My daughter and I flew from Wichita to Portland yesterday, with stops in Denver and Seattle. (Coming back it will be more direct, with a stop only in Denver.) Going on a Boeing 757 from Denver to Seattle was exciting. United definitely took good care of us on the trip, and my daughter's bag came through the checking process like it was supposed to.
In Portland I am staying at my oldest son's apartment in the downtown area. We walked down to the Willamette River riverfront area this morning and saw a drawbridge open and cl ose. I was surprised at how many bridges there are across the river. Normally there are many more blocks between bridges, even in a downtown area. (It is a wide river so each bridge is a major project.) I was impressed with a plaque recounting how Oregonians in 1938 decided to clean up the river pollution, and by 1972 it was again deemed safe for water activities. This puts Oregon about 32 years ahead of the rest of the country, in my estimation.
I am also impressed with the public transportation here. My son and his fiancee are getting along without a car. My son actually took the train to the airport to meet us, and we then rode the train back into town to within a few blocks of his apartment.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Who Is Entitled to Found Money?
This issue involves a situation in which the owner cannot be found, or has abandoned the property in the legal sense of "abandonment", and there are two other competing claimants arguing who is entitled to the money.
This musing is prompted by a recent AP story telling of a contractor who discovered bundles of cash totaling $182,000 hidden behind bathroom walls of a house he was renovating. He immediately called the owner of the house. The bills had apparently been stashed there by a former owner of the house, and of course were long since abandoned by that former owner.
The two parties soon fell to arguing about who was entitled to the find, and now talk to each other only through their lawyers. The contractor rejected the owner's offer of a 10% finders fee, and takes the position that in Ohio (where this happened) the rule of "finders keepers" applies. He has offered to settle for 40% of the total, and this is the impasse existing at this time.
This brings to mind the fight over the record-setting Barry Bonds baseball. Replays showed one man catching the ball. There was then a big pileup of bodies, and another man emerged from the scrum with the ball. The first guy says he was "mugged" by the second and the ball stolen from his hand, while the second says no, I saw it rolling on the ground and I dove for it and got it.
Well, the two went to court on this and after a 3-week trial the Judge ordered the ball sold at auction, with the proceeds to be split 50-50. But here is where the plot sickens. The ball went for $450,000, making each claimant's share $225,000. Thinking the ball would bring in the neighborhood of the $3,000,000 that the McGwire record-setting ball had brought, the first guy had hired his lawyer on an hourly basis. After the trial the lawyer filed a claim for his fees in the staggering amount of $473,530.32!"It was an aggressively litigated case, and we're very proud of what we did," said the lawyer. "Alex had nothing going into the trial. This was a very novel case, nothing had been done in the area of personal property since the 1800s."
This all brings to mind a recent case I was involved in, which is strongly analogous to the above two cases. It involved competing claims to pay-on-death benefits between an ex-wife and the decedent's children. As in the above cases, each side could have pursued a claim for the entire funds involved, and a long and bruising court fight would have ensued, as there were complex legal issues which would have had to be litigated. However, in my case both sides (and their respective attorneys) were reasonable enough to understand that compromise was in everybody's best interests, and they agreed on a 50-50 split, making litigation unnecessary. (Even at that, I ended up investing nearly 100 hours on the case!)
To sum up, remember that half a loaf is better than none, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, (insert your own cliche here), and remember that you will be a healthier and happier person getting a dispute behind you and proceeding ahead with your life, then miring yourself in endless litigation over what you mistakenly perceive as "principle".
This musing is prompted by a recent AP story telling of a contractor who discovered bundles of cash totaling $182,000 hidden behind bathroom walls of a house he was renovating. He immediately called the owner of the house. The bills had apparently been stashed there by a former owner of the house, and of course were long since abandoned by that former owner.
The two parties soon fell to arguing about who was entitled to the find, and now talk to each other only through their lawyers. The contractor rejected the owner's offer of a 10% finders fee, and takes the position that in Ohio (where this happened) the rule of "finders keepers" applies. He has offered to settle for 40% of the total, and this is the impasse existing at this time.
This brings to mind the fight over the record-setting Barry Bonds baseball. Replays showed one man catching the ball. There was then a big pileup of bodies, and another man emerged from the scrum with the ball. The first guy says he was "mugged" by the second and the ball stolen from his hand, while the second says no, I saw it rolling on the ground and I dove for it and got it.
Well, the two went to court on this and after a 3-week trial the Judge ordered the ball sold at auction, with the proceeds to be split 50-50. But here is where the plot sickens. The ball went for $450,000, making each claimant's share $225,000. Thinking the ball would bring in the neighborhood of the $3,000,000 that the McGwire record-setting ball had brought, the first guy had hired his lawyer on an hourly basis. After the trial the lawyer filed a claim for his fees in the staggering amount of $473,530.32!"It was an aggressively litigated case, and we're very proud of what we did," said the lawyer. "Alex had nothing going into the trial. This was a very novel case, nothing had been done in the area of personal property since the 1800s."
Popov, who said he has obtained a new lawyer and is mulling a malpractice suit, bristled at Triano's comments. "It was a very simple case. He was the one that made it complex," he said. "I trusted the wrong man."
(My observation here is that lay people perhaps have trouble understanding that just because the *facts* of a case seem simple, that doesn't mean the *legal issues* are simple.)
The second guy had a happier result, as he had hired his lawyers on a contingency basis. Even then, he actually would have *lost* money after paying trial expenses, taxes and fees on his share, but his lawyers were willing to cut their fee enough to ensure cash in hand for the client.This all brings to mind a recent case I was involved in, which is strongly analogous to the above two cases. It involved competing claims to pay-on-death benefits between an ex-wife and the decedent's children. As in the above cases, each side could have pursued a claim for the entire funds involved, and a long and bruising court fight would have ensued, as there were complex legal issues which would have had to be litigated. However, in my case both sides (and their respective attorneys) were reasonable enough to understand that compromise was in everybody's best interests, and they agreed on a 50-50 split, making litigation unnecessary. (Even at that, I ended up investing nearly 100 hours on the case!)
To sum up, remember that half a loaf is better than none, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, (insert your own cliche here), and remember that you will be a healthier and happier person getting a dispute behind you and proceeding ahead with your life, then miring yourself in endless litigation over what you mistakenly perceive as "principle".
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Was the Cold War Truman's Fault?
Last Sunday School class dealt with the chapter in Jim Juhnke's book, "The Missing Peace", on the cold war. Jim blames Truman and "his hard-line Secretary of State, James F. Byrnes" for creating the sort of cold war hysteria which we baby-boomers lived through in the 1950's.
Jim calls Truman "a politician uninformed and inexperienced in international affairs". He suggests that if Roosevelt had kept Wallace on the ticket in 1944, instead of dumping him for Truman, Wallace would then have become President instead of Truman, and "might have spared the world some forty years of cold war".
Jim's one sentence describing how Truman was selected in 1944 instead of Wallace is: "Roosevelt allowed conservative Democrats of the anti-civil rights South and the urban machines to dump Wallace for Truman". This did not ring true with my own recollection of the process, as described by Jim Bishop in his wonderful book, "FDR's Last Year", so I went back and reread that chapter in Bishop's book.
Bishop describes how FDR announced he would run again on 7/11/44, and shortly thereafter he met with his advisers to discuss who would be his running mate. Various names were mentioned and then shot down, with Wallace's name being scarcely mentioned at all. Bishop writes that "it was obvious that Mr. Roosevelt was too tired to start another battle for his personal preference, as he had in 1940."
The upshot of the meeting was that Roosevelt would be happy with either Truman or Bill Douglas as a running mate. Robert Hannegan, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, asked FDR for a note to that effect, and Roosevelt wrote: "You have written me about Bill Douglas or Harry Truman. I should, of course, be happy to run with either of them and believe that either of them would bring real strength to the ticket." The next day Hannegan had FDR's secretary type the note, except he asked that it read "Truman or Douglas" rather than "Douglas or Truman", making it look like FDR preferred Truman.
Truman, who had pledged his own support to James F. Brynes, was not told until the Sunday before the convention that his name was to be placed in nomination. The convention delegates preferred Wallace, and on the first ballot Wallace led 429 to 319 over Truman, with favorite sons receiving the other 400 votes. On the second roll call vote the state delegations one by one started switching to Truman, and he prevailed 1031-105.
This, then, is the detailed account of how Truman got selected. The people in the room with FDR when this was discussed were his political advisers, and I see no evidence that they were stacked in favor of Southerners or urban machine politicians. These were people FDR had selected to advise him and to hold the top spots in the party machinery.
FDR himself had written that if her were a delegate, he would vote for Wallace. However, he also made it clear that he did not want to influence the delegates one way or the other. Hence his rather mild endorsement of Truman and Douglas.
The real "what if" question is what if FDR had not run in 1944? Bishop's book makes it clear that FDR was way too sick in 1944 to undertake another 4-year term. He was given complete physical exams by his doctors every morning and every evening, and was constantly being told to get more rest, even though he was already spending most of each day in bed. A better man would have stepped aside at that point, but this after all is the same man who refused to support Upton Sinclair in his run for California governor in 1934, who refused to let the boatload of Jews into the country and sent them back to Europe, where most of them perished in the Holocaust, who refused to desegregate the armed forces, who put Japanese-Americans into concentration camps during the war, and who refused to tell Truman about the atomic bomb project.
*****
The other part of Juhnke's chapter which interested me is his citing of George F. Kennan as somene who should have been listened to in the aftermath of WW2. I had always thought of Kennan as a hard-liner, but Juhnke presents a different view. He was indeed one of the architects of the post-war policy of "containment", but he soon started taking issue with how that policy was being carried out. His concern had been the *political* expansion of Stalinist communism, not the *military* expansion.
Kennan's Wikipedia biography depicts a long life of constructive criticism of US foreign policy. His famous 1946 "long telegram" discussing US-Soviet relations suggested that the solution was "to strengthen Western institutions in order to render them invulnerable to the Soviet challenge while awaiting the eventual mellowing of the Soviet regime". The hard-liners in the Truman administration, and Truman himself, used this to advocate for a military solution. It is interesting in hindsight to note that the "eventual mellowing" Kennan mentioned did in fact ultimately occur.
Kennan served the govenrment intermittently untl 1963, when he retired to academia. During the '60's he criticized US invovlment in Indochina. In 2002, at age 98, he criticized US involvement in Iraq, saying: "Anyone who has ever studied the history of American diplomacy, especially military diplomacy, knows that you might start in a war with certain things on your mind as a purpose of what you are doing, but in the end, you found yourself fighting for entirely different things that you had never thought of before... In other words, war has a momentum of its own and it carries you away from all thoughtful intentions when you get into it. Today, if we went into Iraq, like the president would like us to do, you know where you begin. You never know where you are going to end." Again, he hit the nail right on the head, as the last 5 years of our misadventure in Iraq have made clear.
Kennan died in 2005 at the age of 101, survivied by his wife of 74 years. His daughter Grace remarked that "It was his enormous curiosity that kept him alive so long. He had an enormous interest in the world, and I remember, even toward the end, he would get so angry at the paper, angry at the TV."
Jim calls Truman "a politician uninformed and inexperienced in international affairs". He suggests that if Roosevelt had kept Wallace on the ticket in 1944, instead of dumping him for Truman, Wallace would then have become President instead of Truman, and "might have spared the world some forty years of cold war".
Jim's one sentence describing how Truman was selected in 1944 instead of Wallace is: "Roosevelt allowed conservative Democrats of the anti-civil rights South and the urban machines to dump Wallace for Truman". This did not ring true with my own recollection of the process, as described by Jim Bishop in his wonderful book, "FDR's Last Year", so I went back and reread that chapter in Bishop's book.
Bishop describes how FDR announced he would run again on 7/11/44, and shortly thereafter he met with his advisers to discuss who would be his running mate. Various names were mentioned and then shot down, with Wallace's name being scarcely mentioned at all. Bishop writes that "it was obvious that Mr. Roosevelt was too tired to start another battle for his personal preference, as he had in 1940."
The upshot of the meeting was that Roosevelt would be happy with either Truman or Bill Douglas as a running mate. Robert Hannegan, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, asked FDR for a note to that effect, and Roosevelt wrote: "You have written me about Bill Douglas or Harry Truman. I should, of course, be happy to run with either of them and believe that either of them would bring real strength to the ticket." The next day Hannegan had FDR's secretary type the note, except he asked that it read "Truman or Douglas" rather than "Douglas or Truman", making it look like FDR preferred Truman.
Truman, who had pledged his own support to James F. Brynes, was not told until the Sunday before the convention that his name was to be placed in nomination. The convention delegates preferred Wallace, and on the first ballot Wallace led 429 to 319 over Truman, with favorite sons receiving the other 400 votes. On the second roll call vote the state delegations one by one started switching to Truman, and he prevailed 1031-105.
This, then, is the detailed account of how Truman got selected. The people in the room with FDR when this was discussed were his political advisers, and I see no evidence that they were stacked in favor of Southerners or urban machine politicians. These were people FDR had selected to advise him and to hold the top spots in the party machinery.
FDR himself had written that if her were a delegate, he would vote for Wallace. However, he also made it clear that he did not want to influence the delegates one way or the other. Hence his rather mild endorsement of Truman and Douglas.
The real "what if" question is what if FDR had not run in 1944? Bishop's book makes it clear that FDR was way too sick in 1944 to undertake another 4-year term. He was given complete physical exams by his doctors every morning and every evening, and was constantly being told to get more rest, even though he was already spending most of each day in bed. A better man would have stepped aside at that point, but this after all is the same man who refused to support Upton Sinclair in his run for California governor in 1934, who refused to let the boatload of Jews into the country and sent them back to Europe, where most of them perished in the Holocaust, who refused to desegregate the armed forces, who put Japanese-Americans into concentration camps during the war, and who refused to tell Truman about the atomic bomb project.
*****
The other part of Juhnke's chapter which interested me is his citing of George F. Kennan as somene who should have been listened to in the aftermath of WW2. I had always thought of Kennan as a hard-liner, but Juhnke presents a different view. He was indeed one of the architects of the post-war policy of "containment", but he soon started taking issue with how that policy was being carried out. His concern had been the *political* expansion of Stalinist communism, not the *military* expansion.
Kennan's Wikipedia biography depicts a long life of constructive criticism of US foreign policy. His famous 1946 "long telegram" discussing US-Soviet relations suggested that the solution was "to strengthen Western institutions in order to render them invulnerable to the Soviet challenge while awaiting the eventual mellowing of the Soviet regime". The hard-liners in the Truman administration, and Truman himself, used this to advocate for a military solution. It is interesting in hindsight to note that the "eventual mellowing" Kennan mentioned did in fact ultimately occur.
Kennan served the govenrment intermittently untl 1963, when he retired to academia. During the '60's he criticized US invovlment in Indochina. In 2002, at age 98, he criticized US involvement in Iraq, saying: "Anyone who has ever studied the history of American diplomacy, especially military diplomacy, knows that you might start in a war with certain things on your mind as a purpose of what you are doing, but in the end, you found yourself fighting for entirely different things that you had never thought of before... In other words, war has a momentum of its own and it carries you away from all thoughtful intentions when you get into it. Today, if we went into Iraq, like the president would like us to do, you know where you begin. You never know where you are going to end." Again, he hit the nail right on the head, as the last 5 years of our misadventure in Iraq have made clear.
Kennan died in 2005 at the age of 101, survivied by his wife of 74 years. His daughter Grace remarked that "It was his enormous curiosity that kept him alive so long. He had an enormous interest in the world, and I remember, even toward the end, he would get so angry at the paper, angry at the TV."
Thursday, December 13, 2007
My Top Super Bowl Memories
1. In Super Bowl I, Max McGee reaching back to make a one-handed catch against his hip, helping the Packers crush the Chiefs. There was quite a story behind McGee's even playing. After catching only 4 passes all year, the aging McGee had stayed out late partying the night before as he didn't expect to play. But the regular wide receiver got hurt early in the game, and McGee was pressed into service. The game plan called for the wide receiver to take advantage of perceived weaknesses in the Chiefs' secondary, and McGee did just that.
2. Joe Namath brashly guaranteeing victory in Super Bowl III and then making good on his promise. This, along with the Chiefs' win the following year, cemented the AFL's status as an equal to the NFL.
3. Perhaps the first truly entertaining Super Bowl was number XIII. The image I remember is Terry Bradshaw firing the ball toward the goal line, and his receiver (both Swann and Stallworth scored touchdowns) leaping up during a crossing route and making a nice grab at the goal line. I remember Bradshaw remarking that he had never (or rarely, perhaps) even had 300 years passing in an entire game, and here he almost had that in the first half. The NFL had instituted new rules limiting what defenders could do, which played a role in opening up the game. It truly was a memorable one, with the Cowboys hanging in there nicely and ending up making it close at 35-31.
4. During the playoffs following the 82-83 season, John Riggins had told his teammates to climb on his back, he would carry them to victory. He did just that, rushing for over 100 yards in all 4 playoff games, and carrying the ball a record 38 times (!) in Super Bowl XVII to lead his Redskins to a 27-17 win over the Dolphins. As Yogi once said, "it ain't bragging if you can do it!". And Riggins sure did it.
5. The most memorable finish was surely that of Super Bowl XXXIV, with the Titans needing a touchdown on the last play of the game to catch the Rams. Rams defender Mike Jones made a great one-on-one tackle on Titans receiver Kevin Dyson at the one-yard line to preserve the Rams 23-17 win. Another great story line was the amazing season Rams QB Kurt Warner had. What a story he was! He had been working in a grocery store and playing in the the Arena League, when he caught on with the Rams as the back-up QB. Then when the regular QB was hurt early in the season, Warner took over and passed the Rams to the World Championship.
6. All the pre-game hype for Super Bowl XL concerned it being Jerome Bettis' last game, and how special it was that it was being played in Detroit, his hometown. Well, the officials must have read the hype and decided to let Bettis go out with a win, because they simply gave the game to the Steelers with a series of crucial bad calls. The one I remember most was a "pushing off" penalty on the Seahawks receiver, resulting in a Seahawks touchdown being nullified. The so-called pushing off consisted of the mildest of nudges, the sort of thing which never would have been called on a defender, who is typically allowed to mug the receivers as the receivers attempt to run their routes, and surely did not affect the result. Whatever happened to "no harm, no foul"?? It is obvious instant replay has a long way to go to correct the injustices caused by bad calls.
*****
Last Wednesday night at Stooges last night, as my daughter had her final exam and will be on a different schedule next semester. My friend Oil was there but left early, and I ended up playing Six sitting next to the (delightfully) quirky blonde woman, Newman. She actually won the game, making only the 2nd time I played Six there and didn't get on the bar's top 10 board for the last year (the other time I had a bad box).
Interesting exchange with Oil linking Quincy's--formerly Players--formerly cop bar--incident there once in which a bunch of off-duty cops foiled an attempted holdup--reminding me of the opening restaurant scene in Pulp Fiction in which the couple decide that restaurants are easy targets to rob because there are fewer "heroes" there. Well, Players had many "heroes" there when some poor slob decided to rob it!
2. Joe Namath brashly guaranteeing victory in Super Bowl III and then making good on his promise. This, along with the Chiefs' win the following year, cemented the AFL's status as an equal to the NFL.
3. Perhaps the first truly entertaining Super Bowl was number XIII. The image I remember is Terry Bradshaw firing the ball toward the goal line, and his receiver (both Swann and Stallworth scored touchdowns) leaping up during a crossing route and making a nice grab at the goal line. I remember Bradshaw remarking that he had never (or rarely, perhaps) even had 300 years passing in an entire game, and here he almost had that in the first half. The NFL had instituted new rules limiting what defenders could do, which played a role in opening up the game. It truly was a memorable one, with the Cowboys hanging in there nicely and ending up making it close at 35-31.
4. During the playoffs following the 82-83 season, John Riggins had told his teammates to climb on his back, he would carry them to victory. He did just that, rushing for over 100 yards in all 4 playoff games, and carrying the ball a record 38 times (!) in Super Bowl XVII to lead his Redskins to a 27-17 win over the Dolphins. As Yogi once said, "it ain't bragging if you can do it!". And Riggins sure did it.
5. The most memorable finish was surely that of Super Bowl XXXIV, with the Titans needing a touchdown on the last play of the game to catch the Rams. Rams defender Mike Jones made a great one-on-one tackle on Titans receiver Kevin Dyson at the one-yard line to preserve the Rams 23-17 win. Another great story line was the amazing season Rams QB Kurt Warner had. What a story he was! He had been working in a grocery store and playing in the the Arena League, when he caught on with the Rams as the back-up QB. Then when the regular QB was hurt early in the season, Warner took over and passed the Rams to the World Championship.
6. All the pre-game hype for Super Bowl XL concerned it being Jerome Bettis' last game, and how special it was that it was being played in Detroit, his hometown. Well, the officials must have read the hype and decided to let Bettis go out with a win, because they simply gave the game to the Steelers with a series of crucial bad calls. The one I remember most was a "pushing off" penalty on the Seahawks receiver, resulting in a Seahawks touchdown being nullified. The so-called pushing off consisted of the mildest of nudges, the sort of thing which never would have been called on a defender, who is typically allowed to mug the receivers as the receivers attempt to run their routes, and surely did not affect the result. Whatever happened to "no harm, no foul"?? It is obvious instant replay has a long way to go to correct the injustices caused by bad calls.
*****
Last Wednesday night at Stooges last night, as my daughter had her final exam and will be on a different schedule next semester. My friend Oil was there but left early, and I ended up playing Six sitting next to the (delightfully) quirky blonde woman, Newman. She actually won the game, making only the 2nd time I played Six there and didn't get on the bar's top 10 board for the last year (the other time I had a bad box).
Interesting exchange with Oil linking Quincy's--formerly Players--formerly cop bar--incident there once in which a bunch of off-duty cops foiled an attempted holdup--reminding me of the opening restaurant scene in Pulp Fiction in which the couple decide that restaurants are easy targets to rob because there are fewer "heroes" there. Well, Players had many "heroes" there when some poor slob decided to rob it!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The Federal Sentencing Guidelines
Well, wonder of wonders, the Supreme Court finally got somethign right! On Monday they handed down a decision holding that the federal sentencing guidelines were just that--guidelines--and not mandatory. The cases at issue were two cases in which Judges in drug cases had sentenced defendants to less than the guidelines called for. In each case the Judge had good reason for doing so, yet the Court of Appeals overturned each decision, feeling the guidelines were mandatory.
One problem with the guidelines is that they are blatantly racist in their application. It takes 50-100 times the quantity of powder cocaine (favored by White middle class users) to result in an equivalent sentence for use of crack cocaine (favored by Blacks). This was the reason behind the Judge's thinking in one of the 2 cases. Still, the Judge had to impose the 15-year mandatory minimum set by Congress, which raises another issue of the unfairness of these mandatory minimums which legislatures are so fond of imposing to limit the discretion of Judges to do the right thing in a particular case.
Kudos to the two Judges who had the courage to do the right thing, and to the Supreme Court. Boos and hisses to the morons on the Court of Appeals. And let's pray for wisdom for the members of the Sentencing Commission, which is now meeting to consider a revision in these horrible and draconian guidelines.
One problem with the guidelines is that they are blatantly racist in their application. It takes 50-100 times the quantity of powder cocaine (favored by White middle class users) to result in an equivalent sentence for use of crack cocaine (favored by Blacks). This was the reason behind the Judge's thinking in one of the 2 cases. Still, the Judge had to impose the 15-year mandatory minimum set by Congress, which raises another issue of the unfairness of these mandatory minimums which legislatures are so fond of imposing to limit the discretion of Judges to do the right thing in a particular case.
Kudos to the two Judges who had the courage to do the right thing, and to the Supreme Court. Boos and hisses to the morons on the Court of Appeals. And let's pray for wisdom for the members of the Sentencing Commission, which is now meeting to consider a revision in these horrible and draconian guidelines.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Law and Order
"I apologize, Your Honor, I've been watching too much Law and Order lately." Yes, believe it or not, I actually said that to a Judge yesterday, after I had improperly interrupted the other attorney during his argument!
Law and Order is a great show, but it inaccurately portrays the legal system in several respects. One is the way attorneys continually interrupt each other during arguments to the Judge, usually concerning the setting of bond for the defendant.
A more outrageous inaccuracy is the way prosecutors will meet with the defendants directly and engage in discussion of the case. No defense attorney in his or her right mind would ever allow this, even when the attorney is present also to run interference. It just doesn't happen that way. Typically an offer from the prosecutor is made to the defense attorney, who then discusses it IN PRIVATE with the client, and reports back to the prosecutor.
*****
Today's quote comes from Garrison Keillor: "We're burdened by the need to be cool. When I was in college, I read Kafka and Camus and tried to write like them, in flat, non-American English, as if writing under the influence of a migraine, until it slowly dawned on me that I was missing the basic experiences that had formed them. Enduring high school is not the same as growing up Jewish in Prague or fighting in the French resistance."
Law and Order is a great show, but it inaccurately portrays the legal system in several respects. One is the way attorneys continually interrupt each other during arguments to the Judge, usually concerning the setting of bond for the defendant.
A more outrageous inaccuracy is the way prosecutors will meet with the defendants directly and engage in discussion of the case. No defense attorney in his or her right mind would ever allow this, even when the attorney is present also to run interference. It just doesn't happen that way. Typically an offer from the prosecutor is made to the defense attorney, who then discusses it IN PRIVATE with the client, and reports back to the prosecutor.
*****
Today's quote comes from Garrison Keillor: "We're burdened by the need to be cool. When I was in college, I read Kafka and Camus and tried to write like them, in flat, non-American English, as if writing under the influence of a migraine, until it slowly dawned on me that I was missing the basic experiences that had formed them. Enduring high school is not the same as growing up Jewish in Prague or fighting in the French resistance."
Sunday, December 9, 2007
The Baseball Hall of Fame
The first hour of the Bob Costas radio show this morning was spent with Tom Verducci discussing Hall of Fame issues. This is always an interesting topic, as opinions can vary and there are no objective criteria involved for determining who should be admitted.
The main omission this time around was Marvin Miller, who Costas and Verducci agreed should be a no-brainer Hall of Famer. In fact, Verducci said if you do a 30-second history of the game, Miller would be mentioned along with Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson. (Miller was the head of the Player's Union, responsible for getting the players the ridiculous salaries they command today, thanks to free agency.)
A less recent omission was Buck O'Neill, who was not included in the 17 players inducted from the Negro Leagues a few years ago.
The main problem I see with the Hall of Fame selection process is that a person has to go in for accomplishment in a given area; i.e., one has to go in as a player, a manager, a broadcaster, an umpire, a writer, etc. But what about someone whose career includes accomplishments in more than one of those areas? There is no way now to recognize that. A prime example is Richie Ashburn. Ashburn retired in 1962, but was not admitted to the Hall of Fame until 1995. After his playing career ended he had a long career broadcasting Phillies games, and could have been admitted as a broadcaster as well as for his playing accomplishments. Taking the two together, he surely was worthy long before finally being admitted by vote of the Veterans Committee. What an injustice!
A similar type of problem with the selection process is that voters seem unable to be able to factor in defensive accomplishments. This has long been a problem, as there are no defensive statistics to measure performance like there are offensive statistics. Someone who is the best ever at a key defensive position like shortstop, can now get in. Exhibit A here is Ozzie Smith. But what about someone who is very good offensively and very good defensively also? This describes Ron Santo, and the fact he is *still* not in the Hall is a continuing travesty.
Another example of this is the aforementioned Richie Ashburn. Ashburn was one of the best defensive center fielders ever, and a very good hitter also. He tended to get lost in the shuffle because he played in an era of power-hitting center fielders--Mays, Mantle and Snider. Ashburn was not a home run hitter, but he was very good at getting on base, a skill more highly appreciated these days with the benefit of sophisticated sabermetric analysis. He is one of only four players in history to lead his league in both walks *and* hits in the same year. At one time he had 6 of the highest 10 season putout totals in baseball history for center fielders.
The show discussed Barry Bonds' chances also. Verducci said he wasn't voting for him and that he knows many writers who are on the fence, and will likely not vote for him if he is convicted of the charges recently filed against him. Costas made the point that if Bonds had retired after the 1997 season, before steroids came into play, he would have already had a Hall of Fame career. Verducci didn't buy this, saying you have to evaluate the *whole* career, and not pick just one part of it. I have to agree with Verducci on this one.
Pete Rose was not discussed, as that issue has been beaten to death already. I would just point out that Pete was a manager when he bet on baseball, and that should not affect his ability to get in as a player. At some point forgiveness and redemption needs to come into play, and Rose should receive the induction which he has so richly earned.
The Hall will be a better place when O'Neill, Rose, and Santo are included.
3/18/16 update. Ron Santo finally got into the Hall, selected by the Golden Era Committee in December of 2011. His widow accepted the plaque on his behalf.
The Hall of Fame has honored Buck O'Neill with the creation of the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award.
I have mellowed in my appraisal of the Peter Rose situation. Mike Royko is persuasive when he states: "What matters is that he had those 24 wonderful summers and those 3,562 games. And whatever kind of jerk he may have been in his private life, it was obvious that when he stepped out onto the field he loved every moment of it. How many people can say that about 24 years in the same job?....It's not a tragedy. It isn't even sad. Tragedy is a kid getting hit by a car. Sad is being old, alone, and lonely."
The main omission this time around was Marvin Miller, who Costas and Verducci agreed should be a no-brainer Hall of Famer. In fact, Verducci said if you do a 30-second history of the game, Miller would be mentioned along with Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson. (Miller was the head of the Player's Union, responsible for getting the players the ridiculous salaries they command today, thanks to free agency.)
A less recent omission was Buck O'Neill, who was not included in the 17 players inducted from the Negro Leagues a few years ago.
The main problem I see with the Hall of Fame selection process is that a person has to go in for accomplishment in a given area; i.e., one has to go in as a player, a manager, a broadcaster, an umpire, a writer, etc. But what about someone whose career includes accomplishments in more than one of those areas? There is no way now to recognize that. A prime example is Richie Ashburn. Ashburn retired in 1962, but was not admitted to the Hall of Fame until 1995. After his playing career ended he had a long career broadcasting Phillies games, and could have been admitted as a broadcaster as well as for his playing accomplishments. Taking the two together, he surely was worthy long before finally being admitted by vote of the Veterans Committee. What an injustice!
A similar type of problem with the selection process is that voters seem unable to be able to factor in defensive accomplishments. This has long been a problem, as there are no defensive statistics to measure performance like there are offensive statistics. Someone who is the best ever at a key defensive position like shortstop, can now get in. Exhibit A here is Ozzie Smith. But what about someone who is very good offensively and very good defensively also? This describes Ron Santo, and the fact he is *still* not in the Hall is a continuing travesty.
Another example of this is the aforementioned Richie Ashburn. Ashburn was one of the best defensive center fielders ever, and a very good hitter also. He tended to get lost in the shuffle because he played in an era of power-hitting center fielders--Mays, Mantle and Snider. Ashburn was not a home run hitter, but he was very good at getting on base, a skill more highly appreciated these days with the benefit of sophisticated sabermetric analysis. He is one of only four players in history to lead his league in both walks *and* hits in the same year. At one time he had 6 of the highest 10 season putout totals in baseball history for center fielders.
The show discussed Barry Bonds' chances also. Verducci said he wasn't voting for him and that he knows many writers who are on the fence, and will likely not vote for him if he is convicted of the charges recently filed against him. Costas made the point that if Bonds had retired after the 1997 season, before steroids came into play, he would have already had a Hall of Fame career. Verducci didn't buy this, saying you have to evaluate the *whole* career, and not pick just one part of it. I have to agree with Verducci on this one.
Pete Rose was not discussed, as that issue has been beaten to death already. I would just point out that Pete was a manager when he bet on baseball, and that should not affect his ability to get in as a player. At some point forgiveness and redemption needs to come into play, and Rose should receive the induction which he has so richly earned.
The Hall will be a better place when O'Neill, Rose, and Santo are included.
3/18/16 update. Ron Santo finally got into the Hall, selected by the Golden Era Committee in December of 2011. His widow accepted the plaque on his behalf.
The Hall of Fame has honored Buck O'Neill with the creation of the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award.
I have mellowed in my appraisal of the Peter Rose situation. Mike Royko is persuasive when he states: "What matters is that he had those 24 wonderful summers and those 3,562 games. And whatever kind of jerk he may have been in his private life, it was obvious that when he stepped out onto the field he loved every moment of it. How many people can say that about 24 years in the same job?....It's not a tragedy. It isn't even sad. Tragedy is a kid getting hit by a car. Sad is being old, alone, and lonely."
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Cliches I Can Do Without
There are a number of perfectly good phrases which have become tiresome through overuse. I will name a few that come to mind.
"At the end of the day": During the Supreme Court arguments on the Bush vs. Gore case concerning the disputed 2000 election, Chief Justice Rehnquist kept using this phrase over and over till it became nauseating. He seemed to be trying to convey the impression that he was carefully considering the case and would make a reasoned decision. However, when the decision came out, it was obvious that the Court had made a fool of itself, at least the so-called "conservatives" on it had. These "conservatives", who usually preached state's rights and a hands-off approach in the federal system to interfering with what a state is doing, all voted to overturn the result which had come out of Florida, and make Bush the winner! And they did it on very flimsy grounds, with their political motivation being obvious. I doubt the Court will ever fully recover from this debacle.
"of late": Local sportscaster Bruce Haertl likes to use this, and it is a decent phrase, but when I heard Bruce use it twice in one sentence, that was too much!
"run the table": Here again, used often in sports talk, and is a decent metaphor from the game of pool. However, it has become stale through overuse.
"24/7": I have heard this used and it never applies. It cannot apply, actually, unless you are a computer rather than a human being. Let's retire this cliche.
The reader is invited to nominate other cliches which are due for retirement.
*****
Two quotes from yesterdays USA Today:
"I hope they get the right house." Said by Treva Buckles, next-door neighbor to Lori Drew, the women in Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, whose nasty MySpace messages drove a neighbor girl to suicide. I hope they get the right house also, what this woman did was absolutely despicable.
"I don't give a damn what the numbers say." Mike Ditka, talking about reports that his charity formed to help needy former pro football players has collected $1.3 million, but paid only a paltry $57,000 to former players in need. Uh, Mike, don't the numbers pretty much tell the whole story here?
"At the end of the day": During the Supreme Court arguments on the Bush vs. Gore case concerning the disputed 2000 election, Chief Justice Rehnquist kept using this phrase over and over till it became nauseating. He seemed to be trying to convey the impression that he was carefully considering the case and would make a reasoned decision. However, when the decision came out, it was obvious that the Court had made a fool of itself, at least the so-called "conservatives" on it had. These "conservatives", who usually preached state's rights and a hands-off approach in the federal system to interfering with what a state is doing, all voted to overturn the result which had come out of Florida, and make Bush the winner! And they did it on very flimsy grounds, with their political motivation being obvious. I doubt the Court will ever fully recover from this debacle.
"of late": Local sportscaster Bruce Haertl likes to use this, and it is a decent phrase, but when I heard Bruce use it twice in one sentence, that was too much!
"run the table": Here again, used often in sports talk, and is a decent metaphor from the game of pool. However, it has become stale through overuse.
"24/7": I have heard this used and it never applies. It cannot apply, actually, unless you are a computer rather than a human being. Let's retire this cliche.
The reader is invited to nominate other cliches which are due for retirement.
*****
Two quotes from yesterdays USA Today:
"I hope they get the right house." Said by Treva Buckles, next-door neighbor to Lori Drew, the women in Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, whose nasty MySpace messages drove a neighbor girl to suicide. I hope they get the right house also, what this woman did was absolutely despicable.
"I don't give a damn what the numbers say." Mike Ditka, talking about reports that his charity formed to help needy former pro football players has collected $1.3 million, but paid only a paltry $57,000 to former players in need. Uh, Mike, don't the numbers pretty much tell the whole story here?
Friday, December 7, 2007
Innumeracy
Incredible decision made the other day on the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" show. The contestant had the question, "How many wheels would you have if you had 3 unicycles, 2 bicycles, and 3 tricycles?" He almost immediately asked the audience! He didn't even seem to try to puzzle it out himself first!
This is even more incredible when you realize he didn't have to come up with the answer himself. All he had to do was pick out the right one from the 4 choices given. I think this illustrates the epidemic of innumeracy we face in the U.S. People need a basic understanding of math in order to carry out their day-to-day affairs. And yet, all too often peoples' eyes just glaze over whenever they are faced with anything involving numbers.
I think we need to develop a way of measuring innumeracy. We could then report innumeracy rates for each country, just like we now have illiteracy rates for each country. One is just as important as the other!
*****
Today's quote is again from Bill Maher's "New Rules": "If everybody was wrong about the weapons of mass destruction, then somebody has to say 'my bad'. When Clinton was in the White House, we investigated his business partners, his wife's business partners, the guy who was governor after him, the girls who did him, his travel agents, and the guy who cut his hair. For some reason the two words this president just can't seem to say are "sorry" and
nuclear". Something is terribly wrong when the only person who's been fired over terrorism is me."
NOTE: Maher is being literally true here. After 9/11 he was fired for saying that "cowardly" is not the correct adjective to use to describe the 9/11 terrorists. Just shows how dangerous it is to speak the truth in this country.
This is even more incredible when you realize he didn't have to come up with the answer himself. All he had to do was pick out the right one from the 4 choices given. I think this illustrates the epidemic of innumeracy we face in the U.S. People need a basic understanding of math in order to carry out their day-to-day affairs. And yet, all too often peoples' eyes just glaze over whenever they are faced with anything involving numbers.
I think we need to develop a way of measuring innumeracy. We could then report innumeracy rates for each country, just like we now have illiteracy rates for each country. One is just as important as the other!
*****
Today's quote is again from Bill Maher's "New Rules": "If everybody was wrong about the weapons of mass destruction, then somebody has to say 'my bad'. When Clinton was in the White House, we investigated his business partners, his wife's business partners, the guy who was governor after him, the girls who did him, his travel agents, and the guy who cut his hair. For some reason the two words this president just can't seem to say are "sorry" and
nuclear". Something is terribly wrong when the only person who's been fired over terrorism is me."
NOTE: Maher is being literally true here. After 9/11 he was fired for saying that "cowardly" is not the correct adjective to use to describe the 9/11 terrorists. Just shows how dangerous it is to speak the truth in this country.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Today's Workout
Jogged 30 minutes at the Y today. This is probably the longest continuous jog in my life. Also set a more dubious record, in that my weight was at 184, highest ever.
*****
Buzztime site now has the scores up from last night's Six game. My score of 56,972 was good for 234th overall. Five players who all had my score would have meant a bar score that ranked 22nd. My partner Oil ranked 525th with 53,008, also a fine score.
*****
Buzztime site now has the scores up from last night's Six game. My score of 56,972 was good for 234th overall. Five players who all had my score would have meant a bar score that ranked 22nd. My partner Oil ranked 525th with 53,008, also a fine score.
WW2
Sunday's Sunday School class with Jim Juhnke was on his chapter of "The Missing Peace" on World War II. A point of interest was his account of the Japanese balloon bombs which landed in the United States. Jim said there was no reporting on this, at the request of the U.S. Government, and Japan abandoned the effort thinking it was ineffective.
I asked Jim if he was coming down on the side of suppression of the news. He gave the rather lame answer that he was just reporting. I mean to ask him when I get a chance what that passage is doing in the book, as there are many stories that could have been included--why include that one? There had to have been some reason for its inclusion.
One point he tried to make is the greater level of reporting from WW2 to the Vietnam War. However, the claim that there is a trend is perhaps belied by the 2 Iraq wars, with the term "embedded" which we heard so often implying that the reporters are seeing only what the military wants them to see. I doubt that one can make a decent case that the media is doing a great job these days.
*****
Great trivia results this week. Last night playing Six at Stooges, while waiting in Andover for my daughter to be picked up after her evening class, I got a near 57K score. I played with the bald-headed guy who plays as Oil; he is quite congenial and we had a good time.
Tuesday night I almost won the 8:00 game on total-trivia.com. I was one point away from the winner.
*****
Today'[s quote comes from Bill Maher: "In the 2004 election, MoveOn.org compared Bush to Hitler, ignoring the first rule for being taken seriously by grownups, which is: Don't call everyone you don't like "Hitler". Bush is not Hitler. For one thing, Hitler was a decorated, frontline combat veteran. Also, in the election that brought him to power in 1933, Hitler got more votes than the other candidates."
This is from page 188 of Maher's delightful book, "New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer".
I asked Jim if he was coming down on the side of suppression of the news. He gave the rather lame answer that he was just reporting. I mean to ask him when I get a chance what that passage is doing in the book, as there are many stories that could have been included--why include that one? There had to have been some reason for its inclusion.
One point he tried to make is the greater level of reporting from WW2 to the Vietnam War. However, the claim that there is a trend is perhaps belied by the 2 Iraq wars, with the term "embedded" which we heard so often implying that the reporters are seeing only what the military wants them to see. I doubt that one can make a decent case that the media is doing a great job these days.
*****
Great trivia results this week. Last night playing Six at Stooges, while waiting in Andover for my daughter to be picked up after her evening class, I got a near 57K score. I played with the bald-headed guy who plays as Oil; he is quite congenial and we had a good time.
Tuesday night I almost won the 8:00 game on total-trivia.com. I was one point away from the winner.
*****
Today'[s quote comes from Bill Maher: "In the 2004 election, MoveOn.org compared Bush to Hitler, ignoring the first rule for being taken seriously by grownups, which is: Don't call everyone you don't like "Hitler". Bush is not Hitler. For one thing, Hitler was a decorated, frontline combat veteran. Also, in the election that brought him to power in 1933, Hitler got more votes than the other candidates."
This is from page 188 of Maher's delightful book, "New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer".
Sunday, December 2, 2007
The Warren Hastings Impeachment
Today's trivia question: The impeachment and trial of Warren Hastings lasted how long in the British Parliament?
This is one of my favorite trivia questions, because the answer--9 years--just cries out for more detail. I will provide some details and then make some observations.
Warren Hastings had served as Governor-General of India for a period of time in the late 1700's. He resigned and returned to England in 1785. On 2/17/86, Edmund Burke began impeachment proceedings by seeking access to documents relating to Hastings' administration in India. Articles of Impeachment were eventually voted on by the House of Commons, and on 5/10/87 Hastings was impeached in the House of Lords, taken into custody, and had to post a 40,000-pound bail.
The House Managers finally competed their case on 5/30/91, leaving 16 of the 20 articles virtually untouched. Two years later Hastings completed his defense, and two years after that, on 4/23/95, the House of Lords finally voted, acquitting Hastings of all charges.
One might ask why they went to all this trouble, when Hastings had already left his post in India. Several reasons come to mind. First, part of impeachment is a prohibition against holding office in the future, not just removal from one's current office. Second, in that era a man's reputation and character were of the utmost importance, and that was what was at stake for Hastings. In fact, at one point Hastings asked his supporters in the House of Commons to vote *for* the Articles of Impeachment, so that he would have a chance to defend himself at the subsequent trial. Third, it is obvious from the fact that Hastings was taken into custody and had to post bail, that there was a criminal aspect to this, unlike in the U.S., so presumably some criminal sanctions were possible had he been convicted.
The way this was approached procedurally is interesting. Impeachment is an odd hybrid of the judicial and the political, and the rules to be followed were not clear. The House of Lords voted to follow the stricter judicial rules as far as the evidence was concerned, which limited what the House Managers could present. On the other hand, Burke was allowed to speak for days on end, indicating a more parliamentary approach to that aspect of the case.
Burke talked in generalities, without much attention to the details of the case. It was obvious he was speaking for posterity more than as part of a legitimate attempt to convict. Hastings, by contrast, was overly legalistic in his defense, and was criticized for *not* speaking in more general and historical terms.
The problems with having a legislative body sit as a "court" are obvious. Of 230 members of the House of Lords who sat in on the trial at one time or another, only 29 felt informed enough to vote!
In the end the case proved to be purely political. Both sides spoke freely to the press through the proceedings. The House Managers pursued the case vigorously, even though it was obvious early on they would lose. In a judicial proceeding, this would be unheard of, and highly unethical for a prosecutor to do.
The concepts which arose out of this proceeding are found in the U.S. approach to impeachment as well. The fundamental principle here is that impeachment is reserved for serious breaches of the public trust, and not just for "maladministration". This was debated at the Constitutional Convention, and Madison made the point that if you have maladministration as a basis for impeachment, this would be "equivalent to the President serving at the pleasure of the Congress". Madison's view of course prevailed.
The politically-motivated impeachments of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton are examples of a misuse of the impeachment process. In both cases, cooler heads prevailed and conviction was denied.
This is one of my favorite trivia questions, because the answer--9 years--just cries out for more detail. I will provide some details and then make some observations.
Warren Hastings had served as Governor-General of India for a period of time in the late 1700's. He resigned and returned to England in 1785. On 2/17/86, Edmund Burke began impeachment proceedings by seeking access to documents relating to Hastings' administration in India. Articles of Impeachment were eventually voted on by the House of Commons, and on 5/10/87 Hastings was impeached in the House of Lords, taken into custody, and had to post a 40,000-pound bail.
The House Managers finally competed their case on 5/30/91, leaving 16 of the 20 articles virtually untouched. Two years later Hastings completed his defense, and two years after that, on 4/23/95, the House of Lords finally voted, acquitting Hastings of all charges.
One might ask why they went to all this trouble, when Hastings had already left his post in India. Several reasons come to mind. First, part of impeachment is a prohibition against holding office in the future, not just removal from one's current office. Second, in that era a man's reputation and character were of the utmost importance, and that was what was at stake for Hastings. In fact, at one point Hastings asked his supporters in the House of Commons to vote *for* the Articles of Impeachment, so that he would have a chance to defend himself at the subsequent trial. Third, it is obvious from the fact that Hastings was taken into custody and had to post bail, that there was a criminal aspect to this, unlike in the U.S., so presumably some criminal sanctions were possible had he been convicted.
The way this was approached procedurally is interesting. Impeachment is an odd hybrid of the judicial and the political, and the rules to be followed were not clear. The House of Lords voted to follow the stricter judicial rules as far as the evidence was concerned, which limited what the House Managers could present. On the other hand, Burke was allowed to speak for days on end, indicating a more parliamentary approach to that aspect of the case.
Burke talked in generalities, without much attention to the details of the case. It was obvious he was speaking for posterity more than as part of a legitimate attempt to convict. Hastings, by contrast, was overly legalistic in his defense, and was criticized for *not* speaking in more general and historical terms.
The problems with having a legislative body sit as a "court" are obvious. Of 230 members of the House of Lords who sat in on the trial at one time or another, only 29 felt informed enough to vote!
In the end the case proved to be purely political. Both sides spoke freely to the press through the proceedings. The House Managers pursued the case vigorously, even though it was obvious early on they would lose. In a judicial proceeding, this would be unheard of, and highly unethical for a prosecutor to do.
The concepts which arose out of this proceeding are found in the U.S. approach to impeachment as well. The fundamental principle here is that impeachment is reserved for serious breaches of the public trust, and not just for "maladministration". This was debated at the Constitutional Convention, and Madison made the point that if you have maladministration as a basis for impeachment, this would be "equivalent to the President serving at the pleasure of the Congress". Madison's view of course prevailed.
The politically-motivated impeachments of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton are examples of a misuse of the impeachment process. In both cases, cooler heads prevailed and conviction was denied.
Pulp Fiction
When I first saw Pulp Fiction years ago it didn't make much of an impression on me. For one thing, the movie is hard to follow, as there are 3 or 4 different stories (depending on how you count them) going on simultaneously. What's more, the movie jumps around in time as well as back and forth between the stories.
Because I like Jackie Brown so much, I decided to give Pulp Fiction another try. Thanks to the good folks at Netflix, I was able to do that this week, and now I understand it for the great movie it is (#5 all-time on IMDB). The stories do all come together in the end. This is one of those films, like "The Usual Suspects", that you can see 20 times and notice something different each time. In fact, even more so with Pulp Fiction.
As for the mystery of what is in the briefcase, we are never told and Tarantino says it is whatever the viewer wants it to be. This is in line with another quote from him, that "If a million different people see my movie, I hope they see a million different films."
A last thought: one of the supporting characters, Harvey Keitel, gives as good a performance as you will ever see in the movies. He is absolutely wonderful.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the movie:
Vincent: "I ain't saying it's right. But you're saying a foot massage don't mean nothing, and I'm saying it does. Now look, I've given a million ladies a million foot massages, and they all meant something. We act like they don't, but they do, and that's what's so cool about them. There's a sensuous thing going on where you don't talk about it, but you know it, she knows it, Marsellus knew it, and Antwan should have known better. I mean, that's his wife, man. He can't be expected to have a sense of humor about that. You know what I'm saying?"
Jules: "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee." (Misquoting Ezekiel 25: 17)
Captain Koons: "The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any slopes gonna put their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright, so he hid it, in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you."
The Wolf: "Just because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character."
Mia: "Don't you just love it when you come back from the bathroom and find your food waiting for you?"
Fabienne: "It's unfortunate what we find pleasing to the touch and pleasing to the eye is seldom the same." (Explaining why she thinks women's pot bellies are sexy.)
Because I like Jackie Brown so much, I decided to give Pulp Fiction another try. Thanks to the good folks at Netflix, I was able to do that this week, and now I understand it for the great movie it is (#5 all-time on IMDB). The stories do all come together in the end. This is one of those films, like "The Usual Suspects", that you can see 20 times and notice something different each time. In fact, even more so with Pulp Fiction.
As for the mystery of what is in the briefcase, we are never told and Tarantino says it is whatever the viewer wants it to be. This is in line with another quote from him, that "If a million different people see my movie, I hope they see a million different films."
A last thought: one of the supporting characters, Harvey Keitel, gives as good a performance as you will ever see in the movies. He is absolutely wonderful.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the movie:
Vincent: "I ain't saying it's right. But you're saying a foot massage don't mean nothing, and I'm saying it does. Now look, I've given a million ladies a million foot massages, and they all meant something. We act like they don't, but they do, and that's what's so cool about them. There's a sensuous thing going on where you don't talk about it, but you know it, she knows it, Marsellus knew it, and Antwan should have known better. I mean, that's his wife, man. He can't be expected to have a sense of humor about that. You know what I'm saying?"
Jules: "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee." (Misquoting Ezekiel 25: 17)
Captain Koons: "The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any slopes gonna put their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright, so he hid it, in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you."
The Wolf: "Just because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character."
Mia: "Don't you just love it when you come back from the bathroom and find your food waiting for you?"
Fabienne: "It's unfortunate what we find pleasing to the touch and pleasing to the eye is seldom the same." (Explaining why she thinks women's pot bellies are sexy.)
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Bones
Today's TV show: Bones
I first learned of this show when I saw a rave review in USA Today of an upcoming episode. It was so effusive in its praise that I had to tune in.
Turns out it is a wonderful show, based on the real-life experiences of forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs. It is very oriented towards the science, and the Bones character has no less than four scientists working for her to solve each mystery. As a scientist, the Bones character is presented as very objective and a bit lacking in social skills. Her partner, a male FBI agent, is the emotional one, and the interplay between the two is a major part of the show's appeal.
In a radio interview (which you can listen to at http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail1159.html), Dr. Reichs comments on how she is heavily involved in the production of the TV series. She reviews each script and works with the writers to get the science right. This in itself is noteworthy, as we hear all too frequently about authors who are so disgusted with the film versions of their work that they wash their hands of it. Joseph Wambaugh and the series "Police Story" come to mind in this regard.
Dr. Reichs has written nine books featuring her forensic anthropologist character Temperance Brennan, and there has been considerable discussion of the differences between the TV Brennan and the book Brennan. In one discussion, found at http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/03/26/bones-vs-the-kathy-reichs-books/, the consensus seems to be that there *are* significant differences between the TV Bones and the book
Bones, but that people don't seem to mind this as they enjoy both characters.
Which Bones character is closest to Kathy Reichs herself is something I haven't figured out yet.
*****
Today's quote is from Garrison Keillor: "I propose that we change Columbus Day to Bush Day, a cautionary holiday, like Halloween, a day to meditate on the hazards of ambition. We could observe it by going through the basement and garage and throwing out stuff we don't want or need. Also by not mortgaging the house to pay for a vacation, and not yelling at the neighbors, and not assuming that the law is for other people."
This is from an article entitled "The all-time worst President" that Keillor wrote for salon.com. The article can be found at http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/10/11/keillor/
I first learned of this show when I saw a rave review in USA Today of an upcoming episode. It was so effusive in its praise that I had to tune in.
Turns out it is a wonderful show, based on the real-life experiences of forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs. It is very oriented towards the science, and the Bones character has no less than four scientists working for her to solve each mystery. As a scientist, the Bones character is presented as very objective and a bit lacking in social skills. Her partner, a male FBI agent, is the emotional one, and the interplay between the two is a major part of the show's appeal.
In a radio interview (which you can listen to at http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail1159.html), Dr. Reichs comments on how she is heavily involved in the production of the TV series. She reviews each script and works with the writers to get the science right. This in itself is noteworthy, as we hear all too frequently about authors who are so disgusted with the film versions of their work that they wash their hands of it. Joseph Wambaugh and the series "Police Story" come to mind in this regard.
Dr. Reichs has written nine books featuring her forensic anthropologist character Temperance Brennan, and there has been considerable discussion of the differences between the TV Brennan and the book Brennan. In one discussion, found at http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/03/26/bones-vs-the-kathy-reichs-books/, the consensus seems to be that there *are* significant differences between the TV Bones and the book
Bones, but that people don't seem to mind this as they enjoy both characters.
Which Bones character is closest to Kathy Reichs herself is something I haven't figured out yet.
*****
Today's quote is from Garrison Keillor: "I propose that we change Columbus Day to Bush Day, a cautionary holiday, like Halloween, a day to meditate on the hazards of ambition. We could observe it by going through the basement and garage and throwing out stuff we don't want or need. Also by not mortgaging the house to pay for a vacation, and not yelling at the neighbors, and not assuming that the law is for other people."
This is from an article entitled "The all-time worst President" that Keillor wrote for salon.com. The article can be found at http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/10/11/keillor/
Monday, November 26, 2007
Three Principled Secretaries of State
Sunday School yesterday was on Chapter 9 of Jim Junke's "The Missing Peace". The chapter was on the period of 1898 through WWI. Jim started by asking what period of history we would want to live in, if we had a choice. His choice was this period, which he calls the "progressive era". Many progressive ideas were flourishing, Dewey in education, Jane Adams and her settlement house, and on and on. WWI killed all that, and afterwards it was again a time of repression of progressive ideas.
One thing the book points out is that William Jennings Bryan was a tireless worker for peace, and he resigned as Wilson's Secretary of State rather than be a part of an increasingly belligerent and militaristic administration. This brought to my mind two more recent similar instances: in 1979 Cyrus Vance resigned as Jimmy Carter's Secretary of State because of his disagreement with Carter's plan to use military force to try to rescue the hostages. Then more recently Colin Powell resigned as Bush's Secretary of State, presumably over his disagreement with the war in Iraq. It is said that Powell had a two-hour conversation with Bush, literally begging him not to go into Iraq, but Bush would not heed his advice. This seems to be a common pattern, in which Presidents will listen to their military advisers but not their diplomatic advisers. We need future Presidents who value the peacemaking process more than the warmaking process.
*****
Today's film: "Three Strangers" (1946)
This film noir features three strangers who agree to split a winning lottery ticket. It has a decent 7.1 IMDB rating, though with only 285 voters, reflecting the fact that this film is unavailable on DVD or videotape.
I first heard about this film in a book on "Casablanca". "Casablanca" veterans Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre both appear in this film, with Geraldine Fitzgerald playing the female lead who brings the three of them together. Please help me lobby for this film to be made available for viewing.
*****
Today's foreign word: kumla
This is a Norwegian potato dish. It was mentioned in today's USA Today, in an article discussing North Dakota's shortage of working age people. Despite their desperate need for more workers, the people of North Dakota are resistant to having immigrants come to their state for fear their culture will be diluted.
Part of that culture is of course the food. The article described how the old men meet in the diners each day and eat kumla.
*****
While swimming at the Y this morning (sorry I cannot add the adjective "daily" to that, perhaps some day in the future), it occurred to me that the agony and torture of doing lap swimming is like playing the French Defence, characterized by Black's 1...e6 response to White's 1 e4. In the French Black endures an agonizing period of passivity and defensive moves to end up with a favorable endgame. So with swimming, one strengthens one's heart to enjoy a better endgame to one's life.
My copy of Modern Chess Openings (10th edition) has a famous introduction to the French: "French players are a breed apart. They are willing to submit to cramp and countless indignities in order to reach an endgame where the pawn structure definitely favours Black."
Weighing myself after the workout showed a weight of 182. My range from March 14th to the present has been from 177 to 183.
One thing the book points out is that William Jennings Bryan was a tireless worker for peace, and he resigned as Wilson's Secretary of State rather than be a part of an increasingly belligerent and militaristic administration. This brought to my mind two more recent similar instances: in 1979 Cyrus Vance resigned as Jimmy Carter's Secretary of State because of his disagreement with Carter's plan to use military force to try to rescue the hostages. Then more recently Colin Powell resigned as Bush's Secretary of State, presumably over his disagreement with the war in Iraq. It is said that Powell had a two-hour conversation with Bush, literally begging him not to go into Iraq, but Bush would not heed his advice. This seems to be a common pattern, in which Presidents will listen to their military advisers but not their diplomatic advisers. We need future Presidents who value the peacemaking process more than the warmaking process.
*****
Today's film: "Three Strangers" (1946)
This film noir features three strangers who agree to split a winning lottery ticket. It has a decent 7.1 IMDB rating, though with only 285 voters, reflecting the fact that this film is unavailable on DVD or videotape.
I first heard about this film in a book on "Casablanca". "Casablanca" veterans Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre both appear in this film, with Geraldine Fitzgerald playing the female lead who brings the three of them together. Please help me lobby for this film to be made available for viewing.
*****
Today's foreign word: kumla
This is a Norwegian potato dish. It was mentioned in today's USA Today, in an article discussing North Dakota's shortage of working age people. Despite their desperate need for more workers, the people of North Dakota are resistant to having immigrants come to their state for fear their culture will be diluted.
Part of that culture is of course the food. The article described how the old men meet in the diners each day and eat kumla.
*****
While swimming at the Y this morning (sorry I cannot add the adjective "daily" to that, perhaps some day in the future), it occurred to me that the agony and torture of doing lap swimming is like playing the French Defence, characterized by Black's 1...e6 response to White's 1 e4. In the French Black endures an agonizing period of passivity and defensive moves to end up with a favorable endgame. So with swimming, one strengthens one's heart to enjoy a better endgame to one's life.
My copy of Modern Chess Openings (10th edition) has a famous introduction to the French: "French players are a breed apart. They are willing to submit to cramp and countless indignities in order to reach an endgame where the pawn structure definitely favours Black."
Weighing myself after the workout showed a weight of 182. My range from March 14th to the present has been from 177 to 183.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Nations vs. States
It has occurred to me that much of the turmoil in the world is due to countries (states) not coinciding with nations (a group of people with a shared identity). Most states seem to have artificial boundaries, unrelated to any legitimate division between nations.
I am trying to identify countries which actually are legitimate nations. The list so far includes Japan, Somalia, Tonga, Italy, and Greece. Are there any other nominations?
I am trying to identify countries which actually are legitimate nations. The list so far includes Japan, Somalia, Tonga, Italy, and Greece. Are there any other nominations?
First Snow
The warm weather of the first part of the week is a thing of the past. I woke up this morning to see the ground covered with snow! This is always a welcome development, as snow tends to clean the air, helping my allergy situation.
Another increase today in my weekly overall score at Triviaspot.com. Up to 16,137, good for 6th place. In the specific categories, general wisdom is at 3170, for 17th place, history at 3840, for 12th place, and sports at 3718, good for first place in that category.
*****
Today's rhetorical device: chiasmus
Chiasmus is a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases. This is the definition used by Dr. Mardy Grothe, who has a good website, chiasmus.com, devoted to this delightful literary device. One can sign up there to get a weekly email from Dr. Grothe which always contains many juicy nuggets of chiasmus, oxymoronica, et al.
An example of chiasmus is the title of Dr. Grothe's book, "never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you". Another example is from Samuel Johnson, who famously returned a manuscript to a would-be writer with the comment: "Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good." This one is from Peter De Vries: "The value of marriage is not that adults produce children, but that children produce adults."
Of special interest is implied chiasmus, where one of the two phrases is so well-known that it can remain unsaid. An example is "Time wounds all heels."
Another increase today in my weekly overall score at Triviaspot.com. Up to 16,137, good for 6th place. In the specific categories, general wisdom is at 3170, for 17th place, history at 3840, for 12th place, and sports at 3718, good for first place in that category.
*****
Today's rhetorical device: chiasmus
Chiasmus is a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases. This is the definition used by Dr. Mardy Grothe, who has a good website, chiasmus.com, devoted to this delightful literary device. One can sign up there to get a weekly email from Dr. Grothe which always contains many juicy nuggets of chiasmus, oxymoronica, et al.
An example of chiasmus is the title of Dr. Grothe's book, "never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you". Another example is from Samuel Johnson, who famously returned a manuscript to a would-be writer with the comment: "Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good." This one is from Peter De Vries: "The value of marriage is not that adults produce children, but that children produce adults."
Of special interest is implied chiasmus, where one of the two phrases is so well-known that it can remain unsaid. An example is "Time wounds all heels."
Friday, November 23, 2007
The Benefits of Writing Things Down
Part of my morning routine is to do the 5 daily trivia quizzes found at triviaspot.com. I record my results, and I have noticed a curious phenomenon about this process. Every time I start anew, after missing a number of days, my overall "weekly" scores, once they get started again (they require 6 prior days of answering the questions), go upward each day. At the moment, my overall score has risen from the previous day on 12 out of the last 13 days!
This is too striking to be a product of random chance. I believe that as I write down more and more scores, it triggers greater concentration and resolve within me and somehow leads to steadily increasing scores. I noticed the same thing years ago when I used to record the results of my blitz chess games. Once my opponent saw I was writing down the results, he always started trying harder and concentrating more intently. The same principle applies to my daily checklist--the simple process of recording things I do focuses my attention better on these daily essentials.
******
Today's website: http://www.funbrain.com/where/
For many years I have wanted blank maps, i.e., maps with the country boundaries filled in but not the country names, so that I could learn all the countries of the world. At one point I requested that Superior School Supply order some for me and some weeks later they called and said they were in. I went clear out on the far West side of town to pick them up. However, they turned out to have the continents on them, but not the countries! Boy was I disgusted!
Now, at long last, I have discovered a website which will display a country on a map and ask you to pick out which one it is. This is exactly what I have been looking for. Thanks to funbrain.com, I will eventually know every country.
****
Today's foreign word: kabary
According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, kabary is "a form of traditional Malagasy oratory, based on the unhurried telling of ancestral proverbs, metaphors, and riddles, frequently in a dialogue using call and response." The cellphone, which requires one to get to he point quickly, is said to be the biggest enemy of kabary.
The CSM article goes on to state: "One of the main rules of kabary is that the subject or point of the conversation can never be broached directly – and in some instances cannot be stated at all. During a funeral or condolence call, for instance, uttering aloud the name of the deceased is taboo. To express that someone is missed, one might begin with a story about the short grass on the highlands plateau that a great grandfather once trod upon. Then, the speaker might embark on a tale about the pearls of the deep sea and how grass and great grandfather and sea have become torn apart."
On this day after Thanksgiving, it occurs to me that family gatherings are a time when unhurried reminiscences have their place, and are important to maintaining one's identity as part of an extended family and community.
This is too striking to be a product of random chance. I believe that as I write down more and more scores, it triggers greater concentration and resolve within me and somehow leads to steadily increasing scores. I noticed the same thing years ago when I used to record the results of my blitz chess games. Once my opponent saw I was writing down the results, he always started trying harder and concentrating more intently. The same principle applies to my daily checklist--the simple process of recording things I do focuses my attention better on these daily essentials.
******
Today's website: http://www.funbrain.com/where/
For many years I have wanted blank maps, i.e., maps with the country boundaries filled in but not the country names, so that I could learn all the countries of the world. At one point I requested that Superior School Supply order some for me and some weeks later they called and said they were in. I went clear out on the far West side of town to pick them up. However, they turned out to have the continents on them, but not the countries! Boy was I disgusted!
Now, at long last, I have discovered a website which will display a country on a map and ask you to pick out which one it is. This is exactly what I have been looking for. Thanks to funbrain.com, I will eventually know every country.
****
Today's foreign word: kabary
According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, kabary is "a form of traditional Malagasy oratory, based on the unhurried telling of ancestral proverbs, metaphors, and riddles, frequently in a dialogue using call and response." The cellphone, which requires one to get to he point quickly, is said to be the biggest enemy of kabary.
The CSM article goes on to state: "One of the main rules of kabary is that the subject or point of the conversation can never be broached directly – and in some instances cannot be stated at all. During a funeral or condolence call, for instance, uttering aloud the name of the deceased is taboo. To express that someone is missed, one might begin with a story about the short grass on the highlands plateau that a great grandfather once trod upon. Then, the speaker might embark on a tale about the pearls of the deep sea and how grass and great grandfather and sea have become torn apart."
On this day after Thanksgiving, it occurs to me that family gatherings are a time when unhurried reminiscences have their place, and are important to maintaining one's identity as part of an extended family and community.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
The Advantages of Aprtment Living
Today I turned on my heat for the first time this Fall! This is surely the latest in the season I've ever gone before first turning it on, but it illustrates the benefits of apartment living compared to single-family home living. I discovered after moving into my apartment in 2000 that utilities are significantly lower, which makes sense when you consider how exposed a house is to the elements. Here, the rest of the building offers help in the heating and cooling process. Plus, my apartment is on the Southwest corner of the building, which is said to be the ideal location as the afternoon sun offers significant heating help.
I think the movement toward single-family home living got started after WW2, when millions of returning veterans took advantage of the GI bill to buy houses. Looked at in this light, it is a fairly recent phenomenon, and perhaps will turn out to be a passing fancy. Personally, it was not until I was 54 years old that I discovered that I much preferred apartment living, but, as they say, better late than never!
********
Today's Phrase: "Share and share alike"
I Samuel 30 tells the story of David's revenge upon the Amalekites, who had burned down the city in which David' two wives lived. Some of David's men were too tired to go on the raid, and stayed behind at the base camp. After recapturing the spoils, the men who took part in the raid did not want to share the booty with those who stayed behind. But David says "For the share of the one who goes into battle shall be the same as the share of the one who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike". I Samuel 30:24.
How interesting that a principle of equality and sharing should come out of such a bloody Old Testament story! Jesus re-emphasizes the principle with a parable in Matthew 20 about a vineyard owner who pays everyone for a full day's work, even though some only worked a partial day. When the full-day workers complained, the owner points out that they received what they had coming. It is no harm to them that he chose to also give full pay to the others.
How often do we feel envious of others, for no good reason? I am reminded of Opinion Line callers who called to complain about an Andover family who received a new house in an "Extreme Makeover" episode. Along with the house came other benefits, such as payment for the kids' college educations. People complained about this. But why begrudge somebody else their good fortune, if it's no skin off your nose? Shame on those callers!
The phrase "share and share alike", is used in many wills in the United States, as in "I leave all my property equally to my two children, share and share alike". In my experience parents usually do want to treat their children equally, even though inevitably some could be considered more "deserving" than others. Indeed, a recent couple who were leaving their property to only one of their two sons felt funny about it, and they took pains to explain why. One son was very well off already and had no family, while the other had a lower-paying job and had a family to support. The well-off son specifically requested that everything go to his brother. I wrote all of that explanation into the will, so that there would never be any misconceptions about why it was being done, and the clients were quite happy with the resulting document.
I think the movement toward single-family home living got started after WW2, when millions of returning veterans took advantage of the GI bill to buy houses. Looked at in this light, it is a fairly recent phenomenon, and perhaps will turn out to be a passing fancy. Personally, it was not until I was 54 years old that I discovered that I much preferred apartment living, but, as they say, better late than never!
********
Today's Phrase: "Share and share alike"
I Samuel 30 tells the story of David's revenge upon the Amalekites, who had burned down the city in which David' two wives lived. Some of David's men were too tired to go on the raid, and stayed behind at the base camp. After recapturing the spoils, the men who took part in the raid did not want to share the booty with those who stayed behind. But David says "For the share of the one who goes into battle shall be the same as the share of the one who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike". I Samuel 30:24.
How interesting that a principle of equality and sharing should come out of such a bloody Old Testament story! Jesus re-emphasizes the principle with a parable in Matthew 20 about a vineyard owner who pays everyone for a full day's work, even though some only worked a partial day. When the full-day workers complained, the owner points out that they received what they had coming. It is no harm to them that he chose to also give full pay to the others.
How often do we feel envious of others, for no good reason? I am reminded of Opinion Line callers who called to complain about an Andover family who received a new house in an "Extreme Makeover" episode. Along with the house came other benefits, such as payment for the kids' college educations. People complained about this. But why begrudge somebody else their good fortune, if it's no skin off your nose? Shame on those callers!
The phrase "share and share alike", is used in many wills in the United States, as in "I leave all my property equally to my two children, share and share alike". In my experience parents usually do want to treat their children equally, even though inevitably some could be considered more "deserving" than others. Indeed, a recent couple who were leaving their property to only one of their two sons felt funny about it, and they took pains to explain why. One son was very well off already and had no family, while the other had a lower-paying job and had a family to support. The well-off son specifically requested that everything go to his brother. I wrote all of that explanation into the will, so that there would never be any misconceptions about why it was being done, and the clients were quite happy with the resulting document.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping Case and the Role of the Jury
Over the past number of years I have read two books on the famous Lindbergh kidnapping case. The first was a 1989 book which was part of the Notable Trials Library series. It had excerpts from the trial transcript, along with a summary of the case written in 1937 by Sidney B. Whipple. Whipple clearly believed the defendant, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, was guilty and this bias permeates the entire book.
The other book is called "The Airman and the Carpenter", by Lubovic Kennedy. The subtitle, "the Framing of Richard Hauptmann", indicates the bias of this author towards innocence.
I have long intended to reread both and attempt to make my own determination of guilt or innocence. I finally attempted this recently, but the biases of both books were so strong that it became obvious that no objective analysis of the evidence could be made.
I will have to be content with making a few observations. The Lindbergh baby was kidnapped from his home on March 1, 1932. It created a media frenzy, which lasted for years. My dad says that Charles Lindbergh at that time was the most famous person on earth. More Americans knew who he was than knew who their President was.
On April 2nd, $50,000 in ransom money was handed over to somebody in a Bronx cemetery. On May 12th the baby's body was discovered. Two years then went by with no breaks in the case. Finally, in September of 1934, one of the ransom bills was discovered and on September 19th, 1934, Hauptmann was arrested. His house was searched, and much of the ransom money was found in his garage.
So, a period of two and a half years had passed in which the case was on the front pages, and the public clamor for a resolution was putting intense pressure on the authorities. Once they had a suspect in custody, they came to believe in his guilt and looked for any evidence they could find to convict him. Kennedy writes at great length about how law enforcement officers will, in this situation, look for anything to corroborate their pre-formed theory, and discard any evidence indicating innocence. They do this not because they want to convict an innocent man, but because they honestly believe the suspect to be guilty.
And this is what happened with Hauptmann. The original case filed against Hauptmann was an extortion charge in New York. However, the authorities wanted to use Hauptmann to clear the kidnapping and murder case, so they came up with "eyewitness accounts" supposedly placing Hauptmann in New Jersey, where the Lindbergh house was, on the date of the kidnapping, and they filed charges against him in New Jersey and extradited him to that state. Kennedy points out how notoriously unreliable such eyewitness accounts are, and this would be especially true more than two years after the fact.
The authorities further came up with the outlandish theory that Hauptmann had constructed a ladder to get to the second-floor bedroom where the baby was sleeping, using in this construction a piece of wood sawed off from wood in his attic! It is absurd to think anybody would saw up his attic to make a ladder, yet this was the theory. The prosecution came up with a so-called wood expert who claimed to be able to match up the ladder wood to the wood in the attic. This sort of "expert" is today known to be responsible for many convictions of innocent people, and the name of "junk science" has been given to this sort of pseudo scientific testimony. (The book "Actual Innocence", by Barry Scheck and others, documents cases of wrongful convictions based on junk science testimony.)
As I write and think about this, it becomes more and more obvious that the proper role of the jury here would have been to bring back a conviction of guilty on the extortion charge, Hauptmann having been found with all this ransom money and not having a credible explanation for how it came into his possession. However, there is no strong evidence he had any part in the kidnapping and death of the baby, and it should have been "not guilty" on that part of the case. All the efforts to break Hauptmann down, including what today we would call "torture", yielded no results, and he maintained his innocence to the end and never named any of his accomplices (which of course did not exist if he was in fact innocent). The kidnapper had knowledge of the house's layout and the habits of the staff which only someone with inside knowledge of the Lindbergh family could have had. In retrospect this was an unfortunate rush to judgment and a miscarriage of justice likely did occur.
I have to think of the relevance here of a book I read recently called "We the Jury", by Godfrey D. Lehman. The author discusses important trials throughout history in which the role of the jury was important in preserving our basic freedoms. Lehman argues that in many instances in which a result has been attributed to the brilliance of the lawyers, credit should rather go to the 12 members of the jury who had the guts to vote their consciences.
Lehman discusses the seminal case from 1670 England, known as "Bushel's case". Bushel was a juror in the case against William Penn for unlawful assembly, a charge brought under an English law restricting certain religious practices. The jury came back with a "not guilty" verdict, infuriating the Judge who fined them and sent them back to reconsider. Bushel refused to pay the fine, and the Judge's response to him was that "you shall be locked up without meat, drink, fire, and tobacco. You shall not think thus to abuse the court; we will have a verdict, by the help of God, or you shall starve for it."
Sitting in jail for not paying the fine and for bringing in a verdict the Judge didn't like, Bushell contested his punishment, and in his case against the Judge he established the principle that a jury could not be coerced into giving a particular verdict. We take the independence of juries for granted today, but it was not always so. Thank you, Edward Bushel!
Anyway, the public clamor being what it was, there was no way the Lindbergh jurors could have summoned up the courage to bring in a "not guilty" verdict. Despite serious doubts on the part of the New Jersey governor about Hoffman's guilt, the governor had the power under New Jersey law only to grant a 30-day reprieve, and Hauptmann was executed on April 3, 1936, maintaining his innocence to the very end.
The other book is called "The Airman and the Carpenter", by Lubovic Kennedy. The subtitle, "the Framing of Richard Hauptmann", indicates the bias of this author towards innocence.
I have long intended to reread both and attempt to make my own determination of guilt or innocence. I finally attempted this recently, but the biases of both books were so strong that it became obvious that no objective analysis of the evidence could be made.
I will have to be content with making a few observations. The Lindbergh baby was kidnapped from his home on March 1, 1932. It created a media frenzy, which lasted for years. My dad says that Charles Lindbergh at that time was the most famous person on earth. More Americans knew who he was than knew who their President was.
On April 2nd, $50,000 in ransom money was handed over to somebody in a Bronx cemetery. On May 12th the baby's body was discovered. Two years then went by with no breaks in the case. Finally, in September of 1934, one of the ransom bills was discovered and on September 19th, 1934, Hauptmann was arrested. His house was searched, and much of the ransom money was found in his garage.
So, a period of two and a half years had passed in which the case was on the front pages, and the public clamor for a resolution was putting intense pressure on the authorities. Once they had a suspect in custody, they came to believe in his guilt and looked for any evidence they could find to convict him. Kennedy writes at great length about how law enforcement officers will, in this situation, look for anything to corroborate their pre-formed theory, and discard any evidence indicating innocence. They do this not because they want to convict an innocent man, but because they honestly believe the suspect to be guilty.
And this is what happened with Hauptmann. The original case filed against Hauptmann was an extortion charge in New York. However, the authorities wanted to use Hauptmann to clear the kidnapping and murder case, so they came up with "eyewitness accounts" supposedly placing Hauptmann in New Jersey, where the Lindbergh house was, on the date of the kidnapping, and they filed charges against him in New Jersey and extradited him to that state. Kennedy points out how notoriously unreliable such eyewitness accounts are, and this would be especially true more than two years after the fact.
The authorities further came up with the outlandish theory that Hauptmann had constructed a ladder to get to the second-floor bedroom where the baby was sleeping, using in this construction a piece of wood sawed off from wood in his attic! It is absurd to think anybody would saw up his attic to make a ladder, yet this was the theory. The prosecution came up with a so-called wood expert who claimed to be able to match up the ladder wood to the wood in the attic. This sort of "expert" is today known to be responsible for many convictions of innocent people, and the name of "junk science" has been given to this sort of pseudo scientific testimony. (The book "Actual Innocence", by Barry Scheck and others, documents cases of wrongful convictions based on junk science testimony.)
As I write and think about this, it becomes more and more obvious that the proper role of the jury here would have been to bring back a conviction of guilty on the extortion charge, Hauptmann having been found with all this ransom money and not having a credible explanation for how it came into his possession. However, there is no strong evidence he had any part in the kidnapping and death of the baby, and it should have been "not guilty" on that part of the case. All the efforts to break Hauptmann down, including what today we would call "torture", yielded no results, and he maintained his innocence to the end and never named any of his accomplices (which of course did not exist if he was in fact innocent). The kidnapper had knowledge of the house's layout and the habits of the staff which only someone with inside knowledge of the Lindbergh family could have had. In retrospect this was an unfortunate rush to judgment and a miscarriage of justice likely did occur.
I have to think of the relevance here of a book I read recently called "We the Jury", by Godfrey D. Lehman. The author discusses important trials throughout history in which the role of the jury was important in preserving our basic freedoms. Lehman argues that in many instances in which a result has been attributed to the brilliance of the lawyers, credit should rather go to the 12 members of the jury who had the guts to vote their consciences.
Lehman discusses the seminal case from 1670 England, known as "Bushel's case". Bushel was a juror in the case against William Penn for unlawful assembly, a charge brought under an English law restricting certain religious practices. The jury came back with a "not guilty" verdict, infuriating the Judge who fined them and sent them back to reconsider. Bushel refused to pay the fine, and the Judge's response to him was that "you shall be locked up without meat, drink, fire, and tobacco. You shall not think thus to abuse the court; we will have a verdict, by the help of God, or you shall starve for it."
Sitting in jail for not paying the fine and for bringing in a verdict the Judge didn't like, Bushell contested his punishment, and in his case against the Judge he established the principle that a jury could not be coerced into giving a particular verdict. We take the independence of juries for granted today, but it was not always so. Thank you, Edward Bushel!
Anyway, the public clamor being what it was, there was no way the Lindbergh jurors could have summoned up the courage to bring in a "not guilty" verdict. Despite serious doubts on the part of the New Jersey governor about Hoffman's guilt, the governor had the power under New Jersey law only to grant a 30-day reprieve, and Hauptmann was executed on April 3, 1936, maintaining his innocence to the very end.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
No Red Meat
On of the items on my daily check list is "no red meat". I added this in May in anticipation of my upcoming retirement, at a time when a number of office-related items needed replacing.
Since I give myself 3 days of credit for each day it is complied with, this is an item I can "work ahead" on. Initially I worked ahead significantly since I started the category in May, and the pages for credits didn't start until August. However, a month ago the calendar caught up to me, and I was no longer ahead of it. Now all of a sudden I am ahead again. Saturday I made an awesome chicken rice soup, with 6 big carrots, 3 celery stalks, 2 onions, and a whole baked chicken. Adding in a healthy batch of brown rice and some great seasonings, it made for a great soup. The next day I made tuna salad for sandwiches, and voila!, I had my no red meat stuff ready to go for days to come.
Don't get me wrong, I like a good steak as much as the next person. But the studies uniformly show that a steady diet of red meat is not good for us. An emphasis on a no red meat diet has to be the way to go, and I feel good about again having "worked ahead" in that category.
*****
Today's quote: "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use."
This is part of a famous exchange between Faulkner and Hemingway, two American Nobel Prize winning novelists. The controversy was started by Faulkner, who wrote of Hemingway: ‘He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.’
I have recently read "Tjhe Snows of Kiliminjaro", and it is apparent that Hemingway has no need to use big words. Point here to Hemingway.
Since I give myself 3 days of credit for each day it is complied with, this is an item I can "work ahead" on. Initially I worked ahead significantly since I started the category in May, and the pages for credits didn't start until August. However, a month ago the calendar caught up to me, and I was no longer ahead of it. Now all of a sudden I am ahead again. Saturday I made an awesome chicken rice soup, with 6 big carrots, 3 celery stalks, 2 onions, and a whole baked chicken. Adding in a healthy batch of brown rice and some great seasonings, it made for a great soup. The next day I made tuna salad for sandwiches, and voila!, I had my no red meat stuff ready to go for days to come.
Don't get me wrong, I like a good steak as much as the next person. But the studies uniformly show that a steady diet of red meat is not good for us. An emphasis on a no red meat diet has to be the way to go, and I feel good about again having "worked ahead" in that category.
*****
Today's quote: "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use."
This is part of a famous exchange between Faulkner and Hemingway, two American Nobel Prize winning novelists. The controversy was started by Faulkner, who wrote of Hemingway: ‘He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.’
I have recently read "Tjhe Snows of Kiliminjaro", and it is apparent that Hemingway has no need to use big words. Point here to Hemingway.
Monday, November 19, 2007
WPD Activity on a Warm Day
Beautiful warm weather the past few days. I broke a drought of several weeks and jogged outside on Friday and again yesterday (Sunday). Last night I then took my first hot bath since last Spring.
At the start of Sunday School class yesterday, Jim Juhnke asked if the chapter we were studying, on gender issues, belonged in the book (we are studying "The Missing Peace"). I said it seemed out of place. He mentioned it was written by his co-author, Carol Hunter. After the discussion it was more obvious to us why it did belong, although the famous exchange between John and Abigail Adams still seems to be mostly tongue-in-cheek.
In the 70's again today, but colder weather on the way in the next few days.
An odd day of running into police cars today. On the way to work, I had to detour because many streets just South of my office were blocked off. It was obviously more than just a routine fire or accident, and sure enough, I discovered from the receptionist that there had been a shooting and the police thought the perpetrator was holed up in an apartment building in the block South of my office, and had called out the SWAT team. Just found out on the 5:00 news that the person holed up was someone who had run when he saw the police, because he had 5 city warrants. He is now not believed to have anything to do with the shooting.
Then this afternoon, my daughter and I come home from the library, and notice a police car blocking the alley behind my apartment builoding. I asked another tenant here what was going on and he said "how many Wichita police officers does it take to deal with a drunk White chick". When I got to the alley I saw what he meant, as there were a bunch of police cars in the alley, not just the one I originally saw blocking the West end of it. A woman was sitting in her car in the alley drunk, and the someone had called the police thinking she was in some kind of trouble. A lady officer explained to me and a couple others as they left that she had given up her 8-month-old baby for adoption this morning, and was feeling down and started drinking vodka. She told the three of us to not let her drive this evening (the police had gotten her into her apartment), as it would take till tomorrow for her to sleep it off.
As I write this I heard a noise outside and noticed the woman was being arrested. Not sure what led up to this arrest.
While waiting for my daughter at the library, I had the thought that reading a book is like watching a baseball game. A book, in contrast to the other more frenetic forms of entertainment so prevalent these days, is to be savored, pondered over, and appreciated long after being read. Same with a baseball game, it is designed to be savored, discussed, and the good ones remain in the memory long after they occur.
A real treat for me from 7-9 A.M. yesterday. I had just discovered the week before that Bob Costas had a radio show on at that time on Sundays. I tuned in and the whole two hours was spent with Tommy Lasorda, who has a new book out. What a wonderful two hours! Of course Costas is great to listen to, and his love of baseball is 100% genuine, and to listen to him draw out Tommy Lasorda on his life in baseball was a real treat.
This brings up what has been one of my pet peeves for many years--the lack of radio listings in the daily newspaper. Why in the world does the paper devote most of a page a day and a whole section on Sundays to TV listings, and not one word about radio!!! The local paper calls me every so often about subscribing, and when they ask about why I don't I always mention the problem with the lack of radio listings. The latest caller finally said, ""Well, you're talking to the wrong person, I can't really do anything about it." Then why the bleep are you asking me about my problems with the paper? It seems like such a simple thing to list the special programs on the radio, yet the paper refuses to do it.
*****
Daily trivia question: What is the origin of the phrase "smoking gun"?
This, in a different form, was the final jeopardy question today. In an 1894 Sherlock Holmes story, Doyle writes "The chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand." This is thought to be the origin of the phrase "smoking gun", a phrase made famous in the Watergate era when everyone was looking for the "smoking gun" that would implicate President Nixon in the conspiracy.
At the start of Sunday School class yesterday, Jim Juhnke asked if the chapter we were studying, on gender issues, belonged in the book (we are studying "The Missing Peace"). I said it seemed out of place. He mentioned it was written by his co-author, Carol Hunter. After the discussion it was more obvious to us why it did belong, although the famous exchange between John and Abigail Adams still seems to be mostly tongue-in-cheek.
In the 70's again today, but colder weather on the way in the next few days.
An odd day of running into police cars today. On the way to work, I had to detour because many streets just South of my office were blocked off. It was obviously more than just a routine fire or accident, and sure enough, I discovered from the receptionist that there had been a shooting and the police thought the perpetrator was holed up in an apartment building in the block South of my office, and had called out the SWAT team. Just found out on the 5:00 news that the person holed up was someone who had run when he saw the police, because he had 5 city warrants. He is now not believed to have anything to do with the shooting.
Then this afternoon, my daughter and I come home from the library, and notice a police car blocking the alley behind my apartment builoding. I asked another tenant here what was going on and he said "how many Wichita police officers does it take to deal with a drunk White chick". When I got to the alley I saw what he meant, as there were a bunch of police cars in the alley, not just the one I originally saw blocking the West end of it. A woman was sitting in her car in the alley drunk, and the someone had called the police thinking she was in some kind of trouble. A lady officer explained to me and a couple others as they left that she had given up her 8-month-old baby for adoption this morning, and was feeling down and started drinking vodka. She told the three of us to not let her drive this evening (the police had gotten her into her apartment), as it would take till tomorrow for her to sleep it off.
As I write this I heard a noise outside and noticed the woman was being arrested. Not sure what led up to this arrest.
While waiting for my daughter at the library, I had the thought that reading a book is like watching a baseball game. A book, in contrast to the other more frenetic forms of entertainment so prevalent these days, is to be savored, pondered over, and appreciated long after being read. Same with a baseball game, it is designed to be savored, discussed, and the good ones remain in the memory long after they occur.
A real treat for me from 7-9 A.M. yesterday. I had just discovered the week before that Bob Costas had a radio show on at that time on Sundays. I tuned in and the whole two hours was spent with Tommy Lasorda, who has a new book out. What a wonderful two hours! Of course Costas is great to listen to, and his love of baseball is 100% genuine, and to listen to him draw out Tommy Lasorda on his life in baseball was a real treat.
This brings up what has been one of my pet peeves for many years--the lack of radio listings in the daily newspaper. Why in the world does the paper devote most of a page a day and a whole section on Sundays to TV listings, and not one word about radio!!! The local paper calls me every so often about subscribing, and when they ask about why I don't I always mention the problem with the lack of radio listings. The latest caller finally said, ""Well, you're talking to the wrong person, I can't really do anything about it." Then why the bleep are you asking me about my problems with the paper? It seems like such a simple thing to list the special programs on the radio, yet the paper refuses to do it.
*****
Daily trivia question: What is the origin of the phrase "smoking gun"?
This, in a different form, was the final jeopardy question today. In an 1894 Sherlock Holmes story, Doyle writes "The chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand." This is thought to be the origin of the phrase "smoking gun", a phrase made famous in the Watergate era when everyone was looking for the "smoking gun" that would implicate President Nixon in the conspiracy.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
The Obesity Epidemic
Hardly a month goes by in which there is not another major news item about the obesity problem in this country. The statistics show a striking increase in obesity among people in the U. S. over the past few decades, to the extent that it is not an exaggeration to call it an "epidemic".
And now this past Wednesday comes a major report linking obesity to cancer. Quoting from the USA Today story:
"This was a much larger impact than even the researchers expected," says Karen Collins, a cancer institute nutrition adviser. "People forget body fat is not an inert glob that we are carrying around on the waistline and thighs. It's a metabolically active tissue that produces substances in the body that promote the development of cancer."
The story emphasizes that "no amount of processed meat is considered completely safe."
What we should do about this on an individual basis is rather obvious. However, the interesting policy question is what the government should be doing. Certainly the government could undertake a national campaign against obesity, similar to the anti-smoking campaign which has been waged since the Surgeon-General's report came out in the 1960's.
Most striking in the stats is the huge increase in childhood obesity over the past few decades. This points the finger directly at the schools, which could and should be doing so much more to promote a healthy, active lifestyle. No candy or pop should be sold in the schools. Here in Wichita we went through this issue a few years ago, with the conclusion that pop machines were going to be still be allowed in the high schools, because of all the revenue they generated from the pop companies. The tax increase needed to offset this lost revenue would have been less than a dollar a year per Wichitan. And yet, the School Board cowardly caved in to the pop lobby.
Another policy change would be to require phys ed every year throughout a child's 12 years of public education. Schools should be in session longer each day, with an hour at the end for phys ed, like is done in China. Increased mandatory health education should be required, emphasizing nutrition and exercise as important for good health.
We have become a nation of couch potatoes, but this trend can be reversed. Otherwise, we will crumble from within like the Rman Empire centuries ago.
And now this past Wednesday comes a major report linking obesity to cancer. Quoting from the USA Today story:
"This was a much larger impact than even the researchers expected," says Karen Collins, a cancer institute nutrition adviser. "People forget body fat is not an inert glob that we are carrying around on the waistline and thighs. It's a metabolically active tissue that produces substances in the body that promote the development of cancer."
The story emphasizes that "no amount of processed meat is considered completely safe."
What we should do about this on an individual basis is rather obvious. However, the interesting policy question is what the government should be doing. Certainly the government could undertake a national campaign against obesity, similar to the anti-smoking campaign which has been waged since the Surgeon-General's report came out in the 1960's.
Most striking in the stats is the huge increase in childhood obesity over the past few decades. This points the finger directly at the schools, which could and should be doing so much more to promote a healthy, active lifestyle. No candy or pop should be sold in the schools. Here in Wichita we went through this issue a few years ago, with the conclusion that pop machines were going to be still be allowed in the high schools, because of all the revenue they generated from the pop companies. The tax increase needed to offset this lost revenue would have been less than a dollar a year per Wichitan. And yet, the School Board cowardly caved in to the pop lobby.
Another policy change would be to require phys ed every year throughout a child's 12 years of public education. Schools should be in session longer each day, with an hour at the end for phys ed, like is done in China. Increased mandatory health education should be required, emphasizing nutrition and exercise as important for good health.
We have become a nation of couch potatoes, but this trend can be reversed. Otherwise, we will crumble from within like the Rman Empire centuries ago.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Murphy's Law Upended
As I ease into retirement in this, my 63rd year on this planet, I have been struck by several things working well, contrary to Murphy's Law which says if something can go wrong, it will. My application for social security went quite smoothly, and I received several calls during the application process from social security, with the caller adopting a friendly and helpful attitude concerning the need for a certified copy of my birth certificate which was needed to complete my application. I eventually got this submitted, and anxiously awaited the fourth Wednesday in October, when my first check was to be deposited into my bank account. Sure enough, I called the bank that morning (as I usually do to double-check my current balance) and the funds were already there! Let's face it, the government *does* do some things well!
The other thing which has struck me is the efficiency of NetFlix, a company from which DVD's can be rented on a monthly basis. They promise same-day service, i.e, the day they get your old DVD in the mail, they will send out the next one on your list. This has held true every time. (I always thought the old "allow 6-8 weeks for delivery" was completely bogus and this proves it.) But even more than this, my daughter and I had an incident in which she put two DVD's into the mail without the mailing cover on them. I wondered what would happen to them, or why the mail carrier even picked them up that way out of her mom's mailbox. Lo and behold, NetFlix somehow received them and mailed out the next ones just like nothing untoward had happened!
Sometimes things do work like they're supposed to!
The other thing which has struck me is the efficiency of NetFlix, a company from which DVD's can be rented on a monthly basis. They promise same-day service, i.e, the day they get your old DVD in the mail, they will send out the next one on your list. This has held true every time. (I always thought the old "allow 6-8 weeks for delivery" was completely bogus and this proves it.) But even more than this, my daughter and I had an incident in which she put two DVD's into the mail without the mailing cover on them. I wondered what would happen to them, or why the mail carrier even picked them up that way out of her mom's mailbox. Lo and behold, NetFlix somehow received them and mailed out the next ones just like nothing untoward had happened!
Sometimes things do work like they're supposed to!
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