“All politics is yokel!”
— Bob Somerby, The Daily Howler, last Friday referring to the way the public is treated and the nonsense one side of the political debate spreads (while the news media and the other side let them).
Month: December 2005
Christmas 2005
NewMexiKen is in the San Francisco area for Christmas. Christmas Eve afternoon we went to Union Square in The City to see the lights, the beautiful white pine Christmas tree, the puppies and kittens in Macy’s window, and all the people. It was wonderful, people of every type celebrating — whether they were celebrating Christmas or some other holiday seemed of no consequence. That they were together sharing the sites seemed all that was important.
Later, a thousand miles away in Taos, New Mexico, John Farr describes an entirely different, but equally pleasing holiday scene:
I just stepped outside, around midnight. It was about 20 degrees and breezy, no snow. The Milky Way stretched from horizon to horizon (!). A hand-rung church bell was tolling in the distance. There were coyotes howling loudly very close by.
We had posole and tortillas for dinner. Later today we’ll go out to the Pueblo for the deer dance. Not half bad at all…
Wherever you are, whomever you’re with, Merry Christmas to you.
Earthrise
This photo was taken by Astronaut William Anders 37 years ago today. Click image to enlarge and learn more.
I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas
From The Miami Herald [2003 — no link]:
Before White Christmas, the holidays meant traditional carols and religious hymns. After it, secular tunes became part of the fiber of popular culture.
Rosen estimates 125 million copies of the three-minute song have been sold since it was first recorded in 1942.
”Is there another song that Kenny G, Peggy Lee, Mantovani, Odetta, Loretta Lynn, the Flaming Lips, the Edwin Hawkins Singers and the Backstreet Boys have in common?” writes Rosen. “What other tune links Destiny’s Child, The Three Tenors and Alvin and the Chipmunks; Perry Como, Garth Brooks and Stiff Little Fingers; the Reverend James Cleveland, Doris Day and Kiss?”
And Crosby’s performance marks a turning point in the music industry.
”It marks the moment when performers supplant songwriters as the central creative forces at least in mainstream American pop music,” he told NPR in 2002. “After the success of White Christmas, records become the primary means of disseminating pop music, and they replace sheet music. And the emphasis shifts to charismatic performances recorded for all time and preserved on records….”
Some facts about the “hit of hits”:
• Bing Crosby first performed White Christmas on Dec. 25, 1941, on NBC’s Kraft Music Hall radio show.
• Crosby first recorded the song for Decca on May 29, 1942. He rerecorded it March 19, 1947, as a result of damage to the 1942 master from frequent use. As in 1942, Crosby was joined in the studio by the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers.
• The song was featured in two films: Holiday Inn in 1942 (for which it collected the Academy Award for best song) and 12 years later in White Christmas.
• Crosby’s single sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and was recognized as the bestselling single in any music category until 1998 when Elton John’s tribute to Princess Diana, Candle in the Wind, overtook it.
• Irving Berlin so hated Elvis Presley’s cover of White Christmas that he launched a fierce (and fruitless) campaign to ban Presley’s recording.
Best line of the day, so far
“George W. Bush has quipped several times during his political career that it would be so much easier to govern in a dictatorship. Apparently he never told his vice president that this was a joke.”
The New York Times at the beginning of an editorial, “Mr. Cheney’s Imperial Presidency.”
Kansas State School Board eliminates Spanish from curriculum
The Kansas State School Board, known for eliminating evolution from its science curriculum, has now taken action to eliminate Spanish. All Spanish words will be replaced with English in textbooks and on maps beginning next year.
For example, three U.S. state names will change: Montana will become “Mountain,” Nevada will be “Snowy” and Colorado will be called “Colored.” Geographic landmarks will be chaged as well. The Rio Grande will be renamed “Big River” and the Sierra Nevada changed to “Snowy Mountain Range.”
Chips and salsa will be “chips and gravy.”
Even Christmas will be affected. The Board, apparently misunderstanding the Dutch origins of Sinter Klaas, ruled that Santa Claus must now be called “Holy Nicholas.”
Property values dropped 15% overnight in Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, with fear that the city would become known as “Holy Faith.” Elsewhere, the Las Vegas chamber of commerce is re-considering its slogan, “What happens in Fertile Lowlands, Stays in Fertile Lowlands.”
The Federal Reserve System
… was created by the Owen-Glass Act, signed by President Wilson on this date in 1913. No, Alan Greenspan has not been Chairman of the Federal Reserve ever since, only from 1987.
A Visit from St. Nicholas
It was on this day in 1823 that the famous poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” was first published. It begins, “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”
Fourteen years after its first publication, an editor attributed the poem to a wealthy professor of classical literature named Clement Clarke Moore. In the last few years, new evidence has come out that a Revolutionary War major named Henry Livingston Jr. may have been the actual author of “The Night Before Christmas.” His family has letters describing his recitation of the poem before it was originally published, and literary scholars have found many similarities between his work and “The Night Before Christmas.” He was also three quarters Dutch, and many of the details in the poem, including names of the reindeer, have Dutch origins.
Here’s more on this from NewMexiKen two years ago.
Best line of the day, so far
“I always had a soft spot for Daschle even though he was still bringing knives long after it had become a gun fight.”
Atrios leading into a discussion on this from The Washington Post:
The Bush administration requested, and Congress rejected, war-making authority “in the United States” in negotiations over the joint resolution passed days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to an opinion article by former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in today’s [December 23rd] Washington Post.
Daschle’s disclosure challenges a central legal argument offered by the White House in defense of the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. It suggests that Congress refused explicitly to grant authority that the Bush administration now asserts is implicit in the resolution.
Here’s the Daschle piece: Power We Didn’t Grant.
Remember all those terror alerts in 2004?
Talking Points Memo notes that “[A]s near I can tell there hasn’t been a single one since election day.”
Bumper sticker of the day, so far
Guns don’t kill people.
Drivers using cell phones kill people.
Most popular toys of the last 100 years
1900-1909 Crayola Crayons
1910-1919 Raggedy Ann Dolls
1920-1929 Madame Alexander Collectible Dolls
1930-1939 View-Master 3-D Viewer
1940-1949 Candy Land
1950-1959 Mr. Potato Head
1960-1969 G.I. Joe
1970-1979 Rubik’s Cube
1980-1989 Cabbage Patch Kids
1990-1999 Beanie Babies
2000-Present Razor Scooter
Here are the details from Forbes, including other notable toys of each decade.
Best line of the day, so far
“[M]y biggest concern with the Plasma TVs is where did they get the plasma? Is that why they won’t let anyone see those prisoners? [I]s it some sort of secret blood drive?”
Commenter neilt at Achenblog in reaction to Achenbach writing that the discussion of impeachment at last evening’s party in Georgetown got distracted by some bowl game in hi-def.
Easy for you to say
This from Sideline Chatter:
Speaking of long names, wrote Don Banks of SI.com, “Some time before I die, I’d like to see Cardinals fullback Obafemi Ayanbadejo tackled by Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora, preferably after taking a handoff from current Raiders quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo, with Rams tight end Brandon Manumaleuna having missed a block on the play.
“And I’d like John Madden to handle the play-by-play call. Is that asking too much?”
The Deadweight Loss of Christmas
Economists, the scrooges that we sometimes seem to be, are well-aware of the Deadweight Loss of Christmas: the gifts people buy provide less value to the recipient than what the giver spent on the gift. Because of this, I often recommend giving cash as a present.
Ebert’s Best 2005
How in the world can anyone think it was a bad year for the movies when so many were wonderful, a few were great, a handful were inspiring, and there were scenes so risky you feared the tightrope might break? If none of the year’s 10 best had been made, I could name another 10 and no one would wonder at the choices. There were a lot of movies to admire in 2005.
Roger Ebert’s 10 best:
- Crash
- Syriana
- Munich
- Junebug
- Brokeback Mountain
- Me and You and Everyone We Know
- Nine Lives
- King Kong
- Yes
- Millions
Read Ebert’s commentary and see the many other films he lists.
Gift for President Lincoln
Savannah, Ga., Dec. 22. [1864]
To His Excellency, President Lincoln:
I beg to present you as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton.
(Signed.) W. T. Sherman, Major-General
The headline in The New York Times the following day read: Savannah Ours.
Late night
“Newsweek magazine is reporting that President Bush called in the editor and publisher of The New York Times two weeks ago and demanded they stop publishing the article about him illegally eavesdropping and wiretapping people. Here’s my question. How did he know they were going to publish it?”
Leno
“I’m joking about it but the traffic now is horrible in the city. The city is now like Dick Cheney, every major artery is blocked.”
Letterman
It’s the birthday
… of Claudia Taylor Johnson. She’s 93 today. NewMexiKen worked at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in the mid-1970s where I met and occasionally chatted with Mrs. Johnson. She was then, and I’m sure remains today, a warm, impressive and very attractive woman.
… of Hector Elizondo. Better-known perhaps for Chicago Hope, NewMexiKen remembers this fine character actor best as the gracious hotel manager in Pretty Woman. He’s 69.
… of Steve Carlton. Lefty is 61.
… of Diane Sawyer. She’s 60. Another person NewMexiKen once met; in Sawyer’s case while she worked for Richard Nixon after he resigned the presidency. It was 30 years ago, but I can still remember the moment and thinking that I wanted to be a former President when I grew up so that women as attractive as her would be on my staff.
… of Robin Gibb. The twin of Maurice (d. 2003) and brother of Barry and Andy (d. 1988) is 56.
… of Ralph Fiennes. The actor, twice nominated for the best actor Oscar, is 43.
Solstice
The solstice — “sun still” — is Wednesday at 11:35 AM MST.
In the northern hemisphere, today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the longest night. It’s officially the first day of winter and one of the oldest known holidays in human history. Anthropologists believe that solstice celebrations go back at least 30,000 years, before humans even began farming on a large scale. The stone circles of Stonehenge were arranged to receive the first rays of midwinter sun.
Ancient peoples believed that because daylight was waning, it might go away forever, so they lit huge bonfires to tempt the sun to come back. The tradition of decorating our houses and our trees with lights at this time of year is passed down from those ancient bonfires.
In Ancient Rome, the winter solstice was celebrated with the festival of Saturnalia, during which all business transactions and even war were suspended, and slaves were waited upon by their masters.
Astronomically, the solstice is the moment when the sun reaches its most northerly (June) or southerly (December) point in the sky.
The Astronomy Picture of the Day has a nice illustration of Sunrise by Season.
It’s the birthday
… of Joe Paterno. The football coach at Penn State is 79.
… of Phil Donahue. The talk show host is 70.
… of Jane Fonda. The two-time Oscar-winning actress is 68. Miss Fonda has been nominated for the best actress Oscar six times, winning for Klute and Coming Home. She was also nominated for best supporting actress for On Golden Pond.
… of Carla Thomas. Gee Whiz, she’s 63.
… of Samuel L. Jackson. Mace Windu is 57. Jackson was nominated for the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction.
… of Chris Evert. The tennis hall-of-famer is 51.
… of Jane Kaczmarek. Malcolm’s mom is 50.
… of Ray Romano. Raymond is 48.
… of Kiefer Sutherland. He’s 39.
… of Julie Delpy. The actress, who was nominated for a writing Oscar for Before Sunset, is 36.
Just a thought
Even if we concede that the President may exercise special powers in wartime, wouldn’t we actually have to be at war for those powers to apply and doesn’t Article I of the Constitution require that Congress declare war?
Congress hasn’t voted a Declaration of War since 1942.
Update: Kevin Drum has more on this.
Another best line of the day
… from the opinion of Judge John E. Jones III:
“It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy.”
Best line of the day, so far
“Those who disagree with our holding will likely mark it as the product of an activist judge. If so, they will have erred as this is manifestly not an activist Court. Rather, this case came to us as the result of the activism of an ill-informed faction on a school board, aided by a national public interest law firm eager to find a constitutional test case on ID, who in combination drove the Board to adopt an imprudent and ultimately unconstitutional policy. The breathtaking inanity of the Board’s decision is evident when considered against the factual backdrop which has now been fully revealed through this trial. The students, parents, and teachers of the Dover Area School District deserved better than to be dragged into this legal maelstrom, with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources.”
U.S. District Court Judge John E. Jones III in his ruling today in the Dover, Pennsylvania, intelligent design case.
Fine wine
San Francisco Chronicle Wine Editor Linda Murphy lists Top 100 Wines 2005. She begins:
It was love at first sight nearly 30 years ago when Gray Franscioni, a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduate and scion of a Monterey County farming family, met and later married Rosella Munoz, a hair stylist whose family had relocated to Gonzales (Monterey County) from the Mexican state of Durango.
While running the Franscioni ranch, the couple in 1996 planted Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah vines on their Santa Lucia Highlands property west of Gonzales. They called it Rosella’s Vineyard, and now, 10 years later, Rosella, the daughter of migrant workers, is an icon in California winemaking.
On The Chronicle’s Top 100 Wines of 2005 list, Rosella has her name on an amazing eight wines — seven Pinot Noirs and a Syrah….
Twenty-two Pinot Noirs make the top 100. Murphy notes:
It’s a fact that the very best wines on Earth are expensive, though not all expensive wines are great. Quality commands top dollar, and demand regulates what top dollar is. The post-“Sideways” consumer rush to buy Pinot Noir, low yields, the gentle handling the Pinot Noir grape requires and the custom farming done by the Franscionis and others make buying stellar Pinot Noir mostly a costly proposition.