Sadly, Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro was euthanized today. Kudos to his owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, for a valiant effort to help him try to make it.
Here's trouble in the making: a radical generation gap among British Muslims.
Forty per cent of Muslims between the ages of 16 and 24 said they would prefer to live under sharia law in Britain, a legal system based on the teachings of the Koran. The figure among over-55s, in contrast, was only 17 per cent.... One in eight young Muslims said they admired groups such as al-Qa'eda that "are prepared to fight the West".Turning to issues of faith, 36 per cent of the young people questioned said they believed that a Muslim who converts to another religion should be "punished by death." Among the over 55s, the figure is only 19 per cent. Three out of four young Muslims would prefer Muslim women to "choose to wear the veil or hijab," compared to only a quarter of over-55s.
It's not just the youngsters either. That almost 20% of "over-55" British Muslims would prefer sharia and the death penalty for apostates is pretty disturbing too.
Although we're pretty interested in things Scottish these days, we missed the annual Burns Night celebration. Just as well, since a proper celebration would involve the preparation, presentation and consumption of a haggis.
The New York Times examined the state of haggis, uh, cuisine last week. Apparently the modern trend is towards actual edibility, at least in the U.S.
For a food with an august reputation for repulsiveness, Mr. MacAndrew’s haggis was surprisingly, even disappointingly, edible. Tasty, even. Rich and meaty, filled with bits of crunchy onion and the mild sting of clove, it tasted like what it was: coarse, beefy, chopped liver. Mr. MacAndrew admitted that a tasty haggis runs the risk of destroying its own mystique.
I still think I'll pass.
Here's a ticking time bomb for the Legislature to grapple with, and a massive social issue that won't be helped by more tests and simple-minded tax cuts.
One out of three Texas students don't graduate, and more students drop out than finish high school in the state's largest cities, according to education experts.Statewide, more than 2.5 million students have dropped out of Texas high schools in the last 20 years, and each graduating class loses about 120,000 students from freshman year to senior year, according to the San Antonio-based Intercultural Development Research Association.
The research group says more than half of students in Texas' largest cities drop out. The dropout rate among blacks, Hispanics and low-income students is about 60 percent, according to the Center for Education at Rice University.
The statewide dropout rate is about 33 percent — or 20 points higher than what the Texas Education Agency reports.
How to eat and why: here's a longish but worthwhile article by Michael Pollan that's getting attention this weekend.
Simple answer: cook and eat actual food, pretty like your great-grandparents did.
[T]he industrialization of our food that we call the Western diet is systematically destroying traditional food cultures. Before the modern food era — and before nutritionism — people relied for guidance about what to eat on their national or ethnic or regional cultures. We think of culture as a set of beliefs and practices to help mediate our relationship to other people, but of course culture (at least before the rise of science) has also played a critical role in helping mediate people’s relationship to nature. Eating being a big part of that relationship, cultures have had a great deal to say about what and how and why and when and how much we should eat.Of course when it comes to food, culture is really just a fancy word for Mom, the figure who typically passes on the food ways of the group — food ways that, although they were never “designed” to optimize health (we have many reasons to eat the way we do), would not have endured if they did not keep eaters alive and well.
The sheer novelty and glamour of the Western diet, with its 17,000 new food products introduced every year, and the marketing muscle used to sell these products, has overwhelmed the force of tradition and left us where we now find ourselves: relying on science and journalism and marketing to help us decide questions about what to eat. Nutritionism, which arose to help us better deal with the problems of the Western diet, has largely been co-opted by it, used by the industry to sell more food and to undermine the authority of traditional ways of eating. You would not have read this far into this article if your food culture were intact and healthy; you would simply eat the way your parents and grandparents and great-grandparents taught you to eat. The question is, Are we better off with these new authorities than we were with the traditional authorities they supplanted? The answer by now should be clear.
From Great Britain, the "Top Ten Books we lie about reading". Top of the list: The Lord of the Rings.
Most people expand on their literary repertoire to impress a new date, 15 percent have lied about the books they have read to a new colleague and five percent have told porkies about their reading habits to their employer.The younger generation is out to impress the most, with more than half of 19 to 21 year olds expanding the truth about the books they read. But they are also most likely to get caught out, with one in ten 19 to 21 year olds tripping up when quizzed about a book they lied about reading.
How would a U.S. survey differ?
SOTU: there was the Cheney-Pelosi seesaw.
And there was Houston's own Sheila Jackson Lee, who arrived at the US Capitol yesterday at 8:06 a.m. to get her preferred seat.
President Bush seemed at relative ease delivering his annual State of the Union speech tonight, even going into a lion's den of unwavering hostility from Democrats and wobbly support from the GOP.
He was eloquent again about Iraq and the War on Terror.
This is where matters stand tonight, in the here and now. I have spoken with many of you in person. I respect you and the arguments you've made. We went into this largely united, in our assumptions and in our convictions. And whatever you voted for, you did not vote for failure. Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work. And I ask you to support our troops in the field, and those on their way.
Now we'll see if he can/will deliver results. It's still high risk and we are still far less prepared for this knife fight than we should be. The proposal for another 92,000 military is welcome, but five years late in my book.
The domestic agenda was mostly uninspiring or even counter-productive. The usefulness of an energy strategy built on ethanol seems highly dubious, a sentiment validated by the grinning glee of farm state senator Charles Grassley who knows a rich subsidy when he sees one. However, trying to double the strategic petroleum reserve was unexpected and interesting.
We enjoyed his recognition of authentic heroes like Wesley Autrey and Houston Rocket Dikembe Mutombo. Here's the entire list of guests in Laura Bush's balcony.
James Webb's rebuttal earned a quick tap of the Mute button.
Hillary Rodham Clinton (aka just "Hillary") has finally admitted her presidential campaign is underway. Long-time advisor Terry McAuliffe is handing out spin to the British press.
Hillary Clinton is to be presented as America’s Margaret Thatcher as she tries to become the first woman to win the White House. As she entered the 2008 presidential race yesterday, a senior adviser said that her campaign would emphasise security, defence and personal strengths reminiscent of the Iron Lady.“Their policies are totally different but they are both perceived as very tough,” said Terry McAuliffe, Clinton’s campaign chairman. “She is strong on foreign policy. People have got to know you are going to keep them safe.”
No response yet noted from the genuine Iron Lady, but Mark Steyn wonders if toughness is really the right sales pitch anyway.
Barring another direct attack on the US mainland (ie, not Bali nightclubs, London Tubes or US targets overseas) I don’t think in 2008 the American people will be looking for someone who can “stare down jihadists.” If anything, it was already clear in ’06 that huge numbers of the American people have psychologically checked out of the war. I would wager that by 2008 the consultants will be advising that words like “jihad” test badly with the focus groups. Democrats and increasing numbers of Republicans will attempt to paint the war as a kind of geopolitical Monica – an issue that goes away when the incumbent does.
Dunno if Hillary can be packaged as our Mommy-in-Chief.
Freedom activist Robert Kent and the Friends of Cuban Libraries has published an open letter ahead of the annual mid-winter meeting of the American Library Association (ALA), calling on the association to take its role as a defender of intellectual freedom seriously.
In their zeal to deny, ignore, cover up and lie about the repression in Cuba, the ALA's pro-Casto faction insists '''there is no censorship in Cuba," just as it contemptuously ignores appeals for justice on behalf of Cuba's independent librarians made by living icons of freedom such as Ray Bradbury, Nat Hentoff, Andrei Codrescu, Vaclav Havel and Madeleine Albright.As pyres of burning library books have blazed more intensely in Cuba, as library workers are assaulted by government-directed mobs, and as reputable human rights groups such as Amnesty International vigorously condemn the persecution and demand the release of the jailed volunteer librarians, all three (3) of the ALA's fraudulent investigations have failed to condemn, or even acknowledge the existence of, these outrages. Instead, the ALA's three (3) investigations have limited themselves to brief and vague expressions of general concern, without even deigning to note the names of any of the Cuban library workers enduring life prison terms for the alleged crime of opposing censorship. Sadly, the well-intentioned but unfocused majority on the ALA governing Council has accepted, virtually without question, the fraudulent reports stage-managed by the ALA's pro-Castro faction, despite an ALA membership poll in which 76% of the respondents called on the ALA to condemn the repression in Cuba.
Veteran political communicator Peggy Noonan is thinking ahead to next week's State of the Union address.
The feeling of mutual sympathy that swept America's political class in the days after 9/11 has dissipated, if not disappeared. And this is true not only in government but in newspapers, on the Internet, in the culture.It's been an era of soft thinking and hard words. Those who opposed the war were weak and craven; those who supported it were dupes and bullies; those who came to oppose the war were cowards bowing to polls; those who continue to support it love all war all the time. Some of this was inevitable--the stakes could barely be higher; passions flare. But it's not getting us anywhere. And it's limiting debate. It's making people fearful.
It is time for a kind of verbal amnesty in which thoughts are considered before motives are judged. An admission that the White House is as responsible for this situation as everyone else would help clear the air--and just might prompt some soul-searching in members of the audience.
Bush Derangement Syndrome is now affecting various perplexed citizens wound up about the George W. Bush presidential library and policy institute proposed for SMU in Dallas.
Naturally, there's the faculty, anxious to prove their handwringing, leftist street cred, but with the school president and others trying to talk sense.
Southern Methodist University's president told about 175 professors Wednesday that any agreement to put the Bush presidential library, museum and a policy institute on the campus will preserve SMU's academic values and ethics."I assure you that any real or perceived fears or concerns about the institute or any part of the library in some way inhibiting this university's practice of academic freedom and diversity of opinion and practices are unfounded," SMU President Gerald Turner said.
Dr. Turner, along with SMU's provost and faculty senate president, used the regularly scheduled faculty meeting to allay recent concerns some professors have raised about the library. Chief among their worries is a public policy institute that would promote the Bush administration's domestic and international goals. Some faculty have said they worry about SMU being affiliated with an unpopular president who has led an unpopular war in Iraq.
When even the president of the faculty senate is supportive, that's a working consensus.
Now activist Methodists are bestirring themselves.
A group of Methodist ministers has begun a national petition drive asking Southern Methodist University to remove itself from negotiations to get the George W. Bush presidential library."Because SMU is owned by the United Methodist Church, the imposition of a George W. Bush library, museum and think tank at SMU will irreparably connect the denomination with this presidency,” said Rev. Andrew J. Weaver, a petition organizer in Brooklyn, N.Y. and 1978 graduate of SMU’s Perkins School of Theology.
Rev. Weaver said the petition organizers are deeply troubled by Mr. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, detain prisoners and allow torture.
“I think that George Bush has been in his presidency so inconsistent with fundamental Christianity that he should not be associated with a Methodist university,” Rev. Weaver said. “Methodist means decency and this man has not been decent.”
Frankly, I think it's the rev who has "decency" problems.
President Bush himself weighed in today, but we know none of the BDS victims will be satisfied.
President Bush sought Thursday to quell complaints on the SMU campus that the library he’s planning would offer lopsided views of his administration and public policy.“I understand there are some who have reservations, and my admonition to them, or my advice to them is, just understand that a library and institute would enhance education. It would be a place for interesting discussion,” he said. “It would be a place for people to be able to express their views and write and think. And these universities, I think, understand that and are excited about the prospects, and so am I.”
It's much ado about nothing. All presidential libraries and the often-associated policy schools or institutes are reflective of the respective presidency, be it conservative, liberal, or incoherent.
I worked at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT in Austin long ago, rubbing shoulders with both former LBJ and Kennedy administration figures on the faculty and various student politicos. It was as liberal as the day is long, but did not detract from the University. These things add prestige, especially in the long run. SMU should stick with the plan and reap the benefits.
Our British allies, undermanned and underfunded, are hitting the Taliban hard in Afghanistan. There's this gutsy effort:
Four Royal Marines flew into a battle zone clinging to the outside of helicopter gunships in a bid to rescue a fallen comrade, the Ministry of Defence has revealed. Unwilling to leave behind one of their number following a retreat, the commandos strapped themselves to the small stabiliser wings of two Apache helicopters and returned into the midst of a fierce gunfight with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.Details of the unprecedented rescue attempt were revealed as the MoD pieced together the final hours of fallen hero L/Cpl Matthew Ford. L/Cpl Ford, 30, of 45 Commando Royal Marines, took part in a 200-soldier assault on a Taliban fort in Helmand province.
Following an intense gun and mortar battle, the commandos were forced back. When they realised L/Cpl Ford was missing, four soldiers volunteered to return.
Three Apaches were available for the mission, but the 200mph helicopters have no room inside for passengers. The soldiers made the snap decision to travel on the outside of two of the armour-plated aircraft, with a third helicopter providing covering fire.
The men flew right back into the gun battle, landing both inside and outside the enemy fort in the search for L/Cpl Ford.
They eventually found and retrieved the body of the section leader who had been killed by enemy fire.
Then there's this, in the same province:
A team of SAS soldiers captured a key Taliban commander yesterday in a lightning raid on a heavily-fortified compound in southern Afghanistan.Without a shot being fired, the force of fewer than 30 elite soldiers, backed by Afghan troops, achieved "total surprise" and seized Mohammad Nabi in the early hours of the morning near Gereshk, in Helmand province.
Nabi is believed to be a key commander in the Taliban insurgency in the neighbouring province of Kandahar.
The compound, which had been under observation by Nato forces for around two weeks, was typical of the heavily-fortified homes favoured by the Pashtun tribes of southern Afghanistan, which often boast battlements and watch towers.
"24" continued its high-intensity action tonight. Sadly, Jack's "dudeness" had to take a tragic turn and now yet another favorite character is gone.
By the end of episode 4, a one-kiloton nuclear weapon was detonated in Valencia, California (must be a bummer violation of deed restrictions in this sunny planned community).
A Wikipedia article describes the controversy around around suitcase nukes, including that the USSR apparently did in fact manufacture them. (Both the US and USSR made backpack weapons.)
The Russian government's statements on this matter have been contradictory. First they denied that such weapons had ever existed; then they said that all of them had been destroyed. However, the highest-ranking GRU defector Stanislav Lunev confirmed that such Russian-made devices do exist and described them in more detail.
Here's a telling datum from the article: the 1995 Oklahoma City truck bomb was estimated at "a yield of 0.002 kiloton." Compare that with the explosive power of one full kiloton.
Could Al Qaeda get them?
Jack and CTU definitely have their work cut out for them: the terrorists have four more bombs.
Why have the Europeans abandoned Israel and shifted their hearts and minds to the Palestinians? Richard Baehr reviews seven reasons.
Fox's "24" is back with a bang (literally and figuratively). Daughter's comment: Jack achieved a new and major level of "dudeness" with his actions tonight. Oh, yeah.
Another two breakneck hours Monday night.
We had an impromptu chance to take in the Houston Symphony's performance of Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony this afternoon.
I recall listening to a few Bruckner recordings back in high school (thanks to my local public library's eclectic record collection), but really don't know his music at all. So today's performance, led by thoughtful conductor Hans Graf, was revelatory. The third movement, a lengthy Adagio, was particularly moving.
The orchestra, which included tubas and three harps, played with verve and intensity, and the audience responded with enthusiasm. Well done.
UPDATE: For a more educated take on things, here's Charles Ward in Monday's Houston Chronicle on the Friday night performance.
President Bush had a message for congressional critics of his new Iraq policy: either ante up or pipe down. Expect mealy-mouthed replies.
Members of Congress have a right to express their views, and express them forcefully. But those who refuse to give this plan a chance to work have an obligation to offer an alternative that has a better chance for success. To oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible.Whatever our differences on strategy and tactics, we all have a duty to ensure that our troops have what they need to succeed. Thousands of young men and women are preparing to join an important mission that will in large part determine the outcome in Iraq. Our brave troops should not have to wonder if their leaders in Washington will give them what they need. I urge members of Congress to fulfill their responsibilities, make their views known, and to always support our men and women in harm's way.
Here's actor Hugh Laurie, star of House, interviewed by WebMD.
So what, exactly, has Laurie learned during his tenure as House? "There are no clear and immediate answers to medical problems," he answers. "The average lay patient assumes or hopes that as soon as he walks into a clinic, his condition will immediately become [clear] and the course of treatment will be immediately apparent." Of course this isn't the case in reel -- or real -- life. "A lot of times, doctors are groping with conflicting therapies and things that work -- and don't work -- and they really have to improvise," he muses.
Andy McCarthy speaks for me.
[T]he president is making courageous moves in the face of withering opposition to the war, including from some in his own party, that would melt a lesser man. I can't pretend to sign on to all this stuff about a hoped for "democratic Iraq," and I continue to think it's a mistake to define victory that way. But President Bush clearly understands that we absolutely cannot give al Qaeda and its abettors a victory in Iraq — on that, our lives depend. He should be applauded for that.
The WSJ editors note the pre-packaged Democratic response to the President's plan for Iraq.
The real question is whether the Democrats are prepared to act like a responsible opposition now that they control both houses of Congress, in contrast to the last four years of partisan minority sniping.On the evidence of the past week, the answer is no. On Tuesday, the Democrats announced they would hold a symbolic, nonbinding vote on the troop increase, without so much as hearing what the President has to say. The vote, says Senator Joe Biden, is an effort to "demonstrate to the President he's on his own." So much for presenting a united American face to the jihadis and insurgents killing our troops in Iraq.
President Bush's address to the nation about Iraq is tough-minded, although his delivery tonight is not the best (why not from the Oval Office and why standing up?).
I'm glad to hear him acknowledge and respond to the involvement of Iran in actively promoting death and chaos in Iraq, although measures both substantial and belligerent will be required to really make an impact.
Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity and stabilizing the region in the face of extremist challenges. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We'll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.We're also taking other steps to bolster the security of Iraq and protect American interests in the Middle East. I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region. We will expand intelligence-sharing and deploy Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies. We will work with the governments of Turkey and Iraq to help them resolve problems along their border. And we will work with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating the region.
The White House has posted the accompanying National Security Council Iraq Strategy Review (pdf) and the official speech transcript.
The Defeatocrat response: predictable and pathetic, both in content and style - why is Dick Durbin looking around the room instead of into the camera? Oh, there are reporters present - he can't take his eyes off them.
UPDATE: Iran watcher Michael Ledeen is pondering what I'm pondering.
There is always hope.
Those brainy Beavers of Caltech finally won an NCAA basketball game, ending an 11-year streak of futility. Travis Haussler had 27 points and eight rebounds, and Matt Dellatorre added 24 points and eight rebounds Saturday night to lead the California Institute of Technology to an 81-52 victory over Bard College of New York.The win halted a 207-game NCAA Division III losing streak, dating to 1996.
Mark Bowden draws a pessimistic line from the vicious tribalism of Somalia in the days of "Black Hawk Down" to present-day Iraq.
Before a state can exist where there are deep-rooted, competing interests, there must be some broadly accepted concept of a nation strong enough to at least compete with parochial interests. There must be some generally accepted idea of a nation....Maybe we need to better appreciate that our nation remains an exception. I believe that in the long run people on this planet will embrace democracy and diversity, but we are not there yet. I still nurse hope that Iraqis will abandon blood feuds for compromise and a democratic future, but it appears to be a longer shot today than three years ago, and it was a bad bet then.
Ordinarily I'm not in favor of banning words, but I can make a principled exception in this case: let's get rid of these for the high crime of gross banality.
Lake Superior State University on Sunday released its annual "List of Words and Phrases Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness."The Sault Ste. Marie school in the Upper Peninsula has been compiling the list since 1976 to attract publicity. A total of 16 words or phrases were selected by a university committee from more than 4,500 nominations.
The list reads like a lexicon of popular culture.
Take "ask your doctor," the mantra of pharmaceutical commercials. The university called it "the chewable vitamin morphine of marketing."
• Lake Superior State University Banished Words List
- Alfred Lord Tennyson
New Year's Day--
that I'm still on this journey
unbelievable