HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY: Charles C. W. Cooke, “Celebrating Columbus, Brave and Bright” today at National Review Online writes that “Imposing modern morality on the past is a form of historical illiteracy.” But that won’t stop most practitioners of “Black Armband History” in academia, who then in turn wonder why “U.S. students don’t know much about American history,” as AP reported last year.
Archive for 2012
October 8, 2012
WHITHER THE ARTS? At Ricochet, Dave Carter links to Camille Paglia’s essay in the Wall Street Journal on the decline of the art world with a reminder of the wonders of the 700-year old Cologne Cathedral and writes:
To venture inside and see The Shrine of the Three Holy Kings (purported to hold the crowned skulls of the Three Wise Men), or the Gero Cross which dates back to 976, or the legions of statues, is to become virtually intoxicated with the divine devotion that conceived and constructed such a solemn place.
Where is there anything in modernity to compare? Camille Paglia poses just such a question, asking (and answering) the question of why so much of our fine arts have devolved into a “wasteland.” “Painting was the prestige genre in the fine arts from the Renaissance on. But painting was dethroned by the brash multimedia revolution of the 1960s and ’70s,” writes Paglia, who then zeros in on a central point: “What do contemporary artists have to say, and to whom are they saying it? Unfortunately, too many artists have lost touch with the general audience and have retreated to an airless echo chamber.”
BING WEST: Romney As Reagan, Obama As Carter.
That’s just foreign policy, but there’s another way Obama is like Carter. How long before we see a reprise of these bumper stickers, with gas prices soaring?
Of course, as has now become obvious, these days a Carter rerun represents a best-case scenario.
THIS GUY PROBABLY DOESN’T HAVE A “CO-EXIST” BUMPER STICKER ON HIS CAR: Oklahoma authorities have arrested an Illinois man found with materials and instructions for making molotov cocktails, and a list of 48 Oklahoma churches he planned to bomb. The New York Times, et. al. have already dispatched investigative teams to Oklahoma to assess this latest threat to freedom of religion, thought and expression in the Bible Belt, right?
FACEBOOK POSTS and lost chances of college admission.
AT AMAZON, markdowns in Emergency & Portable Power.
Also, solar and wind power.
And, generators.
Also, today only: Canon PIXMA MG6220 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer, $59.99.
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Argentine Death Spiral Watch. “When they say ‘Argentina does not take orders from foreign investors or the IMF,’ what they mean is, ‘My cronies and I have now squandered and stolen so much money that the country can no longer pay its bills, but you ignorant fools won’t notice if I sing the national anthem and wave the flag.’”
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Another Reason Not To Fear Bacon.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Benefits of music lessons echo years after practice ends.
Sometimes in the strangest ways, considering how many pioneering bloggers also had some form of music background.
JEAN KAUFMAN: Have Americans Finally Tired of the Obama Narrative?
UPDATE: Related: Liberals Beginning to Realize They’ve Overestimated Obama’s Popularity?
VODKAPUNDIT: Wargaming the Electoral College.
IS THE WORLD FACING A DEMENTIA PLAGUE?
THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Exclusive: Libya Cable Detailed Threats.
HENCE THE INITIALS, A.B.O.:
● “We Would Be Better Off Had Romney Been President” — Luigi Zingales, Bloomberg News, September 23rd.
● “Hillary Clinton would have been a better President. Where’s the outrage about that?” — Ann Althouse, yesterday.
● “Plurality of voters believe the country would have been better off if John McCain had beaten Mr. Obama in 2008” — the Daily Caller, July 22nd, 2010.
● “Crist 2008: Sarah Palin more qualified to be president than Barack Obama” — the Washington Examiner, August 27, 2012.
CHANGE IT BACK: GM Bailout Could Be Undone By Same Judge That Allowed It.
NIGERIANS ARGUE FOR FEDERALISM AND END TO ENTITLEMENT CULTURE: The current debates in Nigeria over constitutional change center upon the need for stronger federalism and concomitant decentralization of government, with the goal of ending what’s been labeled “feeding bottle federalism‘:
Our peculiar federalism with its indolent culture of entitlements creates a consumption loop that guarantees perpetual dependence on volatile primary commodities. One objective of the new constitution should be to remove the feeding bottle, and jack up the federating units to mature into self-fending adults. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. The umbilical cord between government and business is that government relies on business to create jobs and provide revenues. In turn, governments do everything for businesses to thrive. Free money from Abuja has broken this. To restore the umbilical cord and incentive for states to create wealth and hence for entrepreneurial policymakers to emerge, we must wean the system of helpless dependence on the Abuja feeding bottle.
This, my friends, is ironic to say the least: The same problems exist today in the U.S. As the Obama administration continues the march toward steady centralization of government power– including the possibility of bailing out irresponsible, overspending states such as California and Illinois– the US is spiraling into the same vortex of dependency and inefficiency that Nigerians are trying so desperately to end.
REALITY CHECK: Abdulateef al-Mulhim, at Saudi Arabia’s Arab News, knows what’s really going on over there, and more Arabs should listen to him.
[W]ho is the real enemy of the Arab world? The Arab world wasted hundreds of billions of dollars and lost tens of thousands of innocent lives fighting Israel, which they considered is their sworn enemy, an enemy whose existence they never recognized. The Arab world has many enemies and Israel should have been at the bottom of the list. The real enemies of the Arab world are corruption, lack of good education, lack of good health care, lack of freedom, lack of respect for the human lives and finally, the Arab world had many dictators who used the Arab-Israeli conflict to suppress their own people. These dictators’ atrocities against their own people are far worse than all the full-scale Arab-Israeli wars.
CHANGE: Travelers Turn to Concierge Services to Ease Booking Hassles. “Before the Internet, travel agents from bricks-and-mortar agencies were the only people travelers could turn to if they had a problem booking trips or on the road. Now, travelers can go online and find any number of concierges, or personal assistants, to take care of their needs. Airlines and credit cards are also increasingly offering the services.”
UNEXPECTEDLY: Mike Huckabee: Media ignoring gas prices.
CHARLES FRIED’S conviction of Elizabeth Warren.
AT AMAZON, it’s the Kindle Deal of the Day.
UNEXPECTEDLY: Military Times poll results “indicate that about 66 percent of those surveyed support Romney, compared with about 26 percent who say they will vote to re-elect President Obama.”
“Economy, not military issues, tops concerns,” the article adds.
AND YET MORE POLL-DANCING: Lies, Damned Lies, and Politico.