North Korea has vehemently denied blowing up a South Korean warship in South Korean waters and, at the same time posted these posters in Pyongyan.
Just when I think we have first class crazies, along comes North Korea
All posts by Steve Stern
When is torture, torture?
There are times when I read the The New York Times – or, atleast, look at the front page – when I think that newspapers, and especially the New York Times, are all that is standing between us and politicians running wild. That a free press is critical to democracy. Then there are times when I think the papers will do anything, print anything, the politicians want.
For as long as I can remember, waterboarding has been torture. Everybody called it torture. When we learned about the Spanish Inquisition _ and it is interesting that, in a burst of PC religious tolerance, it was called the Spanish Inquisition not the Catholic Inquisition – waterboarding and burning at the stake were highlights. It was defined as torture by the Geneva Convention that we signed. I was taught we didn’t do stuff like that – Nazis did stuff like that, North Koreans – it was one of the main reason we were better than them.
Then we start torturing and the New York Times – as well as the Los Angeles Times – started referring to waterboarding as enhanced interrogation. The NYT defend the new terminology by saying it is somewhat misleading and tendentious to focus on whether we have embraced the politically correct term in our news stories. There seemed and still seems to be no recognition that what the paper called torture for fifty or sixty or seventy years – and has now been changed – is more than just a politically correct nicety.
When the wars started and the military said that it would embed journalists, there was a short dust-up about whether they could still be objective. But journalists are already embedded: they are embedded with the Washington establishment and they are not objective. Hell, they are part of the Washington establishment. Actually and even worse, they may be objective but are afraid to say anything negative.
As an aside, for some strange reason – unknown to me – the only thing that seems to break loose from the black hole of sympathetic and sycophantic news coverage of Washington elites by other Washington elites, are sex scandals or racist remarks. A politician – especially a powerful politician like the president – lies about, say, WMD’s; the papers go along. End aside.
When, Stephen Colbert, speaking at the White House Correspondents Dinner, attacked the stupid things George Bush was doing, the assembled journalists were shocked. It was rude. As if unnecessarily going to war isn’t rude. No wonder torture has become enhanced interrogation.
Palo Alto Clay & Glass Festival – 2010
For me, one of the highlights of summer is the Palo Alto Clay & Glass Festival. It is always surprisingly good but the high goodness factor shouldn't be surprising. Palo Alto is the cultural capital of Silicon Valley – or, probably, more accurately – the Haute Culture capital of Silicon Valley and Silicon Valley has a lot of young, educated, hip, very rich people.
In many ways, Palo Alto is an mid-America city with shady residential streets and a small Art Center. Except that, per square foot of lot and house, it is one of the most expensive places in the known universe. Behind the trees are alot of very wealthy people and the Art Center reflects that by putting on very sophisticated shows.
My first taste of the Craft Movement came at the Renaissance Faire – note the classy "e" at the end of Fair – which featured very primitive crafts. One glass artist I talked to, reminisced on how his first glass teacher could barely blow glass. Forty five years later, the artists have become very good.
The ceramists – ceramics being my first craft love – are getting especially good. Some of them are making forms that highlight the nature of clay and some are making exquisite bowls.
At this point, Michele and I have enough handmade bowls and plates to last usd for the rest of our natural lives but it is still a treat, on a summer afternoon, to wander under the trees looking at all the goodies.
Sometimes I don’t even understand the NRA
From the New Orleans Times-Picayune by way of Gawker: Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed into law one of the more controversial
bills from the recent legislative session, one allowing guns to be
carried into houses of worship.
It's not so much that bringing a gun into church pisses me off, it's just that I don't even understand it. How did anyone even think of that? Who wakes up in the morning and says America world would be a better place if we could just bring our guns into church.?
I can sort of understand Bobby Jindal – I think – he didn't initiate the bill, he just signed it so he can be seen as pro-gun. But what about the guy that thought this up? Was it a joke? Does he really think this will make America a better place? It beats me.
The reconstruction of General and President U.S. Grant
A couple of days ago, maybe a week, Siena Collage ran – did? – a poll of 238 presidential scholars on the ranking of our presidents. This is a poll they run periodically and it is interesting to see how the ratings of different presidents have changed over time. In this poll, FDR is always on the top and Teddy Roosevelt, Lincoln, and Washington always round out the top four.
Former – former, that has a nice ring to it – president George W. Bush was ranked 39th with poor ratings in handling of the economy, communication, ability to compromise, and foreign policy and current president Barrack Obama was ranked 15th. For years, Grant – a personal hero of mine – has always been near the bottom.
In the1982, 1990, and 1994 polls, he was in the bottom five.In 2002, he moved up the 35th (of 42). Now, he’s 26th, escaping the ranks of the failed presidents. No, he isn’t in the top ten, and he probably shouldn’t be, but he is no longer the drunken clown; as he was painted.
It makes me happy.