The three networks (you remember them, ABC, CBS and NBC) game the Ramsey case 15 minutes combined time on the evening news yesterday. The NSA decision got just under three minutes total (and 2/3rds of that from ABC).
Paraphrasing Jefferson: The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who views nothing but television news.
Earlier NewMexiKen discussed the 160th anniversary today of New Mexico’s conquest by the United States. Taking New Mexico from Mexico wasn’t too difficult (though it was part of a larger hard fought war). Taking New Mexico from Texas was another story.
Declaring its independence in 1836, Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its boundary from the Gulf of Mexico to the source in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. [Map courtesy Wikipedia.] Even after it became a state in 1845, and even after New Mexico came under control of the U.S. Army in 1846, Texas maintained its claim. The Texas legislature in 1848 established Santa Fe County to include most of the disputed area.
Much of the seriousness of the contention over the land centered on slavery. If part of Texas, slavery would be permitted. If in New Mexico, probably not.
Matters worsened in late June [1850] when word arrived that a small convention in New Mexico had drafted and won ratification of a free-state constitution. [President] Taylor immediately called for New Mexico’s admission along with California’s; southern outrage flared to new heights; and the state of Texas vowed to secure its claims to all of New Mexico east of the Rio Grande, by force if necessary. Taylor ordered the federal garrison at Santa Fe to prepare for combat. By early July, it looked as if civil war might break out, pitting the United States against southern volunteers determined to secure greater Texas for slavery. (The Rise of American Democracy)
Taylor died July 9. Fillmore became president and defused the situation by laying aside New Mexico’s application for statehood. (If Taylor hadn’t gotten gastroenteritis New Mexico could have become a state 62 years sooner!) The resolution came as part of the Compromise of 1850. The boundaries of Texas were established as we know them (poor surveying and meandering rivers notwithstanding). In return, Texas received $10 million in compensation applied toward its debt (worth about $200 million today). The bill also established the territories of New Mexico (which included present-day Arizona) and Utah (which included present-day Nevada and western Colorado). The issue of slavery in those territories was ignored — for then.
… was authorized on this date in 1971. It is the only National Park Service unit in Illinois.
“My friends — No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything.” An emotional Abraham Lincoln opened his farewell remarks to the citizens of Springfield, Illinois with these words on February 11, 1861. Lincoln was leaving his friends and neighbors of twenty-four years, and the home that he and his family had lived in for seventeen years, to serve as president of a nation on the verge of Civil War.
The Lincoln home, the centerpiece of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, has been restored to its 1860s appearance, revealing Lincoln as husband, father, politician, and President-elect. It stands in the midst of a four block historic neighborhood which the National Park Service is restoring so that the neighborhood, like the house, will appear much as Lincoln would have remembered it.
Click image to see larger version. NewMexiKen photo, June 2006. Shades pulled to protect furnishings from sunlight.
… of Rosalynn Carter; she’s 79.
… of Robert Redford; he’s 69. Redford has been nominated for two directing Oscars, winning for Ordinary People. His only acting nomination was for The Sting.
… of Rockabilly great Johnny Preston, singer of the classic “Running Bear.” He’s 67.
… of Martin Mull; he’s 63.
… of Patrick Swayze; he’s 54.
… of Madeleine Stowe; she’s 48.
… of Edward Norton; he’s just 37. Norton has both a leading and a supporting Oscar nomination but no wins yet.
… was born on this date in 1750. After his characterization as a villain in Peter Shaffer’s play and film Amadeus, it seems Salieri is making a bit of a comeback. According to a December 2003 article at Guardian Unlimited and other sources, while there was competition between the upstart Mozart and the established artist Salieri in Vienna, there was cooperation, too; that is, what transpired between them was typical office politics.
As the Guardian Unlimited article notes:
…Mozart’s death, as one respected musical journal wrote, was almost certainly caused not by poison but by “arduous work and fast living among ill-chosen company”.
It was only after Mozart’s demise that Salieri began to have any real reason to hate him. Unlike that of any before him, Mozart’s music kept on being performed. Cut down at the peak of his powers – and with the added frisson of whispered rumours that he might have been murdered – he became the first composer whose cult of celebrity actually flourished after his death.
Salieri, however, had outlived his talent. He wrote almost no music for the last two decades of his life. Instead he spent time revising his previous works. He did have an impressive roster of pupils: Beethoven, Schubert, Meyerbeer and Liszt – not to mention Franz Xaver Mozart, his supposed adversary’s young son. But the composer who had once been at the vanguard of new operatic ideas was not necessarily teaching his students to be similarly innovative…
Of Mozart’s death, the story is more complicated:
So how did this respected musician become the rumoured murderer of the great Mozart? Nobody knows for certain. But in his final weeks Mozart is reported to have believed he had been poisoned, and had gone so far as to blame hostile Italian factions at the Viennese court. People put two and two together and pointed the finger at Salieri. And who could resist a story this good? Certainly not his fellow composers. There are mentions of it in Beethoven’s Conversation Books. Weber, Mozart’s father-in-law, had heard it by 1803, and cold-shouldered Salieri ever after. And 20 years later it was still doing the rounds; Rossini joked about it when he met Salieri in 1822.
As the rumour gathered strength, all denials only served to reinforce it. Then, in 1823, Salieri – hospitalised, terminally ill and deranged – is said to have accused himself of poisoning Mozart. In more lucid moments he took it back. But the damage was done. Even if few believed the ramblings of a confused old man, the fact that Salieri had “confessed” to Mozart’s murder gave the rumour some semblance of validity.
Not exactly the dog days here, August in Albuquerque so far — average high temperature 83.4º, average low 64.4º. In three weeks it has gotten above 90º just once.
Time to order some firewood.
Even so, there’s still time to see a great summer movie. How about Jaws in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies?
Why is it that so many of those who rushed to blame the Ramseys for JonBenet’s death have now rushed to judgment on John Karr? He too is seen as guilty until proved innocent (and already there is considerable doubt that he’s the culprit).
Another reason we shouldn’t carry guns. Too many of us shoot from the hip and ask questions later (if at all).
“According to reports, Fidel Castro is alert and being briefed. And I’m thinking, why didn’t we get a president like that?”
David Letterman
About 27% of Americans have passports.
New Mexico officially became part of the United States 160 years ago today when 1,600 troops under General Stephen Watts Kearny raised the American flag over the plaza in the capital city of Santa Fe, reportedly as the sun broke through the overcast sky. There had been little or no resistance.
August 18. Gen. Kearney proceeded through the pass and at 5 pm reached hill that overlooks Santa Fe.
Major Clark’s artillery was put into line, and the mounted troops and infantry were marched through town to the Palace (as it is called) and his staff dismounted and were received by the acting governor and other dignitaries and conducted to a large room. The general gave the assurance of safety and protection to all unoffending citizens. The stars and stripes were hoisted on the staff which is attached to the Palace by Major Swords. As soon as it was seen to wave above the buildings, it was hailed by a national salute from the battery of Captains Fischer and Weightman, under the command of Major Clark. While the general was proclaiming the conquest of New Mexico as a part of the United States, the first gun was heard. “There,” said he, “my guns proclaim that the flag of the United States floats over this capitol.” The people appeared satisfied. The general slept in the palace. (we democrats must call it the governor’s house.) One company of dragoons ws kept in the city as a guard and the business of the day was ended.
As reported in Niles’ National Register
That’s Phil that Tiger is staring at. Take a look then go here to help analyze Tiger’s feelings.
There’s little doubt in my mind.
Some years ago NewMexiKen made several overseas trips with a diplomatic passport. In all my comings and goings I had my bags searched only one time. Arriving from Europe at Dulles International, I wasn’t sure whether one of my bags was on the plane or had come ahead. Further, someone was picking me up and I knew they’d be cruising the airport, around and around. By the time I’d finally located my bags, I was visibly anxious. Sure enough, my luggage was searched by a very determined customs agent. (I was, of course, totally innocent of any wrongdoing.)
The article linked-to above says the TSA employees get only four days training and three days of field practice before being assigned to face watching duty. That doesn’t seem like anywhere near enough, but I do believe experienced personnel can become very good at spotting the nervous and otherwise pre-occupied traveler.
I also believe an experienced perp can learn to be dispassionate about anything.
The Washington Monthly takes on U.S. News:
By devising a set of criteria different from those of other college guides, we arrived at sharply different results. Top schools sank, and medium schools rose. For instance, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 48th on the U.S News list, takes third place on our list, while Princeton, first on the U.S. News list, takes 43rd on ours. In short, Pennsylvania State, measured on our terms–by the yardstick of fostering research, national service and social mobility–does a lot more for the country than Princeton.
Don’t get us wrong. We’re not saying Princeton isn’t a superb school. It employs many of the nation’s finest minds, and its philosophy department is widely considered the best in the country. Its eating clubs, or whatever they’re called, are surely unmatched. Princeton may be a great destination for your tuition dollars, all 31,450 of them, not including room or board. But what if it’s a lousy destination for your tax dollars? Each year, Princeton receives millions of dollars in federal research grants. Does it deserve them? What has Princeton done for us lately? This is the only guide that tries to tell you. That, and a bit more.
It seems making an explosion on a plane isn’t all that easy:
Once the plane is over the ocean, very discreetly bring all of your gear into the toilet. You might need to make several trips to avoid drawing attention. Once your kit is in place, put a beaker containing the peroxide / acetone mixture into the ice water bath (Champagne bucket), and start adding the acid, drop by drop, while stirring constantly. Watch the reaction temperature carefully. The mixture will heat, and if it gets too hot, you’ll end up with a weak explosive. In fact, if it gets really hot, you’ll get a premature explosion possibly sufficient to kill you, but probably no one else.
After a few hours — assuming, by some miracle, that the fumes haven’t overcome you or alerted passengers or the flight crew to your activities — you’ll have a quantity of TATP with which to carry out your mission. Now all you need to do is dry it for an hour or two.
Nevertheless, security precautions continue to expand, giving a whole new meaning to “Snakes on a Plane”
And, here’s what the right wing sees when they read the Times.
Guess we won’t have to listen. Despite several grade crossings, the Rail Runner commuter train will pass through Albuquerque at 79 miles per hour possibly without tooting its own horn.
Currently all rail trains are required to issue a warning horn as they approach railroad crossings throughout the city. Federal Railroad Administration rules published in 2005 spell out specific safety guidelines that qualify a crossing for “Quiet Zone” status and waive the horn blowing requirement.
…At a minimum, each grade crossing must be equipped with flashing lights and barrier gates, advanced warning signs and additional safety measures to compensate for the absence of the train’s horn as a warning device.
Under certain conditions, train horns can be heard several miles away from their location.
…Heinrich’s legislation will require all railroad crossings within City limits to become “Quiet Zones” within five years of the legislation’s adoption. It will also require that crossing will be upgraded to “Quiet Zone” status whenever they are scheduled for other substantial work under the city’s capital program.
NewMexiKen understands how the increase in railroad horns can affect businesses and residents. I attended college under an AFB approach and take-off zone. That said, the tracks have been there for 125 years. They’re not some new addition.
A high-speed train crossing at grade level is a serious accident waiting to happen. People violate railroad crossing warnings all the time — and this time the train will be approaching at 116 feet a second with hundreds of people on board.
(NewMexiKen is not arguing for or against the horns. I am saying that high-speed commuter trains shouldn’t cross urban streets at grade.)
Rolling Stone put together a 10-song playlist sampler yesterday in light of the 29th anniversary of Elvis’s death.
That’s All Right
Good Rockin’ Tonight
Mystery Train
Wear My Ring Around Your Neck
A Little Less Conversation
Hound Dog
Kentucky Rain
In the Ghetto
Suspicious Minds
Unchained Melody
Conspicuously missing: An Elvis gospel song.
London Bridge by Fergie is number one again this week on the Billboard Hot 100. It pushed aside Nelly Furtado and Timbaland’s “Promiscuous” last week after that song had a six week run at the top.
NewMexiKen finds many of the number ones fun, listenable songs. If I had 10-year-olds in the house I might be somewhat nervous about the lyrics, but whatever. “London Bridge” does nothing for me, however.
Except bring trivia to mind. London is the sixth city not in the U.S. to be in the title of a number one song. How many of the other five can you name?
Hint: The most recent is 26 years ago, the longest 50 years ago.
Hint Two: Three were instrumentals.
Hint Three: All five were number one for three or four weeks.
Source: Fred Bronson’s Chart Beat
“[Bush] only read The Stranger because he’s just now getting around to his 9th grade syllabus. He read The Stranger, Catcher in the Rye, half of Treasure Island and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.”
Jason Jones, The Daily Show
Before August 17, 1896, Americans had little interest in Alaska, a far off “district”—not even a territory—full of wolves and ice and forests. That attitude started to change 110 years ago today, when a Tagish Indian known as Skookum Jim spotted something shimmering among the stones in a creek near the Yukon River. The Klondike Gold Rush began as soon as news of the discovery reached the states, and between 1897 and 1899 1 in every 700 Americans abandoned home and set out for the “Golden River.”
More than a half million pounds of gold have been found in the Yukon since 1896. Yet the story of the men and women who did the mining is more valuable than all that ore. The sudden rush into the Northwest, as well as the equally sudden retreat, poses a big question. Why did so many late-nineteenth-century Americans decide to leave their farms and factories and search for gold in a faraway, brutal, and alien place?
There’s more if you click on the link, including this nugget: “At a time when workers were lucky to make 10 cents an hour, gold was worth $17 an ounce.”
“At a time when we need Franklin Roosevelt in the White House we’ve got a bunch of Chicken Littles.”
Functional Ambivalent in a post titled “All They Have to Sell Is Fear Itself,” commenting on the increasing evidence that last week’s terrorist plot was overblown.
Update: Tom’s getting pissed at the politicization of our security. Welcome, Tom!
Law student #1: So where you going after the test?
Law student #2: I’m going to East Africa for 2 months. Last time I was there, they made me an honorary Maori tribesman.
Law student #1: Wow, you’ve gotta be the first gay, white honorary Maori tribesman ever.
Law student #2: Yeah, or at least one of the first 5.
–Bar exam line, Javits Center
The Maori live in New Zealand, not Africa.
Joel Achenbach with a warm essay on his friend, the actor Bruno Kirby. Go read it.
Andy Borowitz says:
“Hillary Offers to Housesit for Bush” while he is on vacation.
“Would Water Plants, Read Presidential Briefings in Oval Office”
Maureen O’Hara is 86 today. Once voted one of the five most beautiful women in the world, Miss O’Hara is proabably best known now as Natalie Wood’s unbelieving mother in the classic Miracle on 34th Street; or perhaps as Esmeralda to Charles Laughton’s Quasimodo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Robert De Niro is 63 today. De Niro has been nominated for the Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar five times, winning for Raging Bull in 1981. He also won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role as the young Vito Corleone in Godfather II. De Niro’s nominations were for Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Awakenings and Cape Fear.
Sean Penn is 46 today. Penn has been nominated for the Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar four times, winning last year for Mystic River. Penn’s other nominations were for Dead Man Walking, Sweet and Lowdown and I Am Sam.
After seeing Mae’s jewelry the coat check girl exclaims, “Goodness, what lovely diamonds!”
Mae replies, “Goodness had nothing to do with it.”
That’s Screen Legend Mae West in Night After Night. Ms. West was born on this date in 1893.
… was authorized on this date in 1972.
The founding of the Hawaiian kingdom can be directly associated with one structure in the Hawaiian Islands: Pu’ukohola Heiau. The temple was constructed to incur the favor of the war god Kuka’ilimoku. Built between 1790-91 by Kamehameha I (also known as Kamehameha the Great), together with chiefs, commoners, men, women and children. As British sailor John Young looked on, the temple was built and dedicated, a chief rival was sacrificed, and the war god Ku was pleased. Kamehameha I waged several subsequent battles using Western military strategy and weapons to extend his control over all Hawaiian Islands. The monarchy he established lasted 83 years, from 1810-1893.