Day: July 27, 2009

What I’ve been and will be reading

After panning Michael McGarrity’s Nothing But Trouble, as being nothing special, I’m pleased to report his Dead or Alive is much better. Yes, all of McGarrity’s good guys are still studly cowboy types, and all his good women are petite hotties. And yes, his bad guys are beyond awful and his victims are too often not worth worrying about. But this one has a good chase and a good resolution. Fun if you like the police procedural genre.

The two food books intervened, but now it’s on to Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie’s first classic.

Flag at half-staff today

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim July 27, 2009, as National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities that honor and give thanks to our distinguished Korean War veterans. I also ask Federal departments and agencies and interested groups, organizations, and individuals to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff on July 27, 2009, in memory of the Americans who died as a result of their service in Korea.

Today is the 56th anniversary of the Military Armistice Agreement at Panmunjom.

Housing: Remember the Two Bottoms!

There will probably be two bottoms for Residential Real Estate.

The first will be for new home sales, housing starts and residential investment. The second bottom will be for prices. Sometimes these bottoms can happen years apart. I think it is likely that we’ve seen the bottom for new home sales and single family starts, but not for prices.

It is way too early to try to call the bottom in prices. House prices will probably fall for another year or more. My original prediction (a few years ago) was that real house prices would fall for 5 to 7 years (after 2005), and we could start looking for a bottom in the 2010 to 2012 time frame for the bubble areas. That still seems reasonable to me.

Calculated Risk

He’s been right so far.

Best line of the day

“If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for Texas schoolchildren.”

Texas Governor Ma Ferguson while vetoing a bill to authorize Spanish primary grade instruction during the 1920s.

Story told during Stanford University course Historical Jesus available at iTunes U for free. [link opens iTunes] The course consists of 10 audio files; each runs from 90-100 minutes.

The opening lecture in the series is “Call Me Yeshua.” If his mother had called the person we know as Jesus in his native Aramaic, Yeshua is most likely what she would have called. The name Jesus is a Latin translation of a Greek name which was derived from the Aramaic. The modern equivalent of Yeshua is Joshua.

Cause for arrest

Christopher Hitchens with another take on Gates-gate.

For my part, I have tried to make my point of view clear about this incident. Police do occasionally overreact when provoked (unless you think rude driving and flipping the bird deserved my being stopped at gunpoint). But I also don’t think we should decide a police officer is racist because his department may have that reputation.

In other words, I actually doubt Crowley acted as he did toward Gates because Gates is black. I think Crowley arrested Gates because Gates was acting like an asshole.

I just don’t happen to think you should be arrested for acting like an asshole. It’s our god-given right, especially in our own home.

Damn!

Crash

The driver, her daughter and three girl cousins were killed in this formerly red minivan. The driver’s son is in critical condition. Three people were killed in other car. The minivan was going the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway north of New York City.

Excuse me if I fail to see God’s plan in this.

Photo from the New York Times (cropped).

July 27th — let’s make it a holiday

Today is the birthday

… of television producer Norman Lear. He’s 87. Lear brought a revolution to TV when he introduced All in the Family in 1971. Sanford and Son, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Maude, One Day At a Time and other shows were also his.

… of Jerry Van Dyke, 78.

Left at Albuquerque… of Bugs Bunny, who made his first featured appearance in a cartoon released on this date in 1940, A Wild Hare. Bugs was modeled on Groucho Marx with a carrot instead of a cigar — and with a Brooklyn accent.

… of Bobbie Gentry; she is 65. No word yet on what it was she and Billy Joe threw off the Tallahatchee bridge.

… of Peggy Fleming, 61 today. Miss Fleming won her gold medal for figure skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics.

… of Maya Rudolph, 37.

… of A-Rod. Alex Rodriguez is 34. He’s really younger because “A-Rod years” don’t have Octobers.

Baseball manager Leo Durocher was born 104 years ago today. His Hall-of-Fame bio reads:

Leo Durocher was a good-field, no-hit shortstop for 17 years, but gained his greatest notoriety for accomplishments after his playing days. His combative and swashbuckling style, brilliant baseball mind, uncanny memory and fiery disposition became “The Lip’s” trademarks as a colorful and controversial manager for 24 seasons with the Dodgers, Giants, Cubs and Astros. He compiled 2,009 wins in 3,740 games, captured three pennants and won the World Series in 1954. He was named Manager of the Year three times by the “Sporting News.”

The truce ending the Korean War was signed on this date in 1953. Read the report from The New York Times.

The first U.S. government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs (which became the Department of State), was established on this date in 1789. State was my employer for 7½ years.