WSJ.com

The Wall Street Journal reports that a study to be published in the Briitish medical journal the Lancet estimates the number of Iraqi civilian deaths at 600,000.

WASHINGTON -- A new study asserts that roughly 600,000 Iraqis have died from violence since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, a figure many times higher than any previous estimate.

The scientific methodology of the study, performed by scientists who have studied Rwanda and other crises, is described as excellent by
university experts in the United States. The results are credited with being 95% accurate.

The Bush League

The Washington Post's Gene Weingarten asks if George W. Bush is the worst president in U.S. history. Judge for yourself.

I have just gotten around to trying out del.icio.us. The site allows you to "tag" web pages so that they can be organized into bookmarks on your del.icio.us account. The site lets you search for similarly tagged items, and it tells you who else has tagged the web page you have tagged. Very cool.

Andrew Sullivan reports that the Library of Congress has accepted the Kameny papers.

Foley Case Upsets Tough Balance by Capitol Hill’s Gay Republicans - New York Times

In a story on gay Republican Congressional staffers, the New York Time writes:

When asked why he remains in the party, Mr. Bennett gave an answer common to gay Republicans: he said that he remained fundamentally in sync with the small government principles of the party and its approach to national security, and that he was committed to changing what he considers its antigay attitudes.

How ironic that the Republicans are now the party of big government deficit spending and intrusive deficit spending, and that their national security policy has proved an unmitigated disaster for the country.

Outspoken Putin critic shot dead in Moscow - washingtonpost.com

A free press is the last bulwark against tyranny. It seems to have crumbled in Russia.

MOSCOW, Oct. 7 -- Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist whose byline defined the fading craft of investigative and crusading reporting in President Vladimir Putin's Russia, was fatally gunned down Saturday in the lobby of her apartment building in central Moscow.

Anna Politkovskaya should be remembered as an inspiration to us all.

BREITBART.COM - Veteran Actor Collapses Onstage, Dies

Actor Gene Janson collapsed on stage in the midst of one his favorite roles and died shortly thereafter.

"There is a certain poetic irony to his death," Christopher Janson said. "He died doing what he loved, which was being on the stage and in a play he was so proud of."

There are worse ways to go than dying before a throng of admirers in the midst of your life's great work. Link from Andrew Sullivan.

United Church of Christ News - UCC leader criticizes Family Research Council's use of Foley scandal to scapegoat gays, lesbians

The Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, is condemning remarks by Tony Perkins, president of the right-wing Family Research Council, who is using the Mark Foley congressional scandal to scapegoat the larger gay and lesbian community.

The United Church of Christ issued a strong statement condeming attacks on homosexuals arising out of Congressman Mark Foley's advances to Congressional pages. The problem, the UCC pointed out, is one of sexual predation on youth by adults, and is not rooted in sexual orientation. Link from Andrew Sullivan.

One of my personal heroes, Daniel Ellsberg, thinks it is time for federal employees to start leaking what they know before the Bush Administration plunges the country into war with Iran.

Virginia Republican Senator George Allen has created a sensation with a spectacular string of racially and ethnically offensive remarks, whether it is referring to a South Asian Democratic aide as a monkey ("macaca") or stating that asking a question about his Jewish lineage is casting an "aspersion." Now, Slate magazine offers the George Allen Insult Generator!

Keith Ferrazzi announces a new way to donate your home computer's unused computing power to advance scientific and medical research through the power of BOINC. Building on the success of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in harnessing idle computers across the Internet to donate spare processing power, GridRepublic now offers the chance to donate idle computing power on your home computer to a variety of scientific projects.